San Francisco Frontiers - French doctor accused of poisoning patients sounds defiant ahead of trial

Frederic Pechier, 53, worked as an anaesthetist at two clinics in the eastern city of Besancon when patients went into cardiac arrest in suspicious circumstances between 2008 to 2017. Twelve could not be resuscitated.

Pechier is accused of triggering heart attacks in child and adult patients in an alleged attempt to 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 surgery in 2016. The doctor's oldest alleged victim was 89.

The trial caps a seven-year investigation that stunned the medical community. Pechier has denied the charges.

Speaking to broadcaster RTL early Monday, Pechier said "It's necessary to lay all the cards on the table", 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 who has been banned from practising medicine, faces life imprisonment if convicted. He is not currently behind bars 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 anaesthetic.

Prosecutor Etienne Manteaux has said the case is "unprecedented in French legal history".

- 'Certain he was best' -

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 during operations on patients considered low-risk.

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.

"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 anaesthetist", while others said he came across as arrogant and manipulative.

One co-worker 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 anaesthetists, 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".

H.Reyes--SFF