One of Lucy Letby’s victims suffocated after she deliberately injected air into his stomach, the court has heard.
The tiny baby boy had been born 10 weeks early, weighing just 1lbs 12oz, after his growth was restricted in the womb because of problems with his mother’s pregnancy.
Letby, 32, is standing trial in the U.K. for allegedly murdering seven babies and attempting to murder 10 more at the Countess of Chester Hospital’s neonatal unit between 2015 and 2016.
The child, Baby C, had pneumonia and needed some respiratory support but was considered stable by doctors at the Countess of Chester Hospital, in Cheshire, when he suddenly collapsed aged three days in June 2015.
The prosecutor said she injected some infants with insulin or milk, while others she injected with air. She allegedly attempted to kill one baby three times.
Expert Dr Dewi Evans, a retired paediatrician, told the jury at Manchester Crown Court that Baby C was ‘vulnerable’ because of his prematurity and his growth problems, which meant he was around a pound lighter than normal for his 30 week gestation.
He said he was at risk of breathing problems and feeding issues, including a dangerous bowel condition often found in premature babies called necrotising enterocolitis.
Baby C also had pneumonia and was at risk of fluctuations in his sugar levels and jaundice.
But none of those problems could explain why he suddenly collapsed around 11.15pm on June 13, shortly after he was given his first milk feed, Dr Evans said.
‘His collapse is consistent with a volume of air being injected into his stomach,’ Dr Evans said.
‘A sufficient injection of air into the stomach will cause what is called the splinting of the diaphragm.
‘This has to be able to move up and down for the patient to breathe properly.
‘With a lot of air, the diaphragm can’t move and you will soon suffocate, you won’t be able to breathe and you collapse pretty quickly.
‘The lungs cannot get fresh air or oxygen and without fresh oxygen you become hypoxic and you cannot survive without oxygen and you collapse.’
The jury also heard testimony from a senior nurse who was working with Letby at the hospital’s neonatal unit at the time the babies died, according to the BBC.
Letby was not Child C’s designated nurse the night the child died, but the senior nurse said Letby had to be told more than once to stop going into the room where the parents were grieving after resuscitation attempts on their child were stopped.
Letby was told instead to leave the family to the deceased baby’s designated nurse to focus her attention on a different baby who was not doing well, the witness told the court.
