Lucy Letby: baby girl’s seizures did not happen naturally, court told
Posted 14 February 2023 - 15:11
Baby with unexplained seizures is one of ten the nurse is accused of attempting to murder, along with murders of seven others
Two seizures suffered by a baby girl did not happen naturally, the trial of nurse Lucy Letby has heard.
Ms Letby is accused of attempting to murder the premature-born infant in her cot at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit.
The baby, identified as Child J, had two ‘profound’ drops in blood oxygen levels at about 5am on 27 November 2015, Manchester Crown Court was told. Two further episodes took place two hours later, the court heard, when her heart rate also plunged and she showed signs of seizure.
On Monday, consultant paediatrician Dr John Gibbs said her limbs stiffened on the latter two occasions and her hands were ‘clenched’. He said the first fit was ‘reasonably long’ and took ten minutes to settle, while the second stopped after three or four minutes.
Expert medical witness says he could not identify any natural process that might have caused the seizures
Tests showed no signs of infection and did not identify a cause for the seizures, the court heard.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, expert medical witness Dr Dewi Evans told prosecutor Nick Johnson KC: ‘The first pair of collapses were unexpected, because she was nice and stable before that.
‘The second pair of events were more serious and required more in the way of resuscitation, but again were unexpected and I noted the markers for inflammation were normal, which tended to rule out infection. The second pair coincided with what the doctors describe as a seizure or a fit. This is indicative of something going wrong with the brain.
‘My opinion was that (Child J’s) brain was deprived of oxygen for a sufficient level of time to cause hypoxia, i.e. loss of oxygen to the brain causing fits. As far as I know this was the only occasion when she had seizures and the cause of this was the hypoxia, the lack of oxygen to the brain.’
Mr Johnson asked the retired consultant paediatrician: ‘So far as the hypoxic incidents that had caused these seizures were concerned, could you identify any natural process that might have caused that?’
The baby was later discharged and was described as progressing ‘very well’ more than a year later
Dr Evans replied: ‘No, I could not. There was no reason why she suddenly became hypoxic.’
Mr Johnson went on: ‘If infection had been the cause of her rapid decline, would she have recovered as quickly as she did?’
Dr Evans said: ‘I don’t think she would. Babies who develop an infection usually recover over a period of days.’
Child J had previously undergone bowel surgery a day after her birth but the court heard she was stable in the weeks that followed.
On the morning of 27 November she was being cared for in nursery room 4 in readiness for returning home to her parents. She was eventually discharged in January 2016 and was described as progressing ‘very well’ at her final outpatient clinic more than a year later.
Ms Letby, originally from Hereford, denies murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others between June 2015 and June 2016. The trial continues.
In other news