Dubai: A woman doctor was sentenced for three years for giving a suppository to a pregnant woman in an abortion attempt and admitting her for an unauthorised Caesarean operation.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 56-year-old Iraqi doctor, I.S., in absentia.

The court convicted I.S. of giving her 41-year-old countrywoman, N.M., medication that was supposed to speed up and ease the delivery process.

When the delivery failed, according to prosecution records, the defendant admitted N.M. to the labour room for a Caesarean operation without obtaining the hospital’s authorisation.

“The accused will be deported following the completion of her jail term,” said Presiding Judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi upon pronouncing Wednesday’s judgement.

According to the Criminal Procedures Law, I.S. is entitled to a retrial as soon as she turns herself in because she was sentenced in absentia.

N.M., a housewife, said she visited a Dubai-based hospital for a check up as she had had three miscarriages before.

“I.S. checked me up and said everything was normal and that she would take care of my next pregnancy. I got pregnant in September 2009. I visited her during my 34 months of pregnancy. During my pregnancy I suffered from high temperature, swollen body and vaginal bleeding. She advised me to rest, gave me different medications and said my pregnancy was normal. I.S. assured that my foetus was in good health after she conducted 13 ultrasounds.

“My belly grew abnormally big and I couldn’t walk or move properly when I reached my 24th week. I visited the defendant in a wheelchair. I wanted to ensure that my foetus was in good situation… I.S. constantly assured me that the baby was in good health. She repeatedly refused to check my baby on the 3D ultrasound assuring that the foetus was in good shape. In May 2010, I went for an ultrasound at the same hospital, and I was told that my baby had a problem in the lungs. I went for a second opinion at a specialised centre in Dubai Healthcare City, where a German specialist informed me that my baby suffered from Down’s Syndrome and had different deformities, especially in the lungs,” N.M. claimed to prosecutors.

She added that the doctor informed her that Down’s Syndrome and deformities should have been discovered in the early stages of pregnancy.

The housewife stated that I.S. gave her a vaginal suppository to ease the pain. When she was taken to hospital, doctors informed her that the suppository was to abort the foetus.

Records said when N.M. bled, she phoned I.S., who instructed her to go to the hospital for a Caesarean. When the operation was not allowed by the hospital management, I.S. referred N.M. to another doctor at another hospital. The operation was stopped by the second hospital’s management.

Later the housewife was examined again at the hospital where she was told that she suffered from three different viruses that caused her high temperature. Doctors informed her that the amniotic fluid had to be removed from her abdomen.

N.M. was admitted for an operation and the baby died an hour after delivery because of bleeding to the brain and a swollen body.

Wednesday’s judgement remains subject to appeal within 15 days.