Lucy Letby Court Case

[Pebble21uk]

Today has been the first day of the trial, which is expected to last for six months. One thread has already been pulled on the subject. Upon deletion MNHQ said that a thread about the case is fine but please read the rules around contempt of court before posting... these are copied and pasted here:
Publicly commenting on a court case:

You might be in contempt of court if you speak publicly or post on social media.
For example, you should not:
say whether you think a person is guilty or innocent
refer to someone’s previous convictions
name someone the judge has allowed to be anonymous, even if you did not know this
name victims, witnesses and offenders under 18
name sex crime victims
share any evidence or facts about a case that the judge has said cannot be made public

If any of the above take place then new threads will also be pulled. Let's please try and keep it going!

I didn't know how they prove air /milk if that's retrospective? From the little revealed so far that doesn't seem like you can prove it - was that the cause of death because surely getting to the numbers they are at makes little sense in that case? Wouldn't alarm bells have gone off after the first case?

Does it ?
I don't think six months is that long for a trial of this magnitude ,there will be.a huge amount of witnesses both prosecution and Defence to hear from for a start.

I read the coverage and it made my blood run cold. I just can’t imagine what those poor families are going through right now. Even knowing your child spent time in the NICU must be quite traumatising.

I don't agree with jury trials in any event, and this case is a very good illustration of why. Six months is a very long time. Some people would have to give up their income for that time, and even the better employers won't necessarily cover a trial this long.

I really do think that paid, well trained judges are the best placed to deal with a trial of this complexity and length.

I’m a nurse - many of us have done a meds error at one time or another. It’s an extremely stressful thing to have happen to both you and the patient and you never forget it

which is why it's meant to be double checked. It should not be possible for a single nurse to give the wrong dose or medicine.

There is also the famous case of Sally Clark where statistics were misused and she was jailed

Sadly, I am not convinced that lessons were learnt from that case at all.

Why do people keep reporting threads? Just report individual posts if you think they are damaging, and otherwise scroll by.

Absolutely heartbreaking for all those poor babies and their families.

It is difficult. Like some previous ones, this case looks set to hinge on statistics, and most people, even educated ones, understand statistics very poorly. Look at "Professor Sir Roy Meadow", multiplying probabilities because he didn't understand statistical independence and putting Sally Clark in jail for the crime of having been tragically, tragically unlucky.

The Prosecution is continuing to make its case this morning. There is live reporting on Sky News:
news.sky.com/story/lucy-letby-trial-live-nurse-accused-of-killing-seven-babies-goes-on-trial-12716378

The death of Child C was changed from that given by the consultant pathologist at the time, upon review by medical experts. It will be interesting to see if that is a common feature of further deaths.

I am deliberately keeping this thread as factual and unemotional as possible. That does not mean I do not feel for all involved in such a awful tragedy.

Found it difficult to read about Child C, as I did with the babies yesterday. Requesting to be in that room after being assigned a baby with more complex needs strikes me, as a nurse wouldn’t you want to be in a room where your skills would be best used?
That alongside searching for the parents on Facebook immediately didn’t sit right with me.
On the other hand, I can understand there perhaps being a curiosity, especially if you’ve become friendly with the family - you would maybe want to check in? Is that something that she just did with child C or each family?

Todays account of the death of Baby C really brought it home to me how tiny and fragile these babies are

Dear God, it's so distressing. I don't know if I'm going to follow this case anymore.

kingjeremy I’m sure I read yesterday in one of the papers that multiple FB searches were made.

I feel the same. I had a prem baby in intensive care and it's very very triggering (hate using the word). I can remember watching the nurses measuring and double checking his milk.

If she is convicted, that will skew the crime stats for women

It's a very complex case to follow. I still can't get my head around how many babies were involved and nothing was raised earlier. follow the Chester Standard reporting, Sky has stopped reporting as they named one of the babies.

@reigatecastle theres been studies that show that double checking actually can be riskier as each person is relying on the other to pick up an error. It’s like trusting the answer on the calculator is correct without realising the numbers you put in were wrong. We were never allowed to use calculators as a student for this reason.
Double checking isn’t universally required it’s usually trust and ward dependent. Only things that are universally double checked are controlled medications and IVs and even they can be single checked if they have been made up in pharmacy for a specific patient.

Is that something that she just did with child C or each family?

Prosecution have just said she searched for parents of babies E and F (twins) too.

Sky isn’t currently updating as they inadvertently revealed Baby A’s real name earlier on the live updates and may have been removed from court.

They named one of the babies? Jesus how bloody careless.

there were only 3 media outlets allowed in the Court, Sky stopped reporting shortly after that incident.

Will Sky be banned from the courtroom now?

I'm finding

https://www.northwalespioneer.co.uk/news/23035356.live-trial-lucy-letby-accused-countess-chester-hospital-baby-murders/

is quite detailed in their updates, I know Sky wasn't updating. Agree with pp, I've had two separate prem babies, one had a NG tube/oxygen support and my earlier one who required a long stay and a readmission and this has been a bit triggering, sending love to anyone this is affecting. Thinking of all those parents sitting through the evidence of their babies.

I'm not entirely sure of the consequences, however I'm sure it will not be taken lightly.

I wondered why sky had stopped updating. i can’t imagine the panic of knowing you’d (presumably) accidentally typed the name and published it