French anaesthetist jailed for life after poisoning and killing patients

After a court found him guilty of poisoning 30 patients during operations, killing 12, a French anesthetist was given a life sentence.

On Thursday, the Doubs Assize Court rendered its decision, with prosecutors calling the doctor “one of the greatest criminals in history.”

Frederic Pechier, 53, worked in two private clinics in the eastern city of Besancon between 2008 and 2017. He was found guilty of poisoning patients. The victims ranged in age from four to 89.

The trial’s three-month hearings, which included technical medical testimony and emotional accounts from victims’ families, were the focus of the verdict.

According to the court, Pechier allegedly targeted patients who were being treated by coworkers while at odds with him professionally. Prosecutors claimed that he intervened to revive poisoned patients in some cases to conceal his actions while doing so.

Pechier allegedly used psychological reasons to harm and “psychologically harm” healthcare workers, who he claimed he saw as “feeding his thirst for power.”

Pechier’s goal, according to Christine de Curraize, the prosecuting attorney, was to “experience the demise of his trapped colleague, to revel in his helplessness,” before stepping in to resuscitate patients and present himself as the “doctor everyone admired.”

Pechier reiterated a claim he made throughout the entire process and was given the floor for a final statement on Monday, the trial’s final day.

He claimed, “I don’t poison people.”

The prosecution charged Pechier with using “medicine to kill” during the prosecution’s closing arguments.