Lucy Letby press conference

[Viviennemary]

There is a press conference going on now trying to get Lucy Letby's conviction overturned. From what I read the guilty verdict was sound. All those ill babies dying when she was alone with them. Just a coincidence? Already been refused an appeal.

After reading this thread thank goodness she wasn't sentenced to death.
I don't know if LL is guilty or innocent but if there is a slither of doubt
that she didn't do it an investigation to review the evidence needs to be done.

He says something similar at the start of the PC - basically that their findings were to be published whether they supported LL’s innocence claim or found that she was certainly guilty. Regardless, they were to be made public.

I would hate to feel I lived in a country where the possible ruination of a person's life by being imprisoned for life with no release for a crime they didn't commit was considered the lesser evil to spending public money on a fair retrial. Thank God you won't be the one making the decision.

Seems "protect the NHS" has been taken to a whole new level!!

There are investigations going on at other places she worked at. This might be just the tip of the iceberg like Harold Shipman.

Just one - Liverpool, where she worked just over thirty shifts and they've had over seven years to produce charges. They started investigating those shifts in 2017. There's no sign at all that they have anything to charge her with.

It is a use of taxpayer money. That's why we pay it, to be used for stuff that is in the public interest. You can't just decide that anything you don't like your taxes being spent on is a waste. That's not the definition.

Those families have spoken for themselves, and on a pretty similar note, as anyone who listened with the smallest degree of interest to the Thirlwall inquiry will already know.

What's really marked about this reply is it's absolutely devoid of sympathy for a new mum of a very vulnerable baby, a mother who has to be going through one of the most difficult and worrying times it's possible to experience as a parent.

@oneofmeiscutebuttwothough - I'm sorry to read about what you're going through and hope you will soon have your baby home with you, safe and well

@SerafinasGoose thank you. I'm disgusted that these families seem to be at the bottom of everyone's priority lists. Having a baby in NICU is bad enough but I can't pretend this case has been weighing heavily on my mind while she's been in hospital. It being in the news again and again is awful, you lie awake hoping your baby has one of the good nurses.

They've not all spoken about this press conference though. Clearly comments made to an enquiry before that conference cannot possibly be presumed to apply to events in the future.

Your remark, incidentally, shows not the smallest degree of sympathy for my experience as a mother with experience of a child in special care. As such, I'll be taking no lectures from you about that subject.

I don’t understand why ensuring the evidence is robust and the conviction sound is somehow derogatory towards the families. Surely they want the truth as much as anyone?

I can’t tell anyone what to do but would strongly urge anyone with a baby on NICU to step away from the thread.

Soo's stance on this issue was broadly known before yesterday's press conference and was brought up during the original court proceedings. This is not news to anyone. It's there in stark black-and-white in the original judgement, available online to anyone who cares to read it.

In which case, it's unlikely to be deemed new evidence either.

The newly issued reports contain commentary that hasn't been considered in the enquiry, this is a fact. Whether it's deemed new evidence by the court or not is a different point to how the families might feel about it.

The parents of child D, referred to yesterday as child 4, have been actively seeking information on possible medical negligence in their child's case, including with questions their solicitor was instructed to ask pathologist Jane McPartland at the Thirlwall Enquiry.

The parents of Child A, referred to as Child 1 yesterday, sent a letter to Chester after his death questioning exactly one of the points Lee made about his care. The parents of Child I, referred to as Child 9 yesterday, disputed the hospital's claim that the death was sudden and complained of delays in his treatment. The parents of Child O, referred to as Child 15 yesterday, observed that the unit was chaotic while doctors worked on his resuscitation and that they seemed just to be trying anything. That's the resuscitation attempt that has come in for most expert criticism.

Who can tell what the parents think, but it's worth noting that Lee is confirming fears and answering questions they raised before Letby was ever in the picture.

The parents of child D (4), child O (15) and child P were presented from having the coroner's inquests they were pursuing because of the criminal investigation. This meant that when the circumstances around their children's deaths were heard, the only discussion was whether or not Letby murdered them.

A coroner's inquest might have told a different story.

And it might not be.

It's not just nicu where medical incompetence and failures occur unfortunately

I work in medicine and I’m absolutely floored that one of the babies (I think baby 4/D) didn’t have an ABG (arterial blood gas) done for 4 hours after birth. I’m genuinely baffled as to why an infant born by emergency CS who became floppy after 12 minutes and required resuscitation didn’t have an ABG done instantly.

I’ve never worked with neonates but in adult care, if anyone has a sudden crash, there’ll be someone taking an ABG whilst resus is ongoing. It’s one of the first things we do and they are then repeated afterwards to help determine prognosis of recovery.

At any resus there are maybe 10-12 people present. Not one of them got an ABG? I can’t understand that at all.

What? Ensuring that the convictions are sound and acting appropriately if they are not is a huge waste of taxpayer's money??

Indeed, my ds1 had an ABG done at birth, presumably just after resuscitation. I seem to remember my legs were still askew....

Personally I would be hoping my baby was receiving the best possible care and being treated by highly skilled and competent clinicians. If this case helps to uncover incompetence and poor practice in the hospital and wider NHS then that is a positive thing surely? It’s highly unlikely that in a well run and functional unit your child will encounter a mass murderer

Tbh I imagine with the developments, Cheshire police might reconsider their dogmatic attempts retrofit swathes of other neonate deaths to her.

I expect the existence and continuation of the Thirlwall Inquiry will also become increasingly awkward.

@PinkTonic I'm not sure if that's a thinly veiled attempt at calling me a bad mother, but you have no idea of the anxiety that comes with a child in the NICU, coupled with nearly daily reminders of a NICU nurse who killed her patients.