French doctor accused of serial poisonings was at first ‘above suspicion’

French former anaesthetist Frederic Pechier arrives at Besancon's courthouse on the second day of his trial. Photo / Sebastien Bozon / AFP

A French doctor accused of intentionally poisoning 30 child and adult patients, 12 of whom died, was “above suspicion” at the start of a probe in 2017, an investigator has said.

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

He went on trial in the city on Monday (local time) accused of triggering heart attacks in patients in an alleged attempt to show off his resuscitation skills and discredit co-workers.

Fabrice Charligny, a former police commander who was in charge of investigating the case, told the court on Thursday that at the start of the investigation “Dr Pechier was above suspicion”.

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. Pechier denies the charges.

“He was the best anaesthetist at the Saint Vincent clinic. In the doctors’ minds, it was unthinkable,” Charligny said.

The investigation was launched in January 2017 after a 36-year-old woman, Sandra Simard, suffered a cardiac arrest during an operation.

She was then transferred to Besancon University Hospital, and tests showed dangerously high levels of potassium in the IV bags used during the operation.

The finding came as a shock to medical professionals.

Philippe Panouillot, an inspector with France’s ARS health authority, said the dose was “enormous”.

“It’s a miracle that this patient survived,” Panouillot added.

The clinic’s management and the regional health authority alerted prosecutors, who launched an investigation.

“The unthinkable began to dawn on us,” Panouillot added.

“We got scared and thought: maybe there’s someone who’s been killing people for years in Besancon and we haven’t noticed. We have to stop the carnage, we have to stop the massacre.”

The health authority feared further poisonings.

While Pechier was away on holiday, “secretly, at night, all the IV bags in the clinic were replaced”, Panouillot said.

After that, the Saint Vincent clinic did not register any other suspicious medical emergencies, he said.

“Nothing ever happened again,” Panouillot added.

Pechier was eventually arrested in March 2017.

Panouillot said he regretted not having stopped Pechier sooner.

“Serial killers don’t stop,” he said.

Presiding judge Delphine Thibierge said several earlier probes into suspicious cardiac arrests “had been unsuccessful” and it was Simard’s case that helped “connect the dots”.

Pechier, a father of three, faces life imprisonment if convicted.

He is not in custody but under judicial supervision, an alternative to pre-trial detention.

- Agence France-Presse