Parents win baby resuscitation row

THE parents of a seriously-ill premature baby have won a legal battle to ensure there is a public court hearing of their dispute with doctors who have said they will not resuscitate their daughter if she develops life-threatening breathing difficulties.

A High Court judge yesterday said the plight of 11-month-old Charlotte Wyatt, which had already been the subject of widespread media publicity and an open court hearing with the press and public present, was in the interests of informed debate.

"In this kind of case, the interests of justice are much more likely to be served by a responsible debate, based on as full information as possible, than by a debate based on partial information which may not give a fair picture of what is involved," said Mr Justice Hedley.

"If one is looking for responsible debate, the court ought to give those from whom it expects responsible debate the fullest means of conducting that debate."

The decision came after the judge heard argument from lawyers on both sides of the case and from media groups anxious to report the hearing, which begins on Thursday.

Charlotte was born three months premature at St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth, in October last year weighing just one pound and measuring only five inches.

She has never left hospital, and has stopped breathing several times.

Doctors say she will not survive beyond infancy because her lungs are so severely damaged.

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust told her parents, chef Darren Wyatt, 32, and his wife Debbie, 23, that, in another critical episode, it is prepared to keep her alive long enough for them to attend at her bedside, but insists it would be "against the child's interests" artificially to resuscitate her.

The parents' plea for a public court hearing the first of its kind was backed by the hospital trust.