Lucy Letby guilty

[BarelyLiterate]

Lucy Letby has been convicted of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more.

My thoughts are with the families of the victims.

the paediatricians fought for so long to have her removed from the neonatal unit i just read - just terrible

People are talking about it being compulsory for all prisoners to be there for sentencing, not just the petite, small women.

And how does it serve victims or justice if the criminal is forced into the dock but spends their time there shrieking their innocence, or with their fingers in their ears and eyes closed, loudly humming or singing, or, worse, screaming, shouting and swearing, including shouting obscene things about their victims? You can gag them, I guess, but you still can't stop all noise. Soundproofing the dock carries implications around the right to a fair trial. For some you could obviously say that their sentence will be increased if they don't turn up, but that is hardly going to influence someone who is looking at a whole life term.

And why give them the chance to create all that drama and make life worse for their victims? In the context of the whole process of arrest, remand and trial, whether they are there for the sentencing isn't as important as the fact of the sentence itself. They are going to be told what the sentence was anyway, and if we want them to hear the sentencing remarks I guess they could be broadcast to them in a cell.

I totally agree with this comment. My DH is blind to NHS failures. It’s always underfunding in his view. No, it’s not. There are loonies and cowards and killers in the NHS just like everywhere else. But no one wants to face this.

I cannot put in words what I think about that person.

I think it needs to be made easier in the public sector to remove people from positions, although this is an extreme case, for incompetence , laziness, lack of social skills etc. and work should be paid and rewarded on demonstrated effort and ability. As per the private sector. Unpopular opinion but clearly there is something very wrong if this women was allowed to continue working with everything that was known or suspected by colleagues.

Tony Chambersseems to be up to his neck in this. What is absolutely unbelievable is that despite having resigned from Countess of Chester in 2018 he was subsequently employed again as a senior manager by another NHS Trust

Of course he was; after all he did what was expected of him in protecting the hospital no matter what the cost, so why wouldn't he?

In other news I see the new hospital director Nigel Scawn is at it already, with "we are committed to ensuring that lessons continue to be learned"
You'd hope such people could at least be a little more original, but it seems not

Watching Sky news now and it is unbelievable that 7 consultants who expressed concerns about her were threatened with being reported to the medical council!!! What chance whistleblowers will report concerns in any job if they are treated like this .Awful !

I'm so sorry for your loss @Elderflower14 that's heartbreaking.

@problembottom
Pure evil. It sounds all about this married doctor, thought it worth killing the babies to keep his attention? Not sure why he should get to keep his anonymity to be honest.
Reports say she was absolutely besotted with him, and just wanted to impress him all the time etc, etc. It’s hardly his fault she murdered these poor babies, he deserves to kept his anonymity IMO.

Is there a table that shows other deaths or serious incidents in the unit over the relevant period? I mean, obviously the ones presented in court will show her there, that's why she was charged. It would be relevant to see what the incidence of problems was when she wasn't there, given the defence that this was down to lack of resources etc. Also what happened when she was in other similar jobs elsewhere.

The NHS and Government always say "lessons will be learnt" and that the culture has changed for so called "whistleblowers" (bloody brave people) but it manifestly hasn't. There is just scandal after scandal. This one is ongoing
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=brighton+hospital+whistleblower
NHS management need a total clear out.

This is an interesting article speculating on why she did it https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/18/what-were-lucy-letbys-possible-motives-for-murdering-babies

yes, i just read the texts she sent, does seem like she was playing god

she was searching the parents on facebook after the deaths!

@JanieEyre i know. I know you're right. You've written all that out and it makes complete sense! 🙄 Damn you! 🙂

I do understand that justice isn't revenge. It's just so depressing day after day. You hear about people driving into pregnant women and killing them and getting light sentences that they'll do half of and so many of these bastard murderers not even being there to hear the victims families read their statements which they've prepared.

sigh.
It's just shit.

I don't like it when people try to blame the authorities for atrocities - the only person who is to blame is the murderer themselves. But if concerns are raised again and again they should be acted on, and the NHS has (a lot of) form for ignoring whistle blowing.

I hope the verdict is correct. I don't want to believe it either but I guess people also thought that in the Shipman case.

Why is it "unbelieveable" when this sort of intimidation happens time after time?

Worth remembering though, next time an HCP insists that the culture around whistleblowing has changed since these tragic deaths

Isn't it.

I know of someone who was reported to her regulatory body after whistle-blowing (something to do with medication), and it was only that a big law firm took her case on pro bone (free) that she was found not guilty of misconduct. Goodness knows what is wrong with the NHS and why they won't listen to concerns.

"whistleblowing" in many parts of the NHS is propaganda - the first people to be villified and drummed out are those who raise concerns.

I agree with the guilty verdict and hope the parents of the murdered children can get some peace, but I don’t think that can happen until there is clear accountability throughout public services and some very negative consequences for blatant negligence. What we see time after time are various highly paid ‘managers’ failing in their roles, creating havoc and worse then transferring to the next post in a nearby Trust to carry on. No-one with corporate responsibility ever seems to lose out.
The named and shamed should , after due diligence by an independent inquiry , at least lose their pensions and be prevented from taking up the lucrative directorships they have. Prosecution would appease some but the threat of losing jobs and pensions might begin an age of real accountability and responsibility.
My last point : why do we call these places ‘Trusts’ ? They’re obviously not.

And sheer incompetence. It does not have to be malicious wrongdoing, but procedures need to be put in place to prevent "accidents" and learn from them when they do happen (and actually make meaningful change). It works well in civil aviation.

The NHS has about a million employees so many must be on MN. Why don't people listen when people raise concerns - can anyone tell me?

The poor babies and families, and those colleagues who tried to do something.

I've never, ever understood why whistleblowers are treated badly. Whistleblowers are just people who work somewhere who raise the alarm when they realise something bad is happening or are worried about something. Surely that's part of anyone's job? Over and over again whistleblowers are silenced or bullied, and then there's a massive scandal, the whistleblower is vindicated and the organisation looks even worse, as now there's the added scandal that they mistreated the whistleblower as well. Why don't organisations welcome whistleblowers who can help to stop problems at an early stage? It makes absolutely no sense.

This was an individual who was being suspected - it wouldn't have even reflected badly on the hospital or the trust if they had acted on it as soon as it was raised. Why would they rather have a massive failure and even worse tragedy, instead of dealing with it?

*I was thinking what if the insulin was in the enteral feeding bag or the saline flushes?

I am not saying she is innocent but those items could potentially both be tampered with*

Oh come on.

It's so insulting to a jury who gave up months of their lives (not every day, I know), who deliberated over the evidence for hours and hours, to suggest they didn't fully consider if a bag might have been tampered with.

Utterly tragic & heartbreaking. I hope the senior hospital executives are fired for ignoring the 7 consultants demands for Lucy Letby to be removed from the neonatal ward & an investigation started. That this killer was allowed to continue her killing spree for so long after multiple concerns were raised is unthinkable.

I hope the murderous bitch rots in hell for the rest of her days

Shame on the NHS who protected Letby and let her kill again.

And again.

And again.