UK Nurse Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Murdering Babies

I’m putting it all in the headline so you know what you’re up against, but to be clear, I’m not talking about abortion. Proceed as you will.

Let me also first express my deepest sympathy for the families affected– I cannot begin to imagine what they’re going through, but I know many of you join me in praying for their comfort and, perhaps someday, healing.

Okay. Here it goes.

Lucy Letby killed seven babies and attempted to kill at least six more while working as a neonatal nurse at Countess of Chester Hospital. She just became the fourth woman in the UK’s history to receive multiple life sentences. 

Not that she was there when the judge trying her case sentenced her– as if being a serial baby murderer wasn’t bad enough, Letby refused to even attend court to hear her sentencing and the testimonies of the parents who were robbed of their precious children (though the Justice Secretary indicated that they would attempt to change the law in order to be able to compel defendants to attend their sentencings). 

Addressing the court as if Letby stood in front of him, Judge Goss said, 

“You acted in a way that was completely contrary to the normal human instincts of nurturing and caring for babies and in gross breach of the trust that all citizens place in those who work in the medical and caring professions.

“There was a malevolence bordering on sadism in your actions. During the course of this trial you have coldly denied any responsibility for your wrongdoing. You have no remorse. There are no mitigating factors.”

Letby was found guilty of “deliberately inject[ing] babies with air, force [feeding] others milk and poison[ing] two of the infants with insulin.”

I wish I could tell you that every last person involved was blindsided– and certainly many were– but concerns over Letby’s track record were raised multiple times. And shut down every time.

“The unit’s lead consultant Dr Stephen Brearey first raised concerns about Letby in October 2015.

“No action was taken and she went on to attack five more babies, killing two.”

In addition to higher ups repeatedly stonewalling Dr. Brearey and another consultant, Dr. Ravi Jayaram, investigators found:

• “The hospital’s top manager demanded the doctors write an apology to Letby and told them to stop making allegations against her
• Two consultants were ordered to attend mediation with Letby, even though they suspected she was killing babies
• When she was finally moved, 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 whose job it was to investigate her
• Deaths were not reported appropriately, which meant the high fatality rate could not be picked up by the wider NHS system, a manager who took over after the deaths has told the BBC”

Despite a sudden spike from hardly any to quite a few deaths in the neonatal unit that lined up perfectly with Letby’s schedule, senior managers didn’t care. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has blood on their hands. I thought we as society kind of agreed that there’s very little, if anything, worse than killing babies, yet the NHS enabled– dare I say designed and implemented– a system that allowed leaders to protect a serial baby murderer, ultimately allowing her body count to literally double. 

Letby has been held to account, and I hope she gets shanked in prison. I said it, and I meant it.

But justice is far from served. Every person who ignored concerns raised and prevented their investigation should be held criminally liable, and the entire NHS needs to take a hard look at what it allows to happen. 

Reportedly, the hospital’s Duty Executive Karen Rees said “yes” when Dr. Brearey asked her if she would take responsibility for anything that might happen as a result of her refusal to remove Letby from duty.

I say we start with her.*

*TO INVESTIGATE AS A CRIMINAL, NOT TO EXACT VIGILANTE JUSTICE. JUST TO BE CLEAR.