Judul : BBC is forced into embarrassing U-turn over 'false statistics' on Lucy Letby Panorama documentary
link : BBC is forced into embarrassing U-turn over 'false statistics' on Lucy Letby Panorama documentary
BBC is forced into embarrassing U-turn over 'false statistics' on Lucy Letby Panorama documentary
The BBC has been forced to correct and re-edit a Panorama programme on Lucy Letby after being accused of 'sloppy and amateurish' journalism and producing 'false statistics'.
The documentary repeated discredited claims that when Letby worked as a nurse at Liverpool Women's Hospital between 2012 and 2015, the dislodgement of breathing tubes occurred at a rate 40 times higher than normal during her shifts.
The claims had first been aired by Richard Baker KC, who represented the victims' families at the Thirlwall Inquiry, but were heavily contested by Jane Hutton, a professor of statistics at Warwick University, who wrote to the inquiry to express her 'concern at your very poor presentation of statistics relating to accidental dislodgement of endotracheal tubes'.
Professor Hutton wrote: 'Your statements implied that an evaluation of shifts shows a substantial increase in events when Letby was on shift. This is a fine example of statistical illiteracy which can mislead juries and the general public.'
However, Monday's Panorama, presented by Judith Moritz and Jonathan Coffey, described the figures as 'empirical' and suggested they damaged Letby's claims of innocence.
The presenters are this month publishing an updated paperback version of their book, Unmasking Lucy Letby, which partly back-peddles on the original version's presumption of Letby's guilt.
After several experts, including Professor Hutton, complained to the BBC about the segment, the corporation has now retracted the figure and edited the version of the programme available on iPlayer.
In a statement released in response to an inquiry from The Mail on Sunday, the BBC said: 'We stated that babies' breathing tubes came out 40 times more often than normal when Lucy Letby was on shift.
'We have now removed that line from the programme and some associated commentary. We have also made clear that Lucy Letby was in training during both periods at the Liverpool Women's Hospital.
'We originally stated that her supporters questioned the review's findings around
Liverpool Women's Hospital, and this has now been changed to say that critics say the hospital's findings are not credible and that there are any number of reasons why breathing tubes could become dislodged more often.'
Dr Amy Wilson, a lecturer in statistics at Edinburgh University, described the segment as 'very concerning'.
She told the corporation in a formal complaint: 'You state that the 1 per cent background rate is per ventilated baby per shift (a 'ventilation shift') and yet you compare this to a 40 per cent 'per shift' rate for Letby.
'This comparison is incorrect – Letby's rate should also be calculated as per ventilated baby per shift. Using the assumptions in your programme of ten ventilated babies per shift and 50 shifts, this would mean Letby was present for 500 ventilation shifts with 20 dislodgements.
'She would then have a rate of 4 per cent per ventilated baby per shift, not 40 per cent. The assumptions used also need to be checked – for example, if there were more than ten ventilated babies per shift, Letby's rate would be lower still.'
Mark McDonald, Letby's lawyer – who says he was rebuffed by the BBC when he warned them not to air the statistic – said: 'The documentary was sloppy, amateurish and full of errors.
'It made mistakes on statistics and failed on basic maths when it came to incidents at the hospital. This may have gone down well at a literary festival to sell the presenters' new book but when it comes to journalism it was grossly misleading.
'The most egregious failing yet again was in producing false statistics which were used to implicate Lucy in further invented crimes. The statistics weren't just false, they were internally illogical.'
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