Posted 07 March 2023 - 12:27
Posted 07 March 2023 - 12:27
News
Lucy Letby: doctor tells of blood and swelling in baby’s throat
Registrar tells nurse’s trial he made three attempts to intubate baby boy, as defence counsel points to Countess of Chester Hospital’s ‘suboptimal care’ of infant
Registrar tells nurse’s trial he made three attempts to intubate baby boy, as defence counsel points to Countess of Chester Hospital’s ‘suboptimal care’ of infant
An ‘unusual’ presence of blood and swelling was seen in the throat of a baby boy allegedly attacked by nurse Lucy Letby, a jury has heard.
Ms Letby is accused of attempting to kill infant Child N on three occasions at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit. She allegedly made her first attempt on 3 June 2016 and then twice more 12 days later, shortly after she started her day shift and again in the mid-afternoon.
Baby boy suffered steep drop in heart rate and blood oxygen
A registrar, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told Manchester Crown Court how he was asked to review Child N from 7.30am on 15 June. The child had suffered a ‘profound’ drop in blood oxygen levels and a falling heart rate.
The doctor made three unsuccessful attempts to insert a breathing tube so Child N could be mechanically ventilated.
Giving evidence on Monday the doctor said: ‘I saw blood at the back of the throat… that prevented me from seeing where the entry to his airway was… and a degree of swelling.’
He said he could not see where the blood was coming from or what had caused the swelling.
Concern over infant’s risk from bleeding as result of haemophilia
The doctor told Ben Myers KC, defending Ms Letby, that he had informed police in 2018 he was not sure if he had inadvertently caused the bleed during the procedure. He agreed that, because of Child N’s haemophilia, there was a concern he would bleed.
Retired consultant paediatrician John Gibbs told the court Child N had been ‘progressing very well’ and he understood the child had been ready to go home. However at about 7.40pm, Child N’s blood oxygen levels and heart rate plummeted again. Chest compressions followed and six doses of adrenaline were given to stimulate his heart.
Dr Gibbs said the child’s life-threatening’ deterioration only improved after a consultant anaesthetist, who had been called from Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, managed to intubate at his first attempt. The anaesthetist, Francis Potter, told jurors he did not see blood or swelling in Child N’s throat when he successfully inserted the breathing tube.
Child N recovered after transfer to specialist children’s hospital Alder Hey
Following the baby’s transfer to Alder Hey, Dr Potter said Child N’s stay was ‘fairly uneventful’, although there were episodes of apnoea in which he would temporarily stop breathing. He said Child N was breathing by himself and out of intensive care by 18 June and was discharged later that month.
In his opening address last October, Mr Myers told the jury Child N was another baby who received ‘suboptimal care’ and should have been treated at a specialist tertiary unit, rather than at the Countess of Chester.
- Lucy Letby denies the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 others between June 2015 and June 2016.
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