PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "By the time the case came to court Lucy Letby was on a hiding to nothing, what with the gross misuse of medical statistics and of conjured up ‘evidence’ since disproven, relating to the use of insulin and injections of air to kill and harm the innocents. A scientifically illiterate judiciary and jury were the icing on the cake for the ‘journalistic bystanders’, knitting while the tumbrels approached to claim a young nurse as a victim. If the death penalty were still in place, she would by now have been hanged."
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STORY: "Lucy Letby: Innocent until stitched up?" by Professor John Ashton, published on August 11, 2026, by. LBC on August 11, 2026. (Professor John Ashton served as Regional Director of Public Health for North-West England for 13 years.)
GIST "One of the earliest hard lessons learned in medical school is that ‘common things are commonest’ and that the everyday complaints that characterise a family doctor's evening surgery are usually very different from the esoteric pre-digested diet of patients referred to the teaching hospital.
As with routine medical practice, so it is with the ‘routine’ of medical disasters and cock-ups.
The fact that so many maternity and neonatal units are currently the subject of investigation should have alerted us to the understanding that, rather than being rife with bad sole actors determined to wreak havoc and death on those who they have dedicated their lives to helping, we are facing a perfect storm of dysfunctional organisational settings.
In my extensive experience as a Director of Public Health and Regional Medical Officer in the UK’s second largest region of England’s North West, while bad actors certainly do exist, when clinical disasters occur they are usually the result of a convergence of factors amounting to a perfect storm in a dysfunctional organisation.
These factors include a lack of self awareness in hierarchical organisations combined with overweening ambition and a closing of ranks when things go wrong; none of which is helped by underinvestment and stretched resources.
Having had over the course of my career first hand experience of some of the most notorious clinical service failings of the last 40 years, including the Shipman murders, the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital organ retention scandal, and the Morecambe Bay maternal and child health hospital deaths, and having cut my disaster awareness teeth at the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in 1989, my antennae were aroused very early on during the trial of Lucy Letby.
What we now know is that among the factors in play was a hospital hell bent on playing above its competence in the race to be a Foundation Hospital Trust in 2004, leading to a collusion of management and medical staff in taking very sick babies that were outside their competence; staffing levels and clinical practices that were not fit for purpose in a worn out building that suffered from serious environmental health threats; and when things went wrong a rush to scapegoat a dedicated nurse whose only fault was her willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty in pursuing her vocation.
Once the clinicians in the hospital got the bit between their teeth alongside a dysfunctional and publicity seeking Cheshire Constabulary the script began to write itself, helped along by a long retired and unqualified ‘expert witness’ who had skin in the game.
By the time the case came to court Lucy Letby was on a hiding to nothing, what with the gross misuse of medical statistics and of conjured up ‘evidence’ since disproven, relating to the use of insulin and injections of air to kill and harm the innocents.
A scientifically illiterate judiciary and jury were the icing on the cake for the ‘journalistic bystanders’, knitting while the tumbrels approached to claim a young nurse as a victim. If the death penalty were still in place, she would by now have been hanged.
At the beginning of this sorry affair, I held the view that the evidence against Lucy Letby was wholly circumstantial and that it was not possible to say whether or not she was guilty.
Having been immersed in the detail of the evidence with dozens of international experts from a wide range of relevant disciplines for the past two years, I can now say that I have every reason to believe that Lucy Letby is innocent of the charges against her and that the true culprits lie elsewhere and with a failed system of medical care and justice.
My heart goes out to all those who are the victims of what now appears to be a gross calumny.
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The entire story can be read at:
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/lucy-letby-innocent-until-stitched-up-5HjdRpN_2/
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The Shipman murders; "Harold Frederick Shipman (14 January 1946 – 13 January 2004), known to acquaintances as Fred Shipman, was an English doctor in general practice and serial killer. He is considered to be one of the most prolific serial killers in modern history, with an estimated 250 victims over roughly 30 years. On 31 January 2000, Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 patients under his care."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Shipman
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The Alder Hey Children’s Hospital organ retention scandal; "The Alder Hey organs scandal in Liverpool, England, involved the unauthorised removal, retention, and disposal of human tissue, including children's organs, during the period 1981 to 1996. Organs were retained in more than 2,000 pots[note 1] containing body parts from around 850 infants. These were later uncovered at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, during a public inquiry into the organ retention scandal."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alder_Hey_organs_scandal
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The Morecambe Bay maternal and child health hospital; deaths: "The **Kirkup Report**, formally known as the **Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation**, was an independent inquiry chaired by **Dr. Bill Kirkup CBE**. It investigated serious failings in maternity and neonatal services at the **University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust** between **January 2004 and June 2013**. The inquiry was initiated in response to a series of tragic incidents, including the deaths of three mothers and 16 babies, which highlighted significant deficiencies in the care provided."
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The Hillsborough Stadium disaster: "The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens within the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. Shortly before kick-off, police match commander David Duckenfield ordered exit gate C to be opened in an attempt to ease crowding, which led to an influx of supporters entering the pens.[1] This resulted in overcrowding of those pens and the fatal crush; with a total of 97 fatalities and 766 injuries, the disaster is the deadliest in British sporting history.[2] Ninety-four people died on the day; one more died in hospital days later, and two more suffered irreversible brain damage on the day and died in 1993 and 2021 respectively.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;