France’s ‘Doctor Death’ jailed for all times after poisoning 30 sufferers whereas working as anaesthetist
A former anaesthetist in France has been jailed for life after poisoning 30 patients, including 12 who died.
Frédéric Péchier was found guilty of contaminating infusion bags with substances that caused cardiac arrest or haemorrhaging, by a court in the city of Besançon.
His youngest victims included a four-year-old child who survived after two cardiac arrests following routine tonsil surgery, while his oldest victim was aged 89.
The medical professional, once seen by colleagues as a “star anesthetist”, was first investigated in 2018 on suspicion of poisoning patients at two clinics in Besançon between 2008 and 2017.
He was sentenced to at least 22 years in jail and has 10 days to launch an appeal that could relaunch the case within the next year.
State prosecutors called him “one of the biggest criminals in the history of the French legal system”.
Péchier has persistently denied any wrongdoing: “I have said it before and I’ll say it again: I am not a poisoner… I have always upheld the Hippocratic oath.”
Prosecutors called him “Doctor Death”, saying: “You are Doctor Death, a poisoner, a murderer. You bring shame on all doctors. You have turned this clinic into a graveyard.”
State prosecutor Christine de Curraize called him a “serial killer” and “highly twisted”.
The father of the four-year-old victim, who is now aged 14, said: “What happened to us is a nightmare. We trusted medicine and we feel betrayed.”
Source: independent.co.uk
