Nurse was called 10 minutes after officer was alerted to inmate's asthma attack, inquest told
A NSW Corrections officer who took two emergency calls on the night Nathan Reynolds died after an asthma attack has told an inquest he didn't call a nurse until more than 10 minutes after he received the first call.
Mathew Fawzy spoke to Mr Reynolds when he called at 11.27pm on August 31, 2018, asking for a nurse because he was having trouble breathing. He also answered a call three minutes later from another inmate, Aaron Robinson, who said words to the effect of, "Chief you better get down here quick, he needs his nebuliser."
Nathan Reynolds died in custody in September 2018 after an asthma attack.
Inmates who were in the common room of the minimum-security Sydney correctional facility where Mr Reynolds was struggling to breathe, deteriorating, and eventually died, have painted a scene of mass panic and helplessness as they waited more than 20 minutes for a nurse to arrive.
Mr Fawzy told the NSW Coroners Court on Tuesday it was standard practice after receiving a "knock-up" call for guards to attend the scene "to see it with your own eyes" before calling for medical assistance.
For security reasons, Mr Fawzy said, three guards were required to attend the area at night and, after phoning his senior, he waited for the two other guards to arrive in the duty office before all three walked to the common room.
A former inmate appearing at the inquest on Tuesday said guards could be seen approaching the wing of the complex where Mr Reynolds was struggling to breathe, "and they definitely weren't running".
Brandon Tan said that, after walking in to the common room to see what the commotion was about, he was told the "knock-up button" – the facility's emergency call system – had been hit "10 or 15 minutes earlier" and could see that Mr Reynolds was having an asthma attack.
He told the hearing he positioned himself by the window and "it was quite some time" before Corrections officers, for whom he used the slang term "screws", arrived.
"I remember eventually when we saw the screws come out of their little wing thing across the yard, everyone was yelling," he said.
The guards were moving "slow, like a typical screw pace" and "a few inmates yelled out like, hurry up". But he said the guards didn't move any faster.
Aaron Robinson, who made the second emergency call, told the inquest that, when he walked in, Mr Reynolds was "gasping without being able to exhale" and said he could see "at least three or four boys at the corner windows yelling across the oval towards the medical clinic" saying things like "hurry up, he needs attention, he needs help".
Mr Fawzy said he could hear people yelling but didn't know what they were saying, and officers don't run in the facility because it could be dangerous. CCTV showed guards entering the wing at 11.38pm, 11 minutes after Mr Reynolds called for help.
Mr Fawzy said he would have called for the nurse within a minute, but, as she was not on site, it would have taken her another 10 minutes to get there.
Meanwhile, the chaos and panic continued after officers arrived, Mr Robinson said.
While he was focused on helping Mr Reynolds, he said he could hear a lot of yelling. Inmates were making comments like "youse took your time didn't youse" while the officers were shouting commands, telling people to get back in their cells.
He said it was "just panic from everybody, officers included".
The inquest heard Mr Reynolds' condition seriously declined about 11.43pm, after he appeared to have a fit during an attempt to place him in a wheelchair that Mr Fawzy had fetched after calling for the nurse.
The inquest has heard that Mr Reynolds was pronounced dead at 12.44am on September 1, 2018.
On Monday, another inmate who was helping Mr Reynolds told the inquest that, after the nurse arrived, he heard her say Mr Reynolds had overdosed, and saw her slapping and shaking him.
Mr Fawzy told the inquest on Tuesday that "every night" he wished there was a nurse on site, rather than one nurse working across three facilities from a separate health centre.
"I think the fact that there’s not one there is dangerous," he said.
The inquest continues.
Jenny Noyes is a journalist at the Sydney Morning Herald.