2026-09-15T09:27:42-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
一名英国法官周二发布措辞严厉的报告，将责任归咎于管理混乱以及英国切斯特伯爵夫人医院“各级完全失职”，正是这家医院的新生儿科护士露西·莱比被判定谋杀了7名新生儿。
凯瑟琳·瑟尔沃尔法官表示，针对婴儿死亡事件的调查发现，如果医护人员在婴儿开始出现抽搐症状时及时采取行动，这家位于英格兰西北部的医院本可以挽救部分婴儿的生命，避免他们受伤。
“护士、医生和管理人员都出现了失误，”瑟尔沃尔说，“各级层面完全没有在任何时候启动保护程序。”
据英国广播公司（BBC）新闻报道，此次调查共听取了130多名证人的证词，并在六个月内审查了400份证词记录。
现年36岁的莱比目前正因谋杀7名婴儿、企图杀害另外7名婴儿而被判终身监禁。她一直坚称自己无罪，由数十名科学家支持的辩护团队正对不利于她的证据提出质疑，并正努力为她洗清罪名。
瑟尔沃尔的调查并未复审莱比的定罪判决，而是聚焦于体制缺陷如何让医院的婴儿反复遭受伤害，以及医护人员和管理层如何应对并对待患儿家长。
调查重点关注了医护人员在明确有人蓄意伤害婴儿时未采取干预措施的失职行为。
“如果医院采取不同的应对措施，本可以挽救多少生命？”她说，“很明显，如果更早采取行动，本可以挽救部分婴儿的生命，阻止部分袭击事件的发生。”
据BBC新闻报道，瑟尔沃尔表示，婴儿的父母“多年来被蒙在鼓里”，尽管当时已有迹象表明他们的孩子可能遭到了蓄意伤害。瑟尔沃尔认定医院对家长的处理方式“令人愤慨”，并表示医院管理层以“可能惹恼家长”为借口，以此为不报警的行为辩解。
露西·莱比 柴郡警方 美联社档案图
莱比于2023年被判定谋杀7名婴儿、企图谋杀另外6名婴儿——其中包括对一名儿童的两次未遂袭击。一起陪审团未能达成一致意见的案件被重审，莱比在同年7月再次因另一起谋杀未遂罪名被定罪。她被判处15个终身监禁，不得假释。她是英国第四位被判处此类刑罚的女性。
“如果将莱比被定罪杀害的所有婴儿从新生儿科年度死亡人数中剔除，2015年和2016年的死亡人数将分别为3人，这与往年的情况基本一致，”瑟尔沃尔在报告中写道，据BBC报道。
检方称，莱比伤害婴儿的方式几乎不会留下痕迹，包括向婴儿血液中注入空气、通过鼻胃管向婴儿胃内注入空气或牛奶、用胰岛素毒害婴儿以及破坏呼吸管。
2015年6月至2016年6月期间，婴儿出现抽搐或死亡时，莱比是新生儿科唯一当班的医护人员。检方将她描述为“持续存在的恶意威胁”。
Some of nurse Lucy Letby’s baby killings could have been prevented, U.K judge concludes: “Failure at all levels”
2026-09-15T09:27:42-0400 / CBS/AP
An English judge issued a scathing report Tuesday blaming dysfunctional management and a “complete failure at all levels” to protect babies at the hospital where neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven newborns.
The inquiry into baby deaths found the Countess of Chester Hospital, in northwestern England, could have saved some infants from death and injury if staff had acted sooner when children began collapsing, Justice Kathryn Thirlwall said.
“Errors were made by nurses, doctors and managers,” Thirlwall said. “There was also complete failure at all levels to invoke safeguarding procedures at any point.”
The inquiry heard from more than 130 witnesses and considered 400 statements over six months, BBC News reported.
Letby, 36, is serving a life sentence for the murders of seven babies and attempted killing of seven others. She has maintained her innocence, and a defense team backed by dozens of scientists who have questioned the evidence against her are seeking to clear her name.
Thirlwall’s inquiry did not review Letby’s convictions but looked at how institutional failures exposed babies to repeatedly be harmed at the hospital and how staff and management responded and treated parents.
She focused on the failure of staff to intervene when it became clear someone was deliberately harming babies.
“How many lives could have been saved had the hospital acted differently?” she said. “It is clear that some babies would have been saved and some attacks would have been prevented if action was taken earlier.”
Thirwall said the parents of babies were “kept in the dark for years” over concerns that their children may have been deliberately harmed, BBC News reported. Thirlwall found their treatment to be “reprehensible” and said hospital executives used the risk of upsetting the parents as a convenient argument to justify not calling the police.
Lucy Letby. Cheshire Constabulary via AP, File
Letby was convicted in 2023 of the murders of seven infants and attempted murders of six others — including two attempts on one child. A case in which jurors couldn’t reach a decision was retried and Letby was convicted in July of another attempted murder. She was sentenced to 15 life terms with no chance of release. She is only the fourth woman in the United Kingdom to receive such a term.
“If all the babies whom Letby was convicted of murdering were removed from the annual number of deaths in the neonatal unit, the mortality figures would have been three in 2015 and three in 2016 — broadly consistent with previous years,” Thirwall wrote, according to the BBC.
Prosecutors said Letby harmed babies in ways that left little trace, including injecting air into their bloodstreams, administering air or milk into their stomachs via nasogastric tubes, poisoning them with insulin and interfering with breathing tubes.
She was the only employee on duty in the neonatal unit when the children collapsed or died between June 2015 and June 2016. Prosecutors described her as a “constant malevolent presence.”
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