San Francisco Frontiers - Trial of doctor accused of poisoning 30 patients begins in France

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.

He 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 has denied the charges.

Pechier 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 told broadcaster RTL earlier Monday, 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.

- 'Waited 17 years' -

Pechier 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.

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 blamed "medical errors" by his colleagues for most of the poisonings.

- 'Legal marathon' -

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.

He has criticised the investigation. "What happened to the other cases? They were not retained because Pechier was not involved in them," he said.

His defence team will argue for acquittal.

"It's very easy to accuse people, it's harder to prove things," one of his lawyers, Randall Schwerdorffer, told reporters.

More than 150 civil parties will be represented at the trial.

For the first two weeks, the court will examine Pechier's most recent cases, those that aroused the investigators' suspicions and led to the anaesthetist being placed under investigation in 2017.

Afterwards each of the poisonings attributed to the doctor will be examined.

"It's going to be a legal marathon, but we're ready," Stephane Giuranna, a lawyer for several civil parties, told AFP.

"All roads lead to Pechier."

B.Johnson--SFF