An anaesthetic doctor, Frederick Penchier is facing trail before a court in France, for intentionally poisoning 30 child and adult patients, 12 of whom died.
Penchier, 53 years old, appeared in court on September 8. He was said to have committed the offense at two clinics in the eastern city of Besancon when patients went into cardiac arrest in suspicious circumstances between 2008 to 2017.
Twelve of them however, could not be resuscitated.
The doctor is accused of triggering heart attacks in patients so he could show off his resuscitation skills and discredit co-workers.
Pechier’s youngest alleged victim, a four-year-old identified as Teddy, survived two cardiac arrests during a routine tonsil operation in 2016. The doctor’s oldest alleged victim was 89.
The trial caps an eight-year investigation that stunned the medical community.
Pechier whi denied the charges, was greeted on his arrival at the court by several relatives, including one who shouted: “Come on, Fredo.”
“It’s necessary to lay all the cards on the table,” Pechier said adding that he had “strong arguments” in his defence.
Asked about the suffering of the families who will attend the trial, set to last until December, Pechier replied: “I understand it completely, but on the other hand, I am not responsible for their distress.”
Pechier, a father of three, faces life imprisonment if convicted. He is not currently in custody but under judicial supervision, an alternative to pre-trial detention.
He has not practised medicine since 2017, even though in 2023, he was authorised to work, provided he does not come into contact with patients.
“I’ve been waiting for this for 17 years,” said Amandine Iehlen, whose 53-year-old father died of cardiac arrest during kidney surgery in 2008.
An autopsy revealed an overdose of lidocaine, a local anaesthetic.
Prosecutor Etienne Manteaux has said the case is “unprecedented in French legal history”.
An investigation was opened in 2017 after suspicious cardiac arrests during operations on patients considered low-risk, AFP reported.
Pechier is suspected of tampering with his colleagues’ paracetamol bags or anaesthesia pouches to create operating room emergencies where he could intervene to show off his resuscitating talents.
Over the course of the inquiry, investigators examined more than 70 reports of “serious adverse events”, medical jargon for unexpected complications or deaths among patients.
The cases of 30 patients who suffered cardiac arrest during surgery at the Saint-Vincent Clinic and the Franche-Comte Polyclinic made it to trial.
Pechier has blamed “medical errors” by his colleagues for most of the poisonings.
