Doctor Death Gets Life Sentence After Conviction for Poisoning 30 Patients

BESANÇON : A former anaesthetist has been sentenced to life imprisonment after a French court found him guilty of intentionally poisoning 30 patients under his care, a spree that resulted in 12 fatalities.

Frédéric Péchier, 52, was convicted by a court in the eastern city of Besançon following a grueling 15-week trial. Prosecutors successfully argued that Péchier systematically contaminated infusion bags with lethal substances to trigger medical emergencies—often so he could then “save” the patients to bolster his professional reputation.

The court heard harrowing evidence of how Péchier targeted victims ranging from a 4-year-old child to an 89-year-old senior. The youngest victim survived two cardiac arrests during a routine tonsillectomy in 2016.

Prosecutors were scathing in their final remarks last week: “You are Doctor Death, a poisoner, a murderer. You bring shame on all doctors. You have turned this clinic into a graveyard.”

Péchier, who had been at liberty throughout the trial, will now spend a minimum of 22 years behind bars. He has been under investigation since 2017 when the alarm was first raised after a 36-year-old patient, Sandra Simard, suffered a cardiac arrest during spine surgery. Tests later revealed potassium levels in her infusion bags were 100 times the required dose.

Despite the evidence, Péchier maintained his innocence until the end, claiming he “always upheld the Hippocratic oath.” His legal team has 10 days to lodge an appeal; if they do, a second trial will be scheduled within the next year.