Parents of disabled baby lose appeal against court order

The parents of a severely disabled baby girl have lost their appeal against a court order allowing doctors not to resuscitate her in the case of respiratory arrest.Darren and Debbie Wyatt took the case of their 22 month old daughter, Charlotte, to the Court of Appeal last week in an attempt to overturn last October's High Court decision.This decision entitled doctors at St Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth, not to ventilate her if she stopped breathing.Mr Justice Hedley accepted the argument of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust that resuscitating Charlotte would be "pointless and possibly inhumane," given the condition of her lungs.Charlotte Wyatt was born three months prematurely, weighing less than 500 g and with severe damage to her kidneys, lungs, and brain.At the time of that ruling she was unable to survive outside an oxygen head box, supplying 95% oxygen.Her doc-