Lucy Letby: Nurse accused of killing 7 babies allegedly force-fed premature girl ‘massive’ amount of milk
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CHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM: An accused serial killer nurse attempted to murder a 15-weeks premature baby girl by force-feeding her a "massive" amount of milk through a nasal tube, a court heard. Lucy Letby is currently on trial for allegedly killing five boys and two girls and attempting to murder five boys and five girls between June 2015 and June 2016.
Letby reportedly tried to murder the infant, referred to as just Child G in the Countess of Chester Hospital's neonatal ward in 2015, BBC reported. Dr Stephen Breary, who was the on-call consultant in the neonatal unit at the time, took the stand in Manchester Crown Court on December 13 and testified that Child G had been "improving" and was "stable" on September 6. But at 3.30 am on September 7, he was urgently called back to the unit because the infant had a "very large projectile vomit” that landed on the floor and a chair next to her crib. “This was not something I had witnessed before,” Dr Breary testified.
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Following Dr Breary’s testimony, the prosecution alleged that Letby either introduced air into the same nasogastric tube or overfed Child G with milk through the tube. Medical expert Dr Dewi Evans, who was approached by the National Crime Agency to review the case in 2017, also told the court that it was "astonishing" for such a small and premature baby to vomit as severely as Child G did. "For a baby of 2kg to vomit that far is quite remarkable. Even more astonishing is the vomit that ends up on the chair. That is several feet away,” Dr Dewi said, according to BBC. "I can't recall a baby vomiting on the floor. I can't recall a baby vomiting that distance. It was described quite correctly as extraordinary."
Citing the medical reports, Dr Evans suggested that Child G "had received far more milk" than prescribed down her nasal tube. He also noted that over-feeding entailed an "intent to harm" and “cannot occur accidentally.” The court was previously told that after the infant started vomiting, her health quickly deteriorated, and she was forced to be placed on a ventilator. Child G eventually survived but was left with severe brain damage and disabilities including quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
Letby was originally detained in 2018 on accusations of killing eight infants while she was employed at the Chester Hospital. Earlier in the trial, prosecutors informed jurors of Post-It notes that were discovered at Letby's home in which she wrote that she was "evil" and "killed them on purpose”. Initially, Letby was charged with 22 counts related to the murders. However, she denied all allegations.