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Dr Sandie Bohin has defended her suitability as an expert witness in the case against killer nurse Lucy Letby after another medical professional queried her role in the conviction.
Writing to the editor of the British Medical Journal, the Guernsey based paediatrician accused fellow medic, Professor Michael Hall of sour grapes because he was not called to take the stand, and she was.
Dr Bohin was an expert witness for the prosecution during former nurse Letby's 2023 trial.
It was Dr Bohin's evidence - and that of Dr Dewi Evans - that helped convict Letby of the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six more at Countess of Chester Hospital in England.
Letby was also found guilty of a further count of attempted murder during a retrial this year. She has been given a whole life prison sentence.
Professor Hall, a retired Consultant Neonatologist, wrote to the BMJ in July raising his concerns over the "interface between the legal and medical professions with regard to evaluation of medical and scientific evidence and the regulation of expert witnesses".
He went on to write that "the basis for the judges’ determination is flawed, in my opinion, for the following reasons" before citing two examples.
He then raised a second issue relating to "the suitability of the two prosecution neonatal expert witnesses to interpret for the Court neonatal practice as it was in 2015-2016".
He suggested that as "Dr Evans had retired from full-time clinical practice in neonatal intensive care in 2009 and Dr Bohin also in 2009" they should not have been called to give evidence.
Dr Bohin has replied via the editor of the BMJ to correct Professor Hall's assertion that she retired in 2009 - notably because this marked the date that she moved to Guernsey, where she is employed as a Consultant Paediatrician through the MSG.
"I wish to address some misleading and untrue comments about me and my suitability to be a medical expert in this case," she wrote.
"I am accredited in neonatology and from 1996-2009 worked as a consultant in a tertiary centre neonatal unit. From 2009 I have worked in Guernsey undertaking both paediatric and neonatal work, including neonatal intensive care. I also have an honorary contract with a regional neonatal intensive care unit in the UK.
"I continue to work full time in clinical practice, unlike Professor Hall who retired from clinical work in 2018, long before the Letby trial came to court."
Dr Bohin accused Professor Hall of "sour grapes" because he was not called to the stand - and she said he was wrong to publicly discredit her.
"Those who instructed me were clearly satisfied that I had the necessary expertise to act as an expert," she wrote.
"It is wrong of Professor Hall to publicly discredit a professional colleague in this way. I’m not entirely sure of his motive. Is it a case of sour grapes because he was not called by the defence to take the stand? It certainly appears that way."
Pictured top: Dr Sandie Bohin and the Countess of Chester Hospital.
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