letby found guilty

Well I will tell you what HAS NOT HELPED in this case, and in lots of other instances not so serious

Chronic staff shortages, nurses in every part of the country doing more than is expected from them, nurses rushed off their feet, nurses trying to cut themselves into two, nurses exhausted and worn out, often burnt out.

Pay that is lower in real terms than ten years ago, poorer terms and conditions, and the feeling we have a government that simply does not value or appreciate NHS staff.

Little wonder that things are getting over-looked, and mistakes are been made, maybe if staff actually had the time to employ Due Dilligence and carry out checks, then maybe, just maybe this might not have happened.

In 1994 my wife died in a hospital. There was an inquest 18 months later. Before the inquest started the Coroner spoke to me. I told him that my wife's Consultant would try to blame me for her death. He replied: "Leave him to me, we know about him". When the Consultant gave evidence, when he tried to blame me, the Coroner interrupted him with a loud: "SHUT UP!"

The court decision was that my wife had died from pneumonia and the "treatable" condition that an autopsy found that she'd had (that was not her diagnosis (Multiple sclerosis) prior to her death).

Four years later the Consultant was sacked by the Health Authority after being found "Unfit to be a doctor" by two medical organisations. During these years there had been 43 complaints against him by hospital staff. When the Authority had tried to hold a public inquiry none of the complainants were willing to go public .. because of the nature of their accusations against him ... and the fact that he was a very highly qualified man who had been a senior lecturer at a top London medical school.

He then took the Authority to court for unfair dismissal ... having got 'Private Eye' to support him! He said in court that there was a widespread conspiracy at all levels within the NHS against him. He won compensation and was allowed to work in hospitals again.

A few hours after my wife's death I'd had the following conversation with him:

Me: "Did you give her anything?"
Him: "She'd developed Cheyne Stokes breath ..."
Me (interrupting him): Did you give her anything?"
Him: "The Multiple scler ..."
Me (interrupting him): "Did you give her anything?"
Him: "We put it down the gastro ... " he then stopped talking. He was about to say "Gastronomy tube" ... the feeding tube into her stomach.

Prior to her death he'd tried to "twist my arm" into letting him end her life by saying that he: "Had a duty to his patients' souls. If they deteriorate too much their souls have difficulty passing over" (A tactic he'd probably used successfully with other patients' families).

I reported him to the police ... who told me that they would only investigate if I paid for the medical advice they would need.

This is him:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtCHF1gY8-M

(Note what the comment says)

After he was sacked the police did investigate him ... but there was no prosecution.

Prior to my wife's death under his care. A local private nursing agency told me the names of four other doctor's in his hospital who were, with the Admin's approval, terminating patients. They added him to their list. They said that they would provide us with support at minimal cost if I could get her out of the hospital. I was unable to do so.

What was going on in the NHS in the early 90s during the John Major government was summed up by a "concerned" senior doctor as "Eugenics". Things changed when Labour got in (that's why there are so many elderly people around nowadays).

In 1990 my mother suddenly developed arthritis in her hands ... but was otherwise healthy. Her GP told her: "You can't expect much in the way of treatment at your age". She was 70. We took her too an alternative therapist who cured her within a month. She lived a healthy life for another 20 years.   

   

How would more staff have changed the response to the concerns raised by the Doctor?.  Would another couple of Nurses made the Unions think again about their unqualified support for Letby or the hospital think she didnt deserve an apology for the claims?

I think that the doctors were naive in believing that they would be supported by the management.

The management were instantly between a rock and a hard place: Instigate an investigation into their own trust, with all of the adverse publicity that would entail, or ignore it and hope it would all go away with the risk of it getting worse.

There was no easy choice for them but sadly, they chose the worst option and I hope that they will be convicted of corporate manslaughter.

They all close ranks, the police know it would be near on impossible to walk in to a hospital without hard evidence and accuse any member of staff of wrong doing, their hands are tied, as in this case even those medical profession at the top of their field were duped by this seemingly shy, mild mannered, monster.

As per usual the Daily Mail readers cannot understand simplistic

If you are over-worked, hard pressed, under staffed, then quite often things get overlooked, things are sometimes not noticed, or people do not have the time to "double check" or make sure, or look into something.

Its a simple enough conclusion to arrive at, its called logic, I am not saying that this was the cause of this set of tragedies because I dont knowm, no one knows, but I am pointing out that it will not have helped matters.

Some personal insight into Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy