A French assize court has sentenced a former anaesthetist to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of poisoning 30 patients, 12 of whom died, in a case spanning nearly a decade and involving two private clinics in eastern France.
The judgment was delivered on Thursday, December 18, 2025, in Besançon, with the court ordering the immediate remand of the doctor, Frédéric Péchier, 53, into custody.
The court found that between 2008 and 2017, Péchier deliberately introduced toxic substances into intravenous infusion bags prepared for patients undergoing routine medical procedures.
The substances triggered sudden and severe medical emergencies, including cardiac arrest and internal bleeding.
While several patients survived after emergency intervention, 12 died. The victims included both children and elderly patients.
Judges imposed a mandatory minimum term of 22 years before any possibility of parole and permanently barred Péchier from practising medicine.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Péchier acted intentionally and repeatedly, targeting patients treated by colleagues.
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They said the poisonings occurred in situations where patients were considered medically stable prior to their procedures. The court upheld the prosecution’s case.
The investigation began in 2017, after hospital staff raised concerns over an unusual number of unexplained cardiac arrests at the clinics where Péchier worked. Subsequent inquiries linked him to dozens of suspicious incidents.
Péchier denied the charges throughout the proceedings, maintaining that the incidents were the result of medical complications rather than criminal acts. His defence team has indicated plans to appeal the conviction.
The case has attracted widespread attention in France and beyond, renewing scrutiny of hospital safety procedures and internal monitoring within medical facilities.