[web_stories title="false" excerpt="false" author="false" date="false" archive_link="true" archive_link_label="" circle_size="150" sharp_corners="false" image_alignment="left" number_of_columns="1" number_of_stories="5" order="DESC" orderby="post_title" view="circles" /]
At the prosecution of nurse Lucy Letby, a medical expert testified that he had observed a “very troubling and pretty odd” trend in the deaths of infants under her care. Ms. Letby is accused of murdering seven infants in 2015 and 2016 at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she also attempted to kill 10 more. Ms. Letby, who is 32 years old, has been accused of 22 different crimes.
In 2017, the National Crime Agency consulted Dr. Dewi Evans, a forensic pathologist, for an evaluation of the case. The forensic pathologist Dr. Evans testified before the Manchester Crown Court, saying, “The issue was that there had been a lot of fatalities in the Countess of Chester that had been odd.”
More people died than anyone anticipated. Infants who seemed to be doing OK suddenly collapsed, and in many of these cases, CPR failed. Dr. Evans saw the emergence of a “pattern,” calling it “very frightening and pretty unexpected.”
Ms. Letby allegedly injected air into the bloodstream of a newborn, called Child A in court, shortly after she arrived on the shift in June 2015, a little over 24 hours after his preterm delivery. On the following night’s shift, the prosecution claims she attacked his sister, Child B, using the same technique. According to Dr. Evans’ testimony, an examination of Child A’s medical records revealed that the infant boy had been in “stable condition” before his unexpected hospitalization.
He reported that his condition was as good as could be expected and that all indicators of health were encouraging. “Everyone on the unit would have been incredibly delighted with the way he was performing. He was doing well.”
Dr. Evans concluded that “air had somehow gotten into his circulation” after examining the circumstances surrounding Child A’s fall. He ruled out infection, dehydration, and hypoxia as potential causes or contributory factors. Read more: Allegheny County Police Discovered the Body of a Man Who Had Been Shot
He concluded that there was “just one” possible explanation: Baby A got an air embolism from the intravenous line. He argued that “there was no way this could have been done by mistake,” given the mechanisms in place, the medical equipment, and the medical staff’s “obsession” with preventing the accidental injection of air into patients.
The jury has already heard from a doctor who was on duty the night Child B became unwell but who cannot be identified for legal reasons. The attending physician read the following from her notes: “Baby immediately stopped breathing.” Heart rate decreases and a purple blotchy appearance spreads over the body. Read more: Paul Wellstone Died 20 Years Ago in Minnesota
The doctor was still “puzzled” by the purple rash, but further blood observations were “excellent” and no more testing was requested.
She explained that the flowery language seemed to come out of nowhere. After 1.5 hours, it had disappeared entirely.
This trial keeps going.
If you sign up for updates at unitedfact.com, you’ll get them as soon as they’re posted. In case you appreciate reading articles like the one you’re looking at right now, you might be interested in receiving the news and updates that we provide.
