World

Doctor Charged With Poisoning 24 Patients, Some As Young As 4 Years Old

SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Matt M. Miller Contributor
Font Size:

French authorities charged a doctor Thursday with the alleged poisoning of two dozen of his patients, nine of which have died.

Frederic Pechier, 47, faces charges that could lead to a life sentence if he is convicted. He allegedly poisoned 24 patients while working as an anesthesiologist at two different clinics in the French city of Besancon, the AFP news agency reported Friday.

Prosecutors allege he deliberately tampered with his patients’ anesthesia pouches to create emergency medical situations in which he could then step in and revive them, demonstrating his medical proficiency.

Pechier was first charged in 2017 for seven poisoning cases in which two people died. French police brought him in for questioning this week regarding 66 cardiac arrests that affected relatively low risk patients whose operations he was involved with. Seventeen of these cases were identified as poisonings, according to prosecutor Etienne Manteaux, in seven of which the patients have died. The 17 poisoning cases involved victims ranging in age from 4-80 years old. (RELATED: USC Doctor Is Now Facing Sexual Misconduct Allegations)

Pechier was “the common denominator” in the recent 17 cases, and “he was most often found close to the operating bloc, when the poisonings occurred, Manteaux said at a press conference. He also noted that Pechier was clashing with colleagues at a clinic during this time.

One of Pechier’s lawyers, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, told reporters Thursday, “There is a possibility that Dr. Pechier was the author of these poisonings but this hypothesis is nothing but a hypothesis and this long inquiry over two years has shown nothing … to the extent that in this instance, the presumption of innocence must be stressed.”

Pechier’s lawyers have reportedly denied the accusations against him and have accused police of altering statements he made during his initial questioning, according to AFP. During questioning this week, Pechier admitted that criminal activity did occur at the Saint-Vincent clinic, but that he was not responsible for it, according to Manteaux.

French authorities conditionally released Pechier from custody Thursday night, according to another of Pechier’s lawyers, Randall Schwerdorffer.

Follow Matt on Twitter

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel