Antinori sent back to house arrest (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, May 24 - 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.