According to reports from BBC, a French anaesthetist named Frédéric Péchier, has been accused of intentionally poisoning 30 patients between the ages of four and 89. Meanwhile, 12 out of the affected patients have been reported to have died due to his actions.
The 53-year-old anaesthetist, considered by colleagues to be a highly talented medical practitioner, was first investigated eight years ago. Then, he was suspected of poisoning patients at two clinics where he worked in the eastern city of Besançon between 2008 and 2017.
Since then, Dr Péchier has remained at liberty under judicial supervision despite the serious charges against him. In a comment he made on French radio on Monday, he stated that “there was no proof of any poisoning”, further maintaining his stance of innocence.
Meanwhile, his trial is set to last more than three months, and it involves more than 150 civil parties representing the 30 alleged victims.
The first allegation of poisoning made against him emerged in January 2017, when a 36-year-old patient named Sandra Simard, who was otherwise healthy, had surgery on her spine and her heart stopped beating suddenly.
Unfortunately, her intensive care physician failed to revive her, and that prompted Frédéric to give her an injection and the patient went into a coma and survived. The intravenous drugs administered to her then showed concentrations of potassium 100 times the expected dose, and the local prosecutors were alarmed by the incident.
According to Dr Péchier‘s lawyers, he has been waiting for eight years to finally prove his innocence. It remains a mystery to uncover the outcome of his trial. According to his biography, Frédéric comes from a family of health professionals, and his father was also an anaesthetist.
The prosecutors in his case have argued that he tampered with intravenous medicines to induce cardiac arrests in patients with the intention of getting revenge against his colleagues. They further stated that he was the “common denominator” in all the poisoning cases in the two clinics where he was working.
Meanwhile, the trial is still ongoing until December 2025, and the defendant will remain at liberty under judicial supervision. If found guilty, he is at risk of facing a life sentence.
