United States

Doctors warned about killer nurse Lucy Letby, authorities ignored warnings

Doctors repeatedly warned the authorities about a potentially killer nurse within their own hospital. Concerns regarding Nurse Lucy Letby, who killed 7 newborn babies while in her charge, had been voiced for a long time; however, reports say authorities ignored them.

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As per reports, allegations against Lucy Letby were not thoroughly investigated by hospital authorities, and attempts were made to silence doctors, according to the head consultant of the neonatal unit where she was employed. 

Despite numerous warnings spanning several months that the nurse might have been responsible for infant deaths, the hospital delayed involving the police. Dr. Stephen Brearey, the lead consultant of the unit, initially raised concerns about Letby in October 2015.

However, no action was taken, and she went on to harm five more infants, resulting in the deaths of two.

Lucy Letby has been convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting to murder six others in a neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.

The initial five murders occurred between June and October 2015, and despite these extensive warnings, the final two took place in June 2016.

This investigation exposes a series of systemic failures and raises serious questions about the hospital's response to these deaths.

Dr. Brearey insisted that Letby be removed from duty in June 2016, following the last two murders. Initially, hospital management resisted this request.

The hospital's highest-ranking manager compelled doctors to issue an apology to Letby and discouraged them from making accusations against her.

Even though they had suspicions that she was responsible for infant deaths, two consultants were instructed to engage in mediation with Letby.

When she was finally relocated, Letby was assigned to the risk and patient safety office, where she had access to sensitive documents from the neonatal unit and was in close proximity to senior managers responsible for investigating her.

Until 2018, Letby had not been arrested and was still working at the hospital's risk and patient safety office. Late one evening, Dr. Brearey discovered a blood test from 2015 for one of the infants in his unit that revealed dangerously high insulin levels in the baby's bloodstream.

The significance of this test result had been overlooked at the time, leading Dr. Brearey to feel sick. A few months later, Letby was finally arrested and suspended by the hospital.