French 'Doctor Death' anesthetist gets life for poisoning 12 patients

Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A French court sentenced a former "star" anesthetist to life in prison after convicting him of murdering 12 of his patients over a period of almost 10 years by administering substances that caused cardiac arrest or deadly haemorrhages.

The youngest of 53-year-old Frederic Pechier's 30 victims was 4 and the oldest was 89, according to prosecutors who said he was a twisted serial killer, dubbed "Doctor Death" and one of the worst criminals in French legal history.

Pechier will serve at least 22 years but has 10 days to appeal, which, if successful, would see him retried.

The case goes back to 2017 when an investigation was launched into poisoning deaths at two clinics he worked at in Besancon, 240 miles southeast of Paris, over the previous nine years.

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During evidence and testimony during the three-month-long trial, Pechier was shown to have poisoned his victims by lacing infusion bags not only used by himself, but those of colleagues.

Calling him "highly twisted," Prosecutor Christine de Curraize said Pechier pursued a sick campaign of death against his patients and targeted colleagues he saw as a professional threat, or with whom he had differences, in order to harm their careers and mess with their minds.

Prosecutor Therese Brunisso said Pechier was the antithesis of a doctor, "a criminal who used medicine to kill" and carry out "slow and insidious" psychological attacks on fellow doctors.

In some cases, he revived victims after he had poisoned them to demonstrate his power and deflect suspicion, with Brunisso and Curraize saying his actions fed a need for power borne out of feelings of frustration and not being good enough.

Suspicion first fell on Pechier after tests on his first victim, Sandra Simard, 36, found infusion bags with potassium concentrations 100 times the standard dose.

She suffered a cardiac arrest as she was undergoing spinal surgery that left her in a coma, but she survived because Pechier resuscitated her.

His youngest victim was 4, suffering two cardiac arrests that left him in a coma. The now 14-year-old told the court in a statement read out by his father that he struggled at school with life-changing injuries.

His family said that to Pechier, their son was an object to be used to "settle scores" with his professional rivals.

Pechier acknowledged that some patients' deaths and injuries may have due to poisoning but denied responsibility, denied all the charges and maintained his innocence throughout.

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