Charlotte Paige Wyatt (born October 21 2003 at St. Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth, United Kingdom) is the prematurely-born daughter of Darren and Debbie Wyatt. She was the subject of a "do not resuscitate" order and was at the centre of a prolonged legal battle to have this order lifted.

Medical history

Charlotte was born in the 26th week of pregnancy by Caesarean section, weighing only 458 grams and five inches long. She was cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit, and developed septicaemia and renal damage. She developed several episodes of cardio-respiratory failure, which were treated with ventilation and cardiac medications. She was resuscitated three times and ventilated.

Current status

Charlotte is alert and can see and hear. Though she needs constant oxygen, this has come down drastically in recent months. As of a public annoucement on 13 April 2006, Charlotte is now well enough to be discharged from hospital.

Do not resuscitate decision

After the third episode of resuscitation, the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust determined that, due to Charlotte's continuing pain and their belief that she would not live past infancy, the doctors would not resuscitate and ventilate her a fourth time. This led to a prolonged court battle, as her parents believed she should be given every chance at life.

Impact on the parents

Mary MacLeod of the National Family and Parenting Institute, said recent research on children similar to Charlotte showed that parents faced appalling strains as carers:

“They may have to get up at night to move the child, they may have to perform regular painful procedures on the child, which can be immensely stressful and the focus on the child with the disability deprives other children of attention,” said MacLeod.

Darren, 34, and Debbie Wyatt, 24 underwent special training to care for Charlotte. However, the rigours of the legal battles caused severe strains. In addition, social workers from Portsmouth community services began to question their ability to look after their other three children, given their limitations. The Wyatts are unemployed and live in a council supplied 2 bedroom flat.

Debbie Wyatt took the three children and left Darren Wyatt. Darren Wyatt was then admitted to hospital after he took an overdose of drugs.

Legal battles

Her parents opposed the hospital's decision, their lawyer argued before Justice Hedley in the Family Division of the High Court that, since the parents wish to give her every opportunity to live, he should order the hospital to resuscitate her. On October 7, 2004, Hedley J ruled that the doctors should withhold treatment and allow Charlotte to die if she required ventilation. In his opinion, Hedley J said,

<blockquote>
I know that may mean that she may die earlier than otherwise she might have done, but in my judgment the moment of her death will only be slightly advanced. I have asked myself: what can now be done to benefit Charlotte? She should be given as much comfort as possible, as much time as possible to spend in the presence and in contact with her parents and she should be allowed to meet her end, in the words of Mr Wyatt, with the TLC of those who love her the most [530].
</blockquote>

An appeal was made in March of 2005 to Justice Hedley to change his decision. He ruled again on April 21, 2005 that ventilation should not be undertaken [531].

Slight improvement continued and on the 21st of October, her second birthday, and after a highly emotional hearing, Hedley J removed the DNR order he had placed over her a year before.

In February 2006, a viral infection led to a deterioration in Charlott'e condition. The hospital went back to court and once more obtained an order permitting them not to intubate or ventilate her, in the clear expectation that she would die. However, once more she recovered and her overall contdition was continuing to improve in August 2006.

Public reaction

The public has generally been sympathetic to the Wyatts, considering no expense or action too great to save or even merely prolong a child's life. While the case is similar to that of Terri Schiavo, it has not received as much coverage and is thus not the source of much passionate debate.

External links / Sources

Charlotte Wyatt