French court sentences former doctor to life in prison

A French court sentenced anesthetist Frédéric Péchier to life imprisonment for poisoning hospital patients, 12 of whom died, according to the BBC.

A court in Besançon, eastern France, found that Péchier put toxic substances into intravenous infusion bags, which caused cardiac arrests or severe bleeding in several patients. The victims were between four and 89 years old. The youngest, a 4-year-old child having routine tonsil surgery in 2016, survived two cardiac arrests.

Péchier came under investigation in 2017 after irregularities were discovered in infusion bags linked to a 36-year-old patient who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during spinal surgery but survived. Tests later revealed potassium levels far above safe limits, prompting prosecutors to open an inquiry into similar cases at two Besançon clinics between 2008 and 2017.

Over the 15-week trial, Péchier admitted that some patients might have been poisoned but repeatedly denied any responsibility.

Earlier this month, a U.S. court found Salvador Plasencia, a 44-year-old doctor from Los Angeles, guilty of illegally supplying ketamine to actor Matthew Perry, leading to Perry’s fatal overdose in 2023. The Plasencia conviction, while unrelated, echoes growing global concerns about doctors facing criminal charges for the misuse of medical authority.