THIS week a severely handicapped infant will reach a milestone doctors never expected her to see. Two years after hospital consultants told a High Court hearing Charlotte Wyatt was unlikely to survive the winter, the resilient toddler will celebrate her third birthday.

But the occasion that should have been a celebration of her remarkable progress will be marked by sadness. Despite doctors deciding eight months ago that Charlotte was well enough to go home, her birthday party will take place in hospital because she no longer has a stable home to go to.

After fighting a series of lengthy court battles to stop doctors letting their brain-damaged daughter die, Charlotte’s parents, Debbie and Darren Wyatt, separated in January.

For the first two years of Charlotte’s life the couple fought a bitter campaign to force Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust to lift a “do not resuscitate” order that denied her life-saving treatment if she stopped breathing.

They repeatedly argued in court that Charlotte should be given every opportunity to live, but now that Charlotte is out of immediate danger her parents are no longer together to enjoy her recovery.

Darren Wyatt has completed a training course to enable him to look after Charlotte, who also has chronic lung disease, at home, but after the split neither parent is able to cope with the round-the-clock demands of Charlotte alone.

Since February social workers are understood to have been looking for foster parents. So far no suitable family has been found.

In the meantime, Charlotte remains in hospital at a cost of about £300 a day. Her three years in hospital, including periods spent in intensive care, are estimated to have amounted to about £600,000. The cost to the taxpayer of the legal action is estimated at £500,000.

In addition to the expense, doctors say Charlotte would now benefit from the stimuli of the outside world and from living with a family. The case raises ethical dilemmas about the lengths society should go to to keep extremely ill babies alive when they will need a lifetime of intense care.

Medical ethicists also say the case questions whether couples can bear the strain of bitter legal battles. Ann Widdecombe, the Tory MP, criticises doctors for putting additional strain on the couple. “Doctors spent the first two years of that child’s life trying to end it,” she said. “The amazing thing is that the family kept going for as long as they did.”

On Saturday, nurses are expected to throw a small party for Charlotte on the children’s ward of St Mary’s hospital. Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust declined to comment on her future.

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