A French doctor, accused of intentionally poisoning 30 patients—12 of whom died—goes on trial Monday. In a defiant radio interview before the hearings, he claimed he was not responsible for the “distress” of his alleged victims and their families.
Frederic Pechier, 53, worked as an anesthetist at two clinics in the eastern city of Besancon when patients experienced cardiac arrest under suspicious circumstances between 2008 and 2017. Twelve patients could not be resuscitated.
Pechier is accused of triggering heart attacks in child and adult patients in an alleged attempt to showcase his resuscitation skills and discredit coworkers.
The youngest alleged victim, a four-year-old named Teddy, survived two cardiac arrests during a routine tonsil surgery in 2016. The oldest alleged victim was 89.
The trial concludes a seven-year investigation that shocked the medical community. Pechier has denied the charges.
Speaking to broadcaster RTL early Monday, Pechier stated, “It’s necessary to lay all the cards on the table,” adding that he had “strong arguments” in his defense.
When asked about the suffering of the families attending 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 who has been banned from practicing medicine, faces life imprisonment if convicted. He is not currently in custody but under judicial supervision, an alternative to pre-trial detention.
“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 anesthetic.
Prosecutor Etienne Manteaux has said the case is “unprecedented in French legal history.”
One of Pechier’s lawyers, Randall Schwerdorffer, said it would be the first time his client “will be able to explain himself and that everything will be debated.”
An investigation was opened in 2017 after suspicious cardiac arrests occurred during operations on low-risk patients.
Pechier is suspected of tampering with his colleagues’ paracetamol bags or anesthesia pouches to create operating room emergencies where he could intervene to show off his resuscitating talents.
“What he is accused of is poisoning healthy patients in order to harm colleagues with whom he was in conflict,” Manteaux said.
“Frederic Pechier was the first responder when cardiac arrest occurred,” he added. “He always had a solution.”
Pechier has said the majority of poisonings were the result of “medical errors” made by his colleagues.
“I am being accused of heinous crimes that I did not commit,” he said in 2017.
Some colleagues described Pechier as a “star anesthetist,” while others said he came across as arrogant and manipulative.
One coworker claimed Pechier was “certain he was the best” and liked to “think of himself as Zorro.”
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.
Suspicion quickly fell on Pechier, who was detained and charged two months later.
A psychological evaluation in 2019 pointed to a “controlling personality” and “perverse traits.”
More than 150 civil parties, including a trade union for anesthetists, will be represented at the trial.
It is a “dizzying case” owing to its “scale, duration and technical complexity,” said Frederic Berna, one of 55 lawyers representing the victims.
Berna said he doubted the court would hear any “sincere and honest explanations from Pechier.”
