A Melbourne doctor who infected 55 of his patients with hepatitis C has been refused leave to appeal his 14-year jail term.
James Latham Peters, 63, was jailed for 14 years, with a non-parole period of 10 years, in March after pleading guilty to 55 counts of negligently causing serious injury.
He sought leave to appeal the sentence but the Victorian Court of Appeal rejected the application.
Court of Appeal president Justice Chris Maxwell said the sentence was unimpeachable.
"In my opinion it is not reasonably arguable that the sentence was disproportionate," he said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Justice Maxwell said Peters' level of moral culpability was very high, and his crimes had involved 55 grave breaches of trust.
Peters infected 55 women with hepatitis C in 2008 and 2009, working as an anaesthetist at a Croydon abortion clinic while addicted to the drug he was administering.
In a bid to hide his drug use from colleagues, he would inject himself with the opiate Fentanyl before using the same needle to administer the rest of the dosage to the patient.
Peters' lawyer John Dickinson SC had argued in the Court of Appeal that the sentence fell outside the acceptable range.
"The sentence has got out of line with the appropriate sentence for the criminality involved," he said on Friday.
Mr Dickinson said Peters would have immediately stopped injecting women with used needles if he knew that women had become infected.
"He did not know that his gross negligence was causing an injury," he said.
"He never knew he was committing a crime until that cluster (of hepatitis cases) was identified."
During Friday's hearing Justice Maxwell said the continued nature of Peters' behaviour was an aggravating factor.
"It was repeated conduct which was part of a practice," he said.
