Three baby deaths for which Lucy Letby was convicted had medical explanations and may have been preventable with better care, a leaked expert report not seen by the original jury concluded. The Telegraph has the story.
Dr. Jane Hawdon, a Consultant Neonatologist, of the Royal Free Hospital in London, was asked to review the spike in deaths and collapses at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2016.
She found that the death of Babies C, D and E could be “explained” and “may have been prevented with different care”. Dr. Hawdon concluded that “learning” may improve outcomes for other babies.
Letby was convicted of killing all three infants by a fatal injection of air.
Dr. Hawdon also identified major or significant suboptimal clinical care in 14 out of 17 cases.
The consultant is due to give evidence on Tuesday at the Thirlwall Inquiry, which is looking into how babies could have been protected at the hospital.
Mark McDonald, Letby’s new barrister who is planning to take her case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), said: “Dr. Hawdon found explanations for many of the so-called ‘unexplained’ collapses of the babies but maybe more important was the concerns raised by Dr. Hawdon on suboptimal care on the unit and the questioning of the medical experience of some of the doctors.
“This along with other reports showed that this was a unit arguably in crisis.”
Letby was convicted of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven more, but since her conviction, many statisticians, doctors and scientists have come forward to question the evidence.
A leaked copy of Dr. Hawdon’s report – which was never seen by the jury in the original trial – showed she thought 13 of the 17 deaths and collapses could be explained.
The consultant made several recommendations, including that out-of-hours attendance by consultants should be reviewed, and that staff should be given further help with intubating babies and the timely administration of antibiotics.
In four cases – Baby A, Baby I, Baby O and Baby P – the consultant considered the deaths unexplained and said there should be a forensic review.
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