Update: Since this article was first posted it has been amended in the light of information that became available later. The application for the caesarean was made in the Court of Protection by the Mid-Essex NHS Trust on 23 August 2012, not Essex social services as originally stated; a care order was sought and obtained by Essex County Council as soon as the child was born the following day, 24 August 2012. The precise position relating to the court applications was not clear at time of our publication because a key judgment relating to them, made 15 months earlier, had never been made public; following our reports, this and further judgments were eventually released on 4 December 2013. We are happy to set the record straight.