Baby to be allowed to die if breathing stops

Charlotte Wyatt, the tiny premature baby clinging to life in a hospital oxygen box, is to be allowed to die if her breathing …

Charlotte Wyatt, the tiny premature baby clinging to life in a hospital oxygen box, is to be allowed to die if her breathing stops.

A High Court judge in Britain today gave Charlotte's doctors permission not to resuscitate her - despite a plea by her distraught parents that everything should be done to give her the chance of life, however short.

Darren Wyatt, 33, and his 23-year-old wife Debbie - who is expecting their third child - of Buckland, Portsmouth, had urged the judge not to give up on their daughter.

Doctors from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust argued that the baby has "no feelings other than continuing pain" and have asked the judge to allow them to let her die if she stops breathing.

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But Charlotte's committed Christian parents say she could win her fight for life and have begged the court to force doctors to give her every possible chance.

"When you get to the stage when you grow to love someone, you can't just throw them away like a bad egg and say you will get a different egg," Charlotte's father Darren Wyatt told the court during the hearing.

Charlotte has fought for survival all of her short life. The court heard that she weighed just 458 grams (1 lb) when she was born premature at 26 weeks, required ventilation for her first three months and now weighs just 5.6 kg (12.4 lb).

Her breathing has stopped three times as a result of serious heart and lung conditions. She is fed through a tube and needs oxygen all the time. She has no visual awareness and does not respond to sound.

Specialists say she cannot survive beyond infancy and may never be able to leave hospital.