Prosecutors claim that the British nurse accused of killing seven babies in her care attempted to murder her final victim by pouring clear liquid down his throat and forcing air into his stomach.
Prosecutors claim she tried murder after murdering two triplet boys in three days.
Lucy Letby, 33, has been on trial for months after being accused of killing 7 newborns and attempting to murder 10 others at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester between June 2015 and June 2016. She has denied all of the allegations.
According to the BBC, jurors in the spectacular trial at Manchester Crown Court heard on Wednesday how this infant, known as Child Q, was “stable” the night before his heart rate and oxygen levels decreased and he ended up needing breathing support.
According to prosecutors for the Crown, Letby inserted a nasogastric tube to inject air and fluid into the infant’s stomach in order to kill him.
According to the Daily Mail, medical expert Dr. Dewi Evans testified that he suspected water or saline, combined with air, had been forced into the tube.
“Clearly, there was enough fluid injected down his nasogastric tube into his stomach to make him vomit,” Evans testified, according to the BBC.
According to Evans, the infant’s breathing troubles were likely caused by the fluid, which exerted pressure on his tiny diaphragm.
Nurse Lucy Letby allegedly murdered a baby on the fourth attempt and then offered to photograph the body.
“Once he vomited, it was nature’s way of un-splinting the diaphragm and making successful resuscitation easier,” he testified. Dr. John Gibbs, a pediatrician, also testified, telling the court that by June 2016, the hospital was becoming increasingly concerned about all of the baby fatalities, according to the BBC.
He inquired as to who had been caring for Child Q following his medical decline.
“Normally, I wouldn’t want to know who was looking after the patients,” he explained. He was, however, “concerned about what was going on in the unit.”
He allegedly testified earlier that there was a “common factor” in all of the newborn crashes and deaths at the hospital between June 2015 and June 2016: Letby was supposedly there.
