Dr Sean Runacres loses appeal against findings he failed Aboriginal woman Veronica Nelson

A prison doctor has lost an appeal against findings he failed Aboriginal woman Veronica Nelson who died weighing just 33kg in her cell in 2020, despite making constant calls for help.

A prison doctor has lost an appeal against findings he failed Aboriginal woman Veronica Nelson, pictured with her partner of 20 years Percy Lovett. Picture: Supplied

A prison doctor lost an appeal against findings he failed Aboriginal woman Veronica Nelson who died in custody in 2020.

Ms Nelson, 37, was on remand for minor shoplifting offences and outstanding warrants when she died from Wilkie’s syndrome at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on January 2.

At the time, she weighed just 33kg and had a distended stomach linked to her rare undiagnosed gastrointestinal condition.

Coroner Simon McGregor last year found Dr Sean Runacres failed to physically examine Ms Nelson when she arrived at the women’s prison, did not accurately record her weight and set in motion a chain of events which led to her receiving inadequate ongoing care.

Dr Sean Runacres’ appeal against the findings was dismissed on Tuesday.

The prison doctor sought to quash the coronial findings, arguing they were based on “inexact proofs, indefinite testimony and/or indirect inferences.”

His appeal was dismissed on Tuesday by Supreme Court Justice Michelle Quigley.

She upheld the findings made by Judge McGregor, ruling he made no legal error and correctly properly weighed the evidence against Dr Runacres, who now works in aviation medicine.

After she was remanded, Ms Nelson spent 15 hours lying in her “vomit ridden” cell.

During her 36 hours in custody, she made 49 calls for help or complaints via an intercom over her worsening symptoms, which included vomiting, nausea and cramping.

Ms Nelson was medically examined and given water-soluble electrolytes but continued vomiting while a nurse watched a movie on a computer.

Her calls for help stopped about 4am on January 2 before she was found dead nearly four hours later.

“My daughter’s pleas for help haunt me every night, and I can’t stop hearing her voice,” her mother Aunty Donna Nelson following the inquest.