A CROYDON anaesthetist who infected 55 women with hepatitis C has been sentenced to 14 years jail, with a 10-year non-parole period.
Dr James Peters, the former director of Croydon Day Surgery clinic, was last Thursday found guilty of negligently causing serious injury to patients by reusing syringes he used on himself.
The Supreme Court heard that Peters, who has a history of narcotic abuse, injected himself with pre-filled syringes of Fentanyl — an opioid — before using the remaining drug on women undergoing pregnancy terminations. He infected 55 women with the potentially deadly blood disease between June 2008 and November 2009.
In handing down his sentence, Justice Terry Forrest declared Peters "truly reprehensible" as he handed down the sentence, stating he had breached the trust every patient has in the doctors who treat them.
—The Age