Post by The Lost One on Oct 10, 2022 13:59:32 GMT
And trying to kill 10 more: www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/lucy-letby-trial-nurse-accused-of-murdering-seven-babies-and-trying-to-kill-10-more-was-poisoner-at-work/ar-AA12Ndm9?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=0731583f8b334c85bc4e3c80f63faeea
Yikes. Obviously hasn't been convicted yet so can't presume anything, but if she did do it, this has to be one of the most reprehensible things I've ever read about. I assume she must have a severe mental illness because I can't imagine anyone in their right mind doing such a thing. Thank God the consultants picked up on the pattern before she was able to kill more.
A "poisoner was at work" in the heart of a hospital maternity unit who killed seven babies and attempted to kill 10 others, a court has heard.
She has pleaded not guilty to murdering seven babies and trying to kill 10 more as her trial got under way.
Nick Johnson KC, opening the case for the prosecution, told Manchester Crown Court: "On the edge of the City of Chester is a hospital called the Countess of Chester and it is a busy general hospital.
"Within the facilities it provides is a maternity unit and within the maternity unit is a neonatal unit and the neonatal unit cares for premature and sick babies.
"In that sense, it is a hospital like so many others in the UK. But unlike many others in the UK, within the neonatal unit within the Countess of Chester, a poisoner was at work."
Prior to January 2015, the prosecutor said, the hospital had infant mortality statistics "comparable" to other parts of the UK.
"However, over the next 18 months or so, there was a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying and the number of serious collapses," he continued.
The rise was said to have been noticed by the consultants working at the hospital and they began searching for a cause for the trend.
The prosecutor said: "Their concern was that the babies who were dying had deteriorated unexpectedly, not only that but when babies seriously collapsed they did not respond to appropriate and timely resuscitation."
There was an unexpected pattern observed with the surviving babies as their reaction and recovery did not accord with what the doctors would have expected, the prosecutor said.
"Babies that hadn't been unstable suddenly deteriorated; suddenly babies that were sick but had been on the mend deteriorated for no apparent reason," he continued.
"The consultants noticed the collapses and deaths had one common denominator: the presence of one of the neonatal nurses. That nurse was Lucy Letby."
There were said to be around 25 to 30 nurses working on the maternity ward and around 15 on the neonatal unit, some of whom were required to work night shifts.
"As a general rule of thumb, more nurses worked on a day shift than on corresponding night shifts and therefore there were fewer people around at night," the prosecutor said.
This was also true for parents, he added.
"Many of the events in this case occurred on the night shifts, although when Lucy Letby was moved on to day shifts the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts," he told the jury.
Once the consultants had been unable to find an explanation for the rise in deaths and collapses, the police were called, the court heard.
They decided to carry out a review with "experienced doctors" who had no connection to the Countess of Chester.
The prosecutor added: "The review suggests in that period in the middle of 2015 to the middle of 2016, somebody poisoned two children with insulin."
He said the prosecution contends that it was reasonable to draw the connection that somebody has poisoned the children with insulin.
"That is not an accident," he added.
Ms Letby, 32, wearing a blue jacket over a black shirt, stood in the dock and replied “not guilty” as each of the 22 charges were read out to her at Manchester Crown Court.
Family members of some of her alleged child victims sat in the public gallery listening as the names of the children were read out during her not guilty pleas.
On the other side of the public gallery sat the defendant’s parents, John, 76, and Susan, 62.
Ms Letby, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, denies murdering five boys and two girls, and attempting to murder another five boys and five girls between June 2015 and June 2016. She faces 15 attempted murder charges in total.
She has pleaded not guilty to murdering seven babies and trying to kill 10 more as her trial got under way.
Nick Johnson KC, opening the case for the prosecution, told Manchester Crown Court: "On the edge of the City of Chester is a hospital called the Countess of Chester and it is a busy general hospital.
"Within the facilities it provides is a maternity unit and within the maternity unit is a neonatal unit and the neonatal unit cares for premature and sick babies.
"In that sense, it is a hospital like so many others in the UK. But unlike many others in the UK, within the neonatal unit within the Countess of Chester, a poisoner was at work."
Prior to January 2015, the prosecutor said, the hospital had infant mortality statistics "comparable" to other parts of the UK.
"However, over the next 18 months or so, there was a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying and the number of serious collapses," he continued.
The rise was said to have been noticed by the consultants working at the hospital and they began searching for a cause for the trend.
The prosecutor said: "Their concern was that the babies who were dying had deteriorated unexpectedly, not only that but when babies seriously collapsed they did not respond to appropriate and timely resuscitation."
There was an unexpected pattern observed with the surviving babies as their reaction and recovery did not accord with what the doctors would have expected, the prosecutor said.
"Babies that hadn't been unstable suddenly deteriorated; suddenly babies that were sick but had been on the mend deteriorated for no apparent reason," he continued.
"The consultants noticed the collapses and deaths had one common denominator: the presence of one of the neonatal nurses. That nurse was Lucy Letby."
There were said to be around 25 to 30 nurses working on the maternity ward and around 15 on the neonatal unit, some of whom were required to work night shifts.
"As a general rule of thumb, more nurses worked on a day shift than on corresponding night shifts and therefore there were fewer people around at night," the prosecutor said.
This was also true for parents, he added.
"Many of the events in this case occurred on the night shifts, although when Lucy Letby was moved on to day shifts the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts," he told the jury.
Once the consultants had been unable to find an explanation for the rise in deaths and collapses, the police were called, the court heard.
They decided to carry out a review with "experienced doctors" who had no connection to the Countess of Chester.
The prosecutor added: "The review suggests in that period in the middle of 2015 to the middle of 2016, somebody poisoned two children with insulin."
He said the prosecution contends that it was reasonable to draw the connection that somebody has poisoned the children with insulin.
"That is not an accident," he added.
Ms Letby, 32, wearing a blue jacket over a black shirt, stood in the dock and replied “not guilty” as each of the 22 charges were read out to her at Manchester Crown Court.
Family members of some of her alleged child victims sat in the public gallery listening as the names of the children were read out during her not guilty pleas.
On the other side of the public gallery sat the defendant’s parents, John, 76, and Susan, 62.
Ms Letby, of Arran Avenue, Hereford, denies murdering five boys and two girls, and attempting to murder another five boys and five girls between June 2015 and June 2016. She faces 15 attempted murder charges in total.