UK - Nurse Lucy Letby Faces 22 Charges - 7 Murder/15 Attempted Murder of Babies #8

[Tortoise]

I've put in the information about the Guedel device (loads of images of these can be found online) being suggested by LL for baby C, because if the throat was swelling it looks like it could have obscured it if he was crying.

 

[LadyEdgeworth]

I've put in the information about the Guedel device (loads of images of these can be found online) being suggested by LL for baby C, because if the throat was swelling it looks like it could have obscured it if he was crying.

Good thinking! Or could try and pass it off as the cause of the swelling, if it was in situ when compressions started it would be easy to say that had potentially knocked the back of the throat?

I've just had a look at them online and it looks like they're inserted 'upside down' at first and then rotated to point down the airway and seems to end at the base of the tongue, not sure if it goes far in enough to reach the vocal chords my medical knowledge is lacking!

 

[Tortoise]

10% extract from article:

On Tuesday, jurors at Manchester Crown Court were read a statement from a nurse who took over Child G’s care at the end of Letby’s night shift. [...]

She went on: “Lucy told me (Child G) had vomited while under the care of (another nurse) and then became unwell. [...]

The prosecution says she made two more attempts to murder Child G on September 21.

Baby ‘very poorly’ after alleged attack by Hereford nurse Lucy Letby


Just adding the designated nurse's testimony from last week here, for comparison.

"The Band 5 nurse said she gave Baby G a feed of expressed milk from her mother before leaving for a break at 2am on September 7, 2015. [She] said the baby’s observations were stable when she left the high dependency unit. “If I was concerned, I wouldn’t have gone on my break. For example, if she looked unwell, or her monitor was alarming, or if she hadn’t tolerated her feed, or woke up upset."


The shift-leader's testimony -

Ailsa Simpson recalled she had been sitting with Lucy Letby at the nurses' station when, 15 minutes' into her colleague's break, they both heard the projectile vomit.

 

[katydid23]

What I found interesting from this podcast is that they suggest LL went into the fridge and injected the 2nd bag just before she went off shift. Potentially to evade suspicion..? I guess without seeing the layout of the fridge it is hard to say if it is obvious which bag would be taken next. If it is obvious, then that scenario makes logical sense (if she is guilty imo). All MOO

Yes I agree ...I imagine they do stack them in a certain way to ensure they are used in use by date order

The more I think about it, maybe she was [allegedly] not too concerned about it if the tainted TPN went to another baby. It seems as though many babies were targeted and it would just add another to the list if it went to one other than F.

 

[Dotta]

A summary I've prepared today of the babies with throat trauma and babies who screamed. (All quotes from the media thread.)


Throat bleeding / swelling



Baby C - room 1 – designated nurse on computer out of view of baby

Ms Taylor said Lucy Letby suggested using a type of ventilation support - a Guedel device - to aid Child C.

(registrar) Davis's note is presented to the court, written at 1.30am on June 14 and timed retrospectively. The note said she arrived at the unit in "less than one minute" after the crash bleep went off.
A 'Guedel airway in situ' was noted, with chest compressions in progress. […]

Dr Davis attempted to intubate Child C, but was unable to do so as Child C's vocal cords were swollen. Dr Davis tried again with a smaller tube, twice, but was again unable to intubate.


Baby E - room 1 – LL alone in room with baby

A '13ml blood-stained fluid from NGT on free drainage' is noted. Dr Harkness says the origin of the blood must have come from somewhere in the oesophageal tract, down to the stomach. It rules out blood coming from the lungs.

Dr Evans said a second major issue was significant haemorrhaging from the upper gastrointestinal tract, somewhere between the mouth and the stomach. In a further report – after he reviewed a statement from Child E’s mother who described “horrendous crying” from her son and blood around his mouth – he suggested something “had been done or used” to cause trauma. The expert witness suggests that a piece of equipment made of rigid plastic may have been used to cause the injury to baby E.


Baby G - room 2 – designated nurse gone to lunch

Dr Ventress - Child G was then intubated, and 'IV vitamin K given due to blood from trachea'. Mr Johnson says this is another case where a baby is bleeding at the mouth.

Dr Ventress notes 'ETT removed at 6.10am. […] Blood clot at end of ETT.
'Reintubated 0615 ETT with intubation drugs. Blood-stained fluid in oropharynx.

Dr Alison Ventress is now recalled to give evidence. Dr Ventress noted 'blood-stained fluid noted coming up from trachea/between cords' during intubation.

Child G was reintubated with a mild anaesthetic at 6.15am, with 'blood-stained fluid in oropharynx' noted.

Dr Ventress says the first observation of blood was in the windpipe, whereas this was more in the throat. Mr Myers refers to the note about 'blood-stained fluid noted coming up from trachea/between cords'. He asks if that was noted after intubation. Dr Ventress said it was during intubation. Mr Myers asks if it would be unusual to see that. Dr Ventress: "It's not uncommon for the baby to [have bleeding during intubation] - it is unusual to have blood coming up from beneath the vocal cords."



Evidence not heard yet – from opening speech


Baby N – room 3 - designated nurse’s back turned for 1st event. (different date from screaming event below)

7.12am – LL arrived early for her day shift. A colleague said LL came into the room to say hello but when her back was turned LL said N had desaturated and assisted with his breathing - the alarm was not sounding.

Around 8am – Doctor tried to intubate N - He couldn’t get the breathing tube down his throat. He was “surprised by his anatomy more than anything else … I could not visualise parts of the back of his throat because of swelling”. The doctor saw "fresh blood" in N's throat, which the prosecution say was the same seen in babies C, E and G. The doctor was unable to get the breathing tube down the throat of N as he was unable to visualise the child's tracheal inlet. He attempted to intubate N on three occasions.

2.50pm – LL noted N stopped breathing, fresh blood in mouth and 3 mls aspirated from NGT. Crash call. A consultant was called at 2.59pm. While awaiting a consultant, a junior doctor looked into the airway of N and saw a “large swelling at the end of his epiglottis” he could only just see the bottom of the vocal cords. He had never seen anything like this before in a newborn baby. The junior doctor's notes made at 4.30pm recorded: "desaturated this afternoon at 2:50pm with blood in the oropharynx + blood in the NG tube. Improved with bagging. Elective intubation planned following ??? unsuccessful attempts with 2 registrars and 2 consultants cords difficult to visualise …”

A more specialist team was called to carry out the intubation.

Dr Kinsey blood expert said such a bleed would not have happened spontaneously and swelling was evidence of trauma. He had a mild version of haemophilia. She also excluded heavy-handed intubation.



Babies screaming

Baby E - room 1 - LL alone

Court hears that on the evening of the babies' 5th day, their mum came down to the neonatal ward to bring breast milk. As she came along the corridor, she could hear screaming. She says "I could hear my son crying, and it was like nothing I’d heard before…"It was a sound that shouldn’t have come from a tiny baby. I can’t explain what it was - it was horrendous. It was more of a scream than a cry". The twins' mum says that Lucy Letby was the only person in the room with the babies but was not by the incubator - she was standing at the workstation.



Evidence not heard yet – from opening speeches


Baby I - room unknown yet - designated nurse left room

1.06am - baby I’s monitor alarm sounded and she screamed. Her nurse, having left the nursery temporarily, responded to I's alarm and saw Lucy Letby at the incubator.

An expert paediatrician who reviewed child I’s case … believed that on the final occasion the child had been injected with air into her bloodstream which led to her "screaming", followed quickly by her collapse.



Baby N - room unknown yet - designated nurse on break

1am – N’s designated nurse went on break, leaving N “stable”. 1.05am – N collapsed and was screaming and cried for 30 mins. He was resuscitated.

Independent medical experts said the baby’s sudden deterioration was consistent with some kind of "inflicted injury". Dr Sandie Bohin said such a profound desaturation followed by a rapid recovery, in the absence of any painful or uncomfortable procedure, suggested an inflicted painful stimulus. She said – “this is life threatening. He was also noted to be … ‘screaming’ and apparently cried for 30 minutes. This is most unusual. I have never observed a premature neonate to scream.”

The defence say there are many reasons a baby will shout or scream - and "it is more far more likely to be hunger".

Re Baby N
Screaming in agony for 30 minutes with blood in the throat is just too much to read about

Moo

 

[Dotta]

"Letby is accused of overfeeding Child G with milk through a nasogastric tube (NGT) and/or injecting air into the tube.

The prosecution says she made two more attempts to murder Child G on September 21.

The nurse, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, stated: 'I remember (Child G) being very poorly that day which surprised me and the staff because prior to September 7 (Child G) was very stable.'

She said Child G had been 'feeding and growing' in the outside nursery rooms of the unit following her transfer from Wirral's Arrowe Park Hospital.

The nurse described Child G's parents as a 'loving, caring couple' who were 'committed' to the wellbeing of their daughter.

Noting both had been on the unit all day, she wrote: 'Understandable very upset and struggling to see her this poorly again. Have looked at 100 day cake and trying to remain positive at this stage.' "

Premature baby girl 'attacked by Lucy Letby was "very poorly"'

A baby girl allegedly attacked by nurse Lucy Letby as she turned 100-days-old was 'very poorly' after suddenly deteriorating overnight, a court has heard.

www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[Anxala]

I probably worded that badly, as I think the suggestion by reform advocates is that the jurors are average people from wide walks of life -but- the difference is, they are willing and free to be available for chunks of time, have volunteered to be in a bank of jurors who can be repeatedly called upon over the years, they are given support in various areas, ie how to comprehend evidence, their own internal bias, and how to cope with emotive stuff. As opposed to people called out of their daily life to attend something incredibly traumatic which might be devastating for their own personal life, many people don't have English as a first or even second or third language, jury service causes untold stress and inconvenience, plus not everyone is the sharpest tool in the box and many people are downright hateful - for example it's well known that juries take a dim view to both female victims of crime and perpetrators of crime. But I totally take your point, the definition of a jury is that its comprised from peers of every day life.

It's such a big ask, isn't it, and most particularly in a case like this where, apart from its horribly traumatic nature, the 'technical minutiae' requires so much 'ask' of the jury members whom, I'd guess, some, at least, will have found themselves in a truly foreign and very daunting land.

That said, illness and 'indisposition' of one form or another is always going a play a part in a trial this length, in the same way it does in ordinary non-jury work environments. People get ill, people have to deal with unexpected events that prevent them from being able to attend/do their jobs. A bank of volunteered jurors would be subject to exactly the same potential frailties as any other type of jury, in that no one is protected from what life unexpectedly throws at them.

In short, I don't have any useful answers as to how it might be improved.

 

[Dotta]

Polish lullaby for the Babies.
Sleep tight sweet Angels!

Lullaby, little baby, my little pearl,
Lull, my favorite little cuddley one.

Lullaby, little baby, lullaby, lull,
And Mama will calm you down when crying.

Close your little eyelids, weary from weeping,
Relax your little lips, tired from sobbing.

Lullaby, little baby, lullaby, lull,

Lullaby, our most lovely little angel,
Lullaby, the most enchanting little flower in the world.

Lullaby, little baby, lullaby, lull,
And Mama will calm you down when crying.

Lullaby, the most gorgeous little rose,
Lullaby, the most pleasant little lily.

Lullaby, little baby, lullaby, lull,

Lullaby, lovely little star delighting our eyes,
Lullaby, the most beautiful little sun in the world.

Lullaby, little baby, lullaby, lull,

Hush, hush, hush, everyone get ready for bed,

Lullaby, little baby, lullaby, lull,
And Mama will calm you down when crying.


In fact, it is a Lullaby dedicated to Baby Jesus

 

[magikarpmagikarp]

"Jurors were told that Child F was the only baby who was receiving TPN on the night shift on which he was allegedly poisoned."

Lucy Letby trial: Baby ‘received two bags of poisoned feed’

A BABY boy allegedly poisoned by Lucy Letby received two bags of intravenous feed contaminated with insulin, a court heard.

www.chesterstandard.co.uk

That makes me the "second bag poisoned" theory more credible to me. Heck, maybe all the bags were poisoned.

Good thinking! Or could try and pass it off as the cause of the swelling, if it was in situ when compressions started it would be easy to say that had potentially knocked the back of the throat?

I've just had a look at them online and it looks like they're inserted 'upside down' at first and then rotated to point down the airway and seems to end at the base of the tongue, not sure if it goes far in enough to reach the vocal chords my medical knowledge is lacking!

A Guedel is a type of oropharyngeal (mouth-throat) airway. They go just to the back of the throat. They aren't meant to reach to the vocal cords, and shouldn't unless one has been misused. An endotracheal (within-trachea) tube is meant to pass through the vocal cords. If you search for a picture of those you can see the difference.

 

[Kemug]

The more I think about it, maybe she was [allegedly] not too concerned about it if the tainted TPN went to another baby. It seems as though many babies were targeted and it would just add another to the list if it went to one other than F.

I was just thinking this. In fact some of these many cases may indeed have been random, I wonder if that has been considered?

 

[katydid23]

Lucy Letby's colleague tells trial of surprise at baby's illness

A colleague of Lucy Letby tells the nurse's trial how the baby became ill on her 100 days birthday.

www.bbc.com

Lucy Letby's colleague tells trial of surprise at baby's illness​

A former colleague of Lucy Letby has told how nursing staff were "surprised" by how "very poorly" a previously stable baby became on her 100 days birthday.

The colleague told Manchester Crown Court the baby had deteriorated.

In a statement read to the jury, the nurse, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said there had been a celebration to mark Child G's 100 day birthday, with cake and balloons.
She said: "I remember this day as [Child G] was 100 days old.

"We celebrate this birthday as it is seen as a milestone. We baked a cake and there was balloons around the cot side.
"She was very poorly that day, it surprised me and staff as prior to 7 September [Child G] was stable."

 

[LadyEdgeworth]

That makes me the "second bag poisoned" theory more credible to me. Heck, maybe all the bags were poisoned.



A Guedel is a type of oropharyngeal (mouth-throat) airway. They go just to the back of the throat. They aren't meant to reach to the vocal cords, and shouldn't unless one has been misused. An endotracheal (within-trachea) tube is meant to pass through the vocal cords. If you search for a picture of those you can see the difference.

Thanks for clarifying! So it's probably not what caused the swelling then

 

[katydid23]

Alleged Serial Killer Nurse Lucy Letby Told Mom Who Caught Her With Baby Trust Me I'm A Nurse - Trendeepro

A British nurse accused of killing seven babies in her care was disturbed during an attack by the alleged victim’s mother, who decided to visit her newborn son in hospital, a court said on Tuesday. Lucy Letby, 32, has been charged with 22 crimes, including the murder of five baby boys, two girls...

trendeepro.com

Alleged Serial Killer Nurse Lucy Letby Told Mom Who Caught Her With Baby Trust Me I’m A Nurse​

At her trial at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday, the jury heard that the mother of a victim known only as Child E did not realize her baby boy was being attacked when Letby told her that the reason for her child’s mouth was bleeding. was due to a tube irritating his throat. Prosecutors say Letby reassured the mother, who was concerned about her acutely distressed baby, with the phrase, “Believe me, I’m a nurse.”

The court was told that the mother had given birth to twins prematurely and Letby was appointed their nurse. She is charged with the murder of Child E and the attempted murder of his sister, Child F.

Letby told the concerned mother to go back to the hospital’s postnatal ward after she walked in on the nurse, which the mother duly did. The court heard the concerned parent called her husband after the incident.

Prosecutors allege that Letby later falsified nursing notes to “cover her tracks,” the BBC reports. The court also heard that one of the doctors who saw Child E said he had never seen such a large amount of bleeding in a small baby, and a later analysis showed that the child lost about a quarter of its blood volume.

 

[LadyEdgeworth]

Alleged Serial Killer Nurse Lucy Letby Told Mom Who Caught Her With Baby Trust Me I'm A Nurse - Trendeepro

A British nurse accused of killing seven babies in her care was disturbed during an attack by the alleged victim’s mother, who decided to visit her newborn son in hospital, a court said on Tuesday. Lucy Letby, 32, has been charged with 22 crimes, including the murder of five baby boys, two girls...

trendeepro.com

Alleged Serial Killer Nurse Lucy Letby Told Mom Who Caught Her With Baby Trust Me I’m A Nurse​

At her trial at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday, the jury heard that the mother of a victim known only as Child E did not realize her baby boy was being attacked when Letby told her that the reason for her child’s mouth was bleeding. was due to a tube irritating his throat. Prosecutors say Letby reassured the mother, who was concerned about her acutely distressed baby, with the phrase, “Believe me, I’m a nurse.”

The court was told that the mother had given birth to twins prematurely and Letby was appointed their nurse. She is charged with the murder of Child E and the attempted murder of his sister, Child F.

Letby told the concerned mother to go back to the hospital’s postnatal ward after she walked in on the nurse, which the mother duly did. The court heard the concerned parent called her husband after the incident.

Prosecutors allege that Letby later falsified nursing notes to “cover her tracks,” the BBC reports. The court also heard that one of the doctors who saw Child E said he had never seen such a large amount of bleeding in a small baby, and a later analysis showed that the child lost about a quarter of its blood volume.

“Believe me, I’m a nurse.” makes me so angry. It's just gaslighting the mother who instinctively knew something was wrong with her little baby but believed that the nurse did have her babies best interest at heart because why wouldn't she? Then for the mother to be questioned in court as if she's a liar, really stings. MOO of course

 

[katydid23]

Tuesday Dec 6th
https://twitter.com/MrDanDonoghue
https://twitter.com/MrDanDonoghue
https://twitter.com/MrDanDonoghue



Dan O'Donoghue

https://twitter.com/MrDanDonoghue

Defence counsel Ben Myers KC cannot make today's sitting, therefore the court is hearing statements of agreed evidence from various former colleagues of Ms Letby being read by the prosecution


A former colleague of Ms Letby, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said in her statement that she and staff on the neonatal unit had been 'surprised' by how 'very poorly' Child G became in early September as she had previously been 'stable'


https://twitter.com/MrDanDonoghue

Jury are now being shown an instructional video of how a ventilator works


https://twitter.com/MrDanDonoghue

Further instructional videos showing how suction tubes/heart rate monitors work are being shown to the court




Court adjourned till tomorrow. Not many updates today as Ms Letby’s leading defence counsel could not be present. Back tomorrow

 

[BabaVanga]

Can’t find anyone covering today

 

[katydid23]

I don't see any reporters covering the trial so far today. Yesterday they said this was going to be a full day of witnesses. They must be starting late?

 

[katydid23]

Liz Hull

@lizhull


I’m at Manchester Crown Court where the trial of Lucy Letby has been derailed for a couple of days because one of the jurors has tested positive for Covid, potentially back on Friday


2:54 AM · Dec 7, 2022

 

[Tortoise]

Memory Boxes (to date - babies A, C & E) - quotes from media thread

9 June – baby A - LL wrote up nursing notes for A before going off shift. She noted: lock of hair and hand/foot prints were taken in accordance with the parents’ wishes.

9 June - baby A - A nurse's note for the day of June 9 records that the family of A were offered support throughout the day, and declined to receive a memory box for A and photographs at that time as they were too upset and bereaved.

10 June – baby A - A colleague told LL that the parents of A had taken a memory box for him. LL: 'Oh good'. 'Hoped they would find comfort'.

12 June – baby A – LL’s text to a colleague: I took pictures, hand and footprints etc.


14 June – baby C – (LL was repeatedly asked not to be in the family room) – LL texted: "Parents sat with C in the family room...persuaded them to have hand and footprints but they just wanted to go home."

The prosecutor asks the shift-leader: "Whose responsibility is it to ensure the memory box is made and who takes care of it?" Shift-leader: "The designated nurse at the time. The nurse said Melanie Taylor was the one meant to offer the family a memory box. LL told police her only involvement with C was when she was asked to help with the resuscitation attempt. She added she had a "vague recollection" of taking C's hand and foot prints for a memory box while the infant was sat with his parents but "couldn't be certain".


4 Aug – baby E - LL’s nursing note: 'both parents present during resus. Fully updated by nursing and medical team throughout. Parents wished for E to be baptised, Chaplain attended and carried out baptism and supported parents. Mum and dad held E’s hand as he passed away.” “'E was bathed by myself and photographs taken as requested, both were present during this. Consent obtained for [hair] and hand/footprints. Both distraught.”

Baby E's mum testifies that "Lucy Letby gave us a memory box, which totally surprised me. It had footprints, a lock of his hair, a candle, a teddy.

 

[Supernovae]

Liz Hull
@lizhull


I’m at Manchester Crown Court where the trial of Lucy Letby has been derailed for a couple of days because one of the jurors has tested positive for Covid, potentially back on Friday


2:54 AM · Dec 7, 2022

Not a surprise that shoe would drop.