Nurse cleared of killing toddler

Rose Aru was accused of manslaughter

A children's nurse has been cleared of the manslaughter of a baby at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, after mistakenly injecting him with the wrong drug.

Rose Aru, 59, of Wavertree, denied the manslaughter of 18-month-old Jake McGeough at the hospital in Liverpool in July 2001.

She picked up the wrong syringe, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Jake, from Blackburn, Lancashire, was being treated for a heart condition at Alder Hey, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Jake was diagnosed with an enlarged heart

Mrs Aru was meant to inject Jake with the sedative Midazolam, but instead he was given a muscle relaxing drug, Vecuronium, which caused his heart to stop.

Jake had been diagnosed as having an enlarged heart, thought to have been caused by blood clots on his lungs.

The toddler was meant to be given the sedative to calm him down after he was taken for a scan to determine the problem and became restless.