A former anesthesiologist was sentenced to life in prison for intentionally poisoning 30 patients, including 12 who died, reports BBC.
A court in the city of Besançon, in eastern France, found Frédéric Péchier guilty of contaminating infusion bags with substances that caused cardiac arrest or bleeding.
His youngest victim, a four-year-old child, survived two cardiac arrests during a routine tonsil operation in 2016. The oldest victim was 89 years old.
Prosecution charges
“You are the Doctor of Death, a murderer. You bring shame to all doctors,” prosecutors said last week. “You’ve turned this clinic into a graveyard.”
Péchier first came under investigation eight years ago, when he was suspected of poisoning patients at two clinics in Besançon between 2008 and 2017.
His first known victim, Sandra Simard, was 36 when she went into sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of spinal surgery. She survived thanks to the intervention of Péchier, although she fell into a coma.
Tests of her infusion solution showed a concentration of potassium 100 times higher than the expected dose, which alarmed local prosecutors.
15 week trial
During the 15-week trial, Péchier sometimes admitted that some patients might have been poisoned, but denied any wrongdoing.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not a poisoner, I’ve always adhered to the Hippocratic Oath,” he declared.
Péchier will now spend at least 22 years behind bars after being free during the trial. He has 10 days to file an appeal, which would mean a retrial within a year.
(TIP/Source: federalna.ba/Photo: Getty Images)
