Notable extracts
Short verbatim extracts from the video. Each quote is under 80 words and attributed to the speaker. Extracted under fair-dealing for review and news reporting (CDPA 1988 s.30).
Dr Peter Donnelly
If I had been the microbiologist for that hospital and I found sewage leaking into the neonatal unit, I would have demanded it was closed immediately. That is not a precautionary overreaction — that is basic infection control.
Dr Peter Donnelly
Pseudomonas forms biofilms. Once it is in a water system it sheds bacteria continuously and it can survive disinfectants. You cannot simply mop it up. In a unit caring for premature infants that is an extremely serious risk.
Dr Peter Donnelly
There is no blood culture data in this case. None was presented at trial. In a neonatal unit with sewage contamination, the first thing you do is look for infection. The complete absence of that data tells you that confirmation bias was operating at every level.
Dr Peter Donnelly
With Lucia de Berk, the same anchoring, the same confirmation bias, the same clustering illusion. She was convicted. It took seven years and enormous public pressure to exonerate her. I hope it does not take that long here.