Controversial fertility doctor
Severino Antinori was sent back from Rome's Regina Coeli jail
jail to house arrest in the capital Tuesday after a judge upheld
a defence plea.
Antinori was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of
forcibly removing eight eggs from a young Spanish nurse.
Antinori was taken from a Rome hospital to a ward in the
Regina Coeli prison on Thursday.
Antinori had been taken to the Santo Spirito hospital
Wednesday night after fainting when told he was going to be
taken to jail for violating the conditions of his house arrest.
The hospital carried out a series of tests that established
his health was compatible with prison custody.
His lawyers appealed against the detention, saying that the
Spanish woman had joined an egg-donation programme.
Antinori, who was arrested on May 13 at Rome's Fiumicino
Airport, said last Tuesday the nurse accusing him was a member
of ISIS.
"She was in ISIS. She alleged that (crime) because I
discovered her," Antinori told Italian TV.
Asked about the signs of violence the nurse showed, the
gynaecologist said she did it to herself "in front of
witnesses".
The doctor, best known for helping women in their 60s to
have babies, has been banned from practising for a year.
Antinori, 70, shot to worldwide fame in 1994 when his
pioneering techniques helped a 63-year-old woman become the
oldest woman ever to have given birth.
He has since become an outspoken advocate of using cloning
technology to help infertile couples have children.
Antinori was arrested following a complaint by the
24-year-old nurse who was being treated for an ovarian cyst at
his clinic in Milan.
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