A NURSE has told a jury she did not feel able to question the actions of a colleague who mistakenly gave a Blackburn toddler a fatal injection.

Jake McGeough, of Leicester Road, Whitebirk, died from a cardiac arrest at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, on July 8, 2001 -- two days after being given a muscle-relaxing drug in error during a routine examination.

The 18-month-old had been taken to Alder Hey from Queen's Park Hospital after it was discovered the right hand side of his heart was enlarged.

The court was told that nurse Rose Aru decided to sedate Jake, even though he had not been prescribed any drugs and she was not authorised to do so.

She attempted to sedate him with the drug midazolam but picked up the wrong syringe and injected a fatal dose of the muscle relaxant by mistake, the jury has heard.

Aru, 59, of Wavertree, Liverpool, denies manslaughter.

On the third day of her trial at Liverpool Crown Court the jury heard from nurse Lynn Maguire, who at the time of Jake's death, was part-way through an orientation period on the intensive care unit at Alder Hey.

Ms Maguire told the court that ward sister Jill Cochrane had approached her and asked her to accompany Rose Aru and Jake to the scan to act as "an extra pair of hands."

Nurse Maguire said she didn't know Rose Aru's position but assumed she was a sister because of the colour of her uniform.

She said she went to Jake's cubicle to introduce herself to Rose Aru and Jake's family and help prepare for the scan and did not feel it was her position to question her.

Ms Maguire said they left the ward with Jake but just prior to arriving at the scan room he had started to get upset and Rose had given him some milk to calm him down.

Once inside the scan room Jake was transferred to another bed but had started to get distressed again and Ms Maguire said she had been struggling to hold an oxygen mask to his face.

She said as he was struggling Rose picked up one of three syringes which had previously been drawn up and had accompanied Jake to the scan.

She said one of the syringes contained a sedative called midazolam, one contained the muscle-relaxing vecuromium and one contained sodium chloride.

She told the court: "Rose said 'I am going to give him something to calm him down.' She then showed me the syringe. I was concentrating on keeping the oxygen mask on."

Nurse Maguire said she then noticed Jake's monitor had gone blank and had tried to ring for someone to bring another monitor.

She said it was while she was on the phone that she heard Rose Aru say: "Four two's" which she said she understood to be the code word for emergency assistance for a patient having a cardiac arrest.

She said when she returned to Jake, Rose had started to give him cardiac compression but he was not breathing.

When asked by Mr Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, if she had sought to questioning the administering of drugs to Jake she said: "I did not have the luxury of time. I thought it was in the best interests of the patient."

She added that she had not realised the drugs had not been prescribed to Jake.

(Proceeding)