Parents of baby Charlotte lose legal bid

The parents of baby Charlotte Wyatt have lost their latest legal bid to overturn a decision allowing doctors to let her die if she stops breathing.

At a hearing at the High Court, Mr Justice Hedley upheld last October’s ruling that staff at St Mary’s hospital in Portsmouth should not resuscitate Charlotte if she stopped breathing.

Charlotte, who is now eighteen-months-old, was born three months premature in October 2003. She was just 5 inches long and weighted only 1lb when she was born suffering from serious brain, lung and kidney damage.

At last October’s High Court hearing, doctors from St Mary’s argued that Charlotte’s condition had become so bad that she had “no feeling other than continuing pain”. It would be “pointless and possibly inhumane”, doctors argued, to resuscitate Charlotte if she stopped breathing because it would only prolong the child’s suffering.

However, Charlotte’s parents, Darren and Debbie Wyatt, insist that her condition is improving and they presented the court with independent medical evidence stating that Charlotte was not in constant pain and was now alert and responsive to stimuli, including movement and sound. Charlotte remains seriously ill, however, and lives almost constantly in an oxygen box.

Mr Justice Hedley said that it “would not be in Charlotte’s best interests to die in the course of futile aggressive treatment”. He said that all treatment up to, but not including intubation and ventilation, would be in Charlotte’s best interests, if she should stop breathing, “but nothing further”.

(KMcA/GB)