Hospital Admins Allegedly Pressured Doctors 'Not to Make a Fuss' Over Accused Baby Killer Lucy Letby

Lucy Letby, 33, allegedly killed five infant boys and two infant girls at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016

Lucy Letby
Lucy Letby. Photo: SWNS

Doctors say they were pressured to keep quiet over the alleged concerning behavior of Lucy Letby, the British nurse accused of murdering seven infants at a hospital in Chester, England.

Letby, 33, faces 22 charges. She is accused of killing five infant boys and two infant girls, as well as attempting to murder 10 other babies at Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016.

On Tuesday, according to the BBC, Dr. Ravi Jayaram told the Manchester Crown Court that concerns about unusual ocurrences involving babies in Letby's care were first raised in October 2015, prompting him to alert the senior director of nursing.

But Jayaram said nothing came of it when he raised his concerns.

Then, in February 2016, Jayaram said he alerted the hospital's medical director of the suspicious incidents involving Letby. Jayaram alleged he went on to request a meeting with the director but was ignored for three months.

"We were getting a reasonable amount of pressure from senior management at the hospital not to make a fuss," Jayaram testified, per the BBC.

Recounting an incident that same month, Jayaram described how he felt "extremely uncomfortable" when he learned Letby was left alone with an infant in the labor ward, prompting him to check on the baby, referred to in court as Child K, according to the outlet.

"As I walked up, I saw Lucy Letby standing by the incubator and the ventilator," Jayaram said, going on to explain how the infant's breathing tube was allegedly dislodged and the child's blood oxygen levels fell at a dangerous rate.

"The ventilator was not alarming, and the incubator was not alarming, and the monitor is set to alarm when the sats [blood oxygen levels] drop below 90 percent," he said.

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"I recall saying, 'What's happening?' and Lucy looked and said something along the lines of, 'She is having a desaturation,'" Jayaram testified, according to the BBC.

Jayaram said he administered CPR on the infant, but the child died three days later.

Letby is accused of killing another infant by injecting air into her feeding tube and bloodstream, prosecutors previously alleged.

Letby has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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