An English nurse was found guilty on Friday, August 18, of having killed seven premature newborns in a year in the hospital where she worked and of having attempted to murder six others, after a long trial that horrified the British.
"Cold, calculating, cruel and tenacious" according to the prosecution, Lucy L., 33, worked in the intensive care unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in the northwestern city of Chester. 'England.
Between June 2015 and June 2016, seven premature babies suddenly died there, for no obvious reason, sometimes within hours of each other. Ten other babies had been close to death, again for no obvious reason, but had been saved.
The young woman, who said she was innocent, will know her sentence at a later date. She was accused of injecting air intravenously into newborns, using their nasogastric tubes to send air, or an overdose of milk, into their stomachs. She would have added insulin to pockets of food solution, dislodged the breathing tube of a very premature baby, overfed a small victim by tube. Sometimes she combined several attacks. She was then 25 years old.
Brutal degradation of newborns
She was the only member of the medical staff still on duty during the brutal deterioration of the newborns, Judge James Goss noted, before the twelve jurors began to deliberate on July 10.
She was accused of having tried to kill some of them on several occasions, and twenty-two charges were brought against her, seven for murder and fifteen for attempted murder on ten babies.
The trial started on October 10 in Manchester. The babies were only identified by letters, from A to Q, to protect the families. Parents testified, sometimes in tears. The defense described Lucy L. as a "dedicated" professional. "My job was my life," she insisted.
Prosecutor Nick Johnson painstakingly pieced together his schedule and the similarities between the deaths. He explained that Lucy L. would attack babies after their parents left, when the charge nurse walked away, or at night when she was alone. She would then sometimes join collective efforts to save newborn babies, or even assist desperate parents.
Among the victims, twins and even triplets, two of whom died 24 hours apart after returning from vacation in June 2016. The third will be spared, his parents having begged that he be transferred to another hospital. A very premature baby, attacked three times in September 2015, remains severely handicapped.
"Uncontrollable"
At the time, having killed without attracting attention, she had become "out of control", the prosecutor claimed. "She thought she was God." "I don't deserve to live. I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough to take care of them. I am a horrible person, ”wrote the nurse on a post-it found at her home in 2018. In other documents, however, she claimed her innocence. According to the prosecutor, Lucy L. had also falsified certain medical notes, to cover the tracks.
His attorney, Ben Myers, argued that the neonatology ward in 2015-2016 "had more babies than normal, with higher care needs", and had "failed" to meet them. He had denounced the lack of evidence against his client, saying that incompetent doctors had blamed her. In his final argument, he denounced a "presumption of guilt".
During the trial, a mother recounted how, returning to deliver milk to one of her premature twins at 9 p.m. in August 2015, she heard him scream and found he had blood around his mouth. She had been reassured by Lucy L. who had advised her to go up to her room.
According to the prosecution, the nurse had just pushed medical equipment down the tiny baby's throat, and also injected him with air. He was dead a few hours later, having lost a quarter of his blood.
Transferred in June 2016 to an administrative service, arrested for the first time in 2018, then in 2019, Lucy L. was finally imprisoned in November 2020.
The British government has also ordered an independent investigation. This investigation will focus "on the circumstances behind the horrific murders and attempted murders of babies". It will need to "ensure families get the answers they need."
