I don't want to labour the point but there are several staff who have testified that child I was particularly tricky to 'mature' describing her as 'problematic but beautiful baby'
I do want to labour the point - your point - that milk had been a long term issue for baby I. It's not supported by the evidence. IMO
Baby I had a lot of problems, when she was at the Countess.
She had an infection at
4 weeks which was treated at Liverpool Women's with 5 days of antibiotics. It was not NEC because she continued to improve when put back on milk, and remained on milk for
the next 4 weeks without any issues. It is not possible that this was caused by milk intolerance.
She vomited and had a collapse at
8 weeks, with her diaphragm splinted by air in her bowel, and doctors thought it could be NEC but her CRP was less than 1 and feeds were only interrupted for
24 hours. She was put back on milk and stayed on it without any issues for
the next 2 weeks. Medical experts say that she collapsed because of air pumped into her stomach through the NGT. There is no evidence that it was NEC, particularly with feeds being reinstated without issue for the next 2 weeks. Professor Arthurs testified yesterday she had a "normal bowel" as evidenced on subsequent x-rays taken while LL was absent from the unit, after baby's return from Arrowe. It is not therefore possible that this collapse was caused by milk intolerance.
She had two cardiac arrests at
10 weeks, within 24 hours, in LL's care, with her diaphragm splinted by air in her bowel. Doctors again suspected NEC and sent her to Arrowe where she stabilised and was put on TPN and doctors scheduled tests on her bowel, which hadn't happened by the time of her death. The post mortem showed that
she did not have NEC or any bowel problem. It is not therefore possible that this was caused by milk intolerance. Medical experts say that she collapsed because of air injected into her.
I think it's entirely expected that nurses would say that she was a problematic baby, with three cardiac arrests before the night of her death, without knowing that the problems which began at 8 weeks were allegedly caused by air pumped into her.
There are snippets where doctors have commented that baby I was doing great with feeds at particular points. However, these comments follow gaps in feeds and IMO are relevant to the overall context that feeding had been a longterm issue.
As shown in the timeline there were two gaps in milk feeding, both lasting a matter of days, which were not milk tolerance related issues, and then one other gap of 24 hours after the first alleged attempted murder, again not milk related.
She was receiving milk at all other times, until she was put on TPN a week before her death.
I haven't seen you provide any sources for saying there were long term feeding issues, or effectively, that there was no demonstrable consistency with feeding between weeks 4 and 10 of her life.
I'm not suggesting that these known medical issues means that baby I did not receive an air embolism, just that her overall health history, together with the fact she was still in HDU @ 36weeks suggests that baby I was not an 'otherwise healthy' baby, her health status was still under investigation and therefore remained something of a mystery up until the time she passed.
At 10 weeks, the night of the second alleged attempted murder, when Ashleigh Hudson left baby with LL in the darkened nursery, she testified:
"Child I was in a "good clinical condition" when she left the nursery and
there had been discussions regarding her discharge from the hospital in the coming weeks.”
Lucy Letby: Murder-accused nurse cried over baby collapses, court told
Please provide a source for "she was not an 'otherwise healthy' baby, her health status was still under investigation" when she was in "HDU @ 36weeks", before she deteriorated (at 10 weeks of age) with air squashing her lungs and compromising her breathing.
JMO
