Welcome to this week’s issue of The Week in Medicine – a round-up of all the happenings in the world of Irish medicine
A panel of medical experts has concluded that English nurse Lucy Letby did not murder any babies, following a review of the evidence presented in her court trial. The group presented their findings at a press conference last week.
Letby – who is serving 15 whole-life sentences for murdering seven babies – and allegedly attempting to murder seven others between 2015 and 2016 – has already lost two bids against her convictions.
The chairman of the panel, Dr Shoo Lee, told a press conference last week that ‘in all cases death or injury were due to natural causes or just bad medical care’.
This column previously examined the case against Letby here and found the evidence less than convincing, and certainly not enough to convict.
The panel’s conclusions will likely be part of an application to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for her case to be investigated as a potential miscarriage of justice.
The panel’s conclusions – and the whole Lucy Letby case – raise serious questions about British justice – especially where it relates to complex medical issues.
Lucy Letby
The panel concluded that there were alternative explanations for each of the deaths Letby was accused of causing. Fifteen medical experts from across the world looked at the 17 cases that comprised the main elements of Letby’s prosecution and had compiled an ‘impartial evidence-based report’.
Dr Lee said: “In our opinion, the medical opinion, the medical evidence doesn’t support murder in any of these babies. Our full report will go to Lucy’s barrister later this month, and then it’ll be up to him and the courts to decide what next to do.”
During Letby’s trial, the prosecution cited a 1989 paper by Dr Lee that looked at cases of air embolus, relating to injuries accidentally caused when air is injected into a baby’s arteries or veins.
The prosecution argued that one of the methods Letby used to injure or kill babies was to inject air into their veins, and used Dr Lee’s paper to back that claim.
Dr Lee had described a distinct discoloration on the babies’ skin in 10% of cases in the paper.
However, at the press conference Dr Lee said in all of the cases in his paper, air was injected into the babies’ arteries, not their veins.
He said that the skin discolouration described in the paper was not possible when air was injected into the veins.
Dr Shoo Lee
Dr Lee said he had recently updated his academic paper and found no cases of skin discolouration linked to air embolism by the venous system.
The prosecution’s medical case was scrutinised by the Court of Appeal in May last year and found to be safe – and the judges noted Letby herself did not present any experts at her trial offering an alternative view.
Dr Lee had offered to give evidence to the Court of Appeal as part of Letby’s application for permission to appeal, but three senior judges said his conclusions did not undermine her convictions.
The judges concluded there had been no prosecution expert evidence diagnosing air embolus solely on the basis of skin discolouration.
The case raises many questions. One that will worry Irish nurses and doctors is the ability of the ordinary jury member to understand statistics, medical research and neo-natal care in coming to a conclusion about a healthcare professional’s innocence of guilt. Nobody saw Letby do anything – she was convicted on circumstantial evidence, which turned out to be very dubious indeed.
Far more disturbing was the willingness of other medical staff to scapegoat an innocent person, and to be able to convince the police, the Crown prosecution, and even a jury, that Letby had committed serious crimes.
It would seem that this case is far from over. A new group called Justice for Nurses and Midwives and Human Rights Action (J4NM HRA) has said that the case highlights what’s wrong with the UK health service, rather than highlighting any guilt on the part of Letby.
It claims the evidence points to a lack of staff, lack of training and supervision, lack of consultant attendance and lack of equipment. It also claims there was a lack of proper facilities management (plumbing), a lack of temperature control and space for staff, a lack of sterile preparation resources, and a lack of referrals, transfers and consultations – including in particular the Maternity Obstetric Department at the Countess of Cheshire hospital, and paediatrics at that hospital and others.
The case has numerous implications for the future of healthcare in Ireland – not least the fact that inadequate facilities and a shortage of staff most likely led to these deaths, and rather than confront that fact and its implications, the authorities chose instead to find a scapegoat who was low on the totem pole and could be easily convicted and imprisoned.
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The Children’s Ambulance Service, BUMBLEance – has announced the return of its annual spring fundraising campaign, ‘Brew for BUMBLEance’, taking place on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.
‘Brew for BUMBLEance’ invites people across Ireland, including schools, communities, and businesses, to host coffee mornings, tea parties, bake sales, or partner with local coffee shops to raise funds for BUMBLEance’s essential services. Now in its fourth year, this campaign plays a critical role in raising both funds and awareness to support BUMBLEance’s life-changing work.
BUMBLEance is Ireland’s only dedicated Children’s Ambulance Service and makes a difference by empowering thousands of families unable to access their child’s healthcare through providing nationwide medical journeys in a safe, caring, and fun environment, offered completely free of charge. BUMBLEance supports the whole family and takes away the worries of parking, tolls, and comfort, letting parents focus on what they do best: care for their child.
CEO of BUMBLEance, Brian Conlan, said, “Last year, we increased our capacity by over 20%, yet we saw a 150% increase in the number of trips we were unable to fulfil. As our national services are entirely powered by funds raised, every euro contributed during Brew for BUMBLEance is absolutely vital to ensuring our continued growth and success.”
In 2024, BUMBLEance travelled over 600,000km across 2,389 trips, which was a 21% increase from the previous year. However, rising demand meant that unfortunately 348 trips could not be fulfilled due to limited resources. Campaigns like ‘Brew for BUMBLEance’ are essential to ensuring no child is left without access to the medical care they need.
To sign up for ‘Brew for BUMBLEance’ simply visit bit.ly/Brew4BUMBLEance to get started.
