In October,the inquest into his death heard Mr Reynolds called guards at 11.27pm on August 31 telling them he was struggling to breathe. It would take them 11 minutes to walk to the wing of the complex where inmates were trying in vain to help Mr Reynolds.
An ambulance then wasn’t called until 11.48pm,and the only registered nurse on duty didn’t arrive at the scene for another two minutes. By that time,Mr Reynolds was non-responsive.
He would be declared dead by paramedics at 12.44am,about half an hour after the ambulance arrived.
In her findings on Thursday,Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan said the delayed response “deprived Nathan of at least some chance of surviving his acute asthma attack”.
Mr Reynolds’ death,while from natural causes,was “contributed to by deficiencies in the management of his severe asthma by the Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network,and deficiencies in the immediate response to his medical emergency by Corrective Services NSW,” the inquest found.
Ms Ryan said Mr Reynolds’ acute asthma attack required an emergency response,but “the response he received fell well short of this”.