LUTON (UPI) – An English doctor who performed an unsuccessful abortion on a 23-year-old woman has been charged with attempted murder of the baby, who survived.

Nurses at Luton and Dunstable Hospital told police they found the baby boy wrapped in a sheet in an isolated room after the abortion failed. He is now living with foster parents.

Anthony John Hamilton, a consultant at the hospital, was suspended after being issued a summons to appear in court.

Police said yesterday Hamilton performed an unsuccessful abortion on the woman, daughter of another doctor in Luton, 49 kilometers (30 miles) north of London.

Hospital sources said the mother’s doctor told Hamilton she was 23 weeks pregnant and therefore entitled to an abortion. Under British law, abortion cannot be performed after the 28^th week of pregnancy.

However, a spokesman for the regional health authority said the police investigation had determined the woman was eight months pregnant.

Medical sources said the case was designed to test Britain’s law on the fundamental issue of start of life.

Hamilton will appear in Luton magistrate’s court Sept.14.