A LEGAL wrangle between the parents of a badly disfigured baby and a hospital standing by to operate on her will go before the High Court later today.

The 12-week-old baby, born in Saudi Arabia to a North-East woman, was last night described as stable in intensive care at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Hospital.

The baby's parents attended a hearing at Gosforth Magistrates' Court in Newcastle yesterday at which social services attempted to win an emergency protection order.

That would allow hospital staff to proceed with medical treatment without the parents' consent.

The hearing was held in private and, following the granting of an interim order to keep the baby in hospital, magistrates agreed the case should be heard at the High Court in Leeds.

Her parents claim the baby does not need procedures planned by doctors and that she is being "experimented on" by surgeons keen to exploit her highly unusual condition.

After the court hearing, the baby's 25-year-old mother and her 29-year-old husband were driven to hospital to be with their daughter.

The infant, who can no longer be named for legal reasons, is said by doctors to need a tracheotomy to help her breathe.

Her parents had threatened to remove her because they object to a camera being put inside their child, claiming that procedure had already been performed in Saudi Arabia, where she was born. They have also objected to the tracheotomy procedure.

The mother said: "No one is going to do an operation on our daughter that we feel she doesn't need.

"So many doctors and nurses have come in to watch her. She is being used for student training purposes."

The baby was the only one of triplets to survive the pregnancy and was born in December.

A spokeswoman for Newcastle City Council said yesterday's decision would allow an opportunity for the issues to be "discussed fully and fairly before a higher court".

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust chief executive Len Fenwick yesterday defended his medical staff's action.

He said: "This 12-week-old child was presented without prior warning to the children's unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary on February 22 and since then has received the best possible care and treatment.

"The doctors and nurses caring for her have drawn together a care plan and, in particular, measures to stabilise and improve respiratory problems.

"Every endeavour is being made to secure the consent and ongoing co-operation of the parents so that when a treatment intervention is required this can be undertaken swiftly and appropriately."

The case raises questions over who has the final say in whether a child receives treatment - the parents or medical staff.

John Wadham, director of civil rights group Liberty, said it was right that the courts would decide on the best course of action.

He said: "There are often circumstances in which there is a dispute between the parents and other people acting on behalf of children.

"It is a difficult decision but the mechanisms and procedures are in place to resolve it."