A drug-addicted anaesthetist in Melbourne who infected 55 women with hepatitis C has been sentenced to prison for 14 years.
James Latham Peters, 63, gave 55 women hepatitis C after reusing his own syringes on patients at an abortion clinic in Croydon in 2008 and 2009.
He pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court to 55 charges of negligently causing serious injury.
Justice Terry Forrest on Thursday sentenced Peters to 14 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 10 years.
Justice Forrest said Peters' addiction to fentanyl had damaged the lives of many women.
"I consider your conduct to be truly reprehensible," he said. "You breached the great trust that every patient places in his or her doctor."
