Media gather outside the Countess of Chester Hospital on July 3, 2018 in Chester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images) LONDON (AP) - A hospital neonatal nurse in Britain accused of killing seven babies and trying to kill 10 others poisoned two infants deliberately with insulin, a British prosecutor said Monday.Lucy Letby, 32, has been charged with murder in the deaths of five baby boys and two girls, and the attempted murder of five boys and five girls, while she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between 2015 and 2016.Letby earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges.Opening her trial at Manchester Crown Court, prosecutor Nick Johnson said beginning in 2015, the hospital saw a significant rise in the number of babies who were dying or suffering "serious catastrophic collapses.""Babies who had not been unstable at all suddenly deteriorated.
Sometimes babies who had been sick, but then been on the mend suddenly deteriorated for no apparent reason," he told the jury.He said that when doctors couldn't find a cause, police were called in and conducted a review that suggested someone in the neonatal unit had poisoned two infant boys with insulin two days after they were born.
The two boys' blood sugar levels dropped to dangerous levels, Johnson said, but both survived after help from medical staff.Johnson said Letby was on duty when both were poisoned.