ITALY’S HEALTH MINISTER flew to Sicily on Monday to personally apologise to woman whose doctors got into a fist fight when she was giving birth.

The doctors disagreed on whether or not Laura Salpietro required a caesarian section and began hitting each other, according to the woman’s husband.

Because of the altercation, Salpietro’s caesarian section was delayed by over an hour. The 30-year-old woman subsequently had to have her uterus removed and her son, Antonio, suffered heart problems and possible brain damage.

The newborn boy suffered two heart attacks shortly after being born and has been placed in a drug-induced coma.

Speaking to Ansa news agency, the woman’s husband Matteo Molonia said that his family’s health problems are a result of the doctors’ brawl, as there had been no complications flagged for either mother or baby before his wife went into labour. He said:

The sonographic scans and clinical examinations had ruled out any health problems for my wife and son.

Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio spoke to Salpietro in hospital, where she has been since the giving birth on Thursday. Speaking to reporters, Fazio said:

I tried to give her words of hope, and above all I tried to tell her that the government was with her and her family at this time.

Five doctors have been placed under investigation following the incident.