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Sunday June 25, the Sept à Huit program broadcast on TF1 devoted a report to the case of Frédéric Péchier, an anesthesiologist suspected of having poisoned 30 patients (including 12 fatalities). The report, which traces the case from the beginning of the facts (the first poisoning would have taken place in 2008), aroused indignation and fear among viewers. The reactions on social networks were numerous.
Back to the facts
Dr Frédéric Péchier, an anesthetist who practiced in two clinics in Besançon, is indicted for 30 cases of poisoning, including 12 fatalities. Between 2008 and 2017, the practitioner would have tampered with the infusion bags of patients to cause cardiac arrests in order to demonstrate his skills as a resuscitator and discredit colleagues with whom they did not agree.
The court case begins in 2017, when Sandra (a victim who appears in the report) suffers cardiac arrest during back surgery under general anesthesia. She will spend 5 days in a coma and will wake up with brain damage which today affects her memory and concentration. Alerted by Sandra’s experience and by other problems that have occurred in other patients who have gone through the same operating room, a colleague of Dr. Péchier, also an anesthetist, decides to conduct the investigation discreetly. She notices that the bags used for Sandra’s operation would have been poisoned. She also notices that Dr. Péchier was present in the clinic during the various incidents that occurred during an operation.
The anesthesiologist announces her discovery to the police. According to investigators, Frédéric Péchier would be responsible for 30 poisonings, including 12 fatalities during risk-free operations. The investigation also reveals that the first poisoning of the anesthetist dates back to 2008: a 53-year-old father died suddenly of cardiac arrest during the removal of a kidney.
This horrifying story sparked strong reactions on Twitter during the broadcast of the report.
p… he poisoned according to his spats with his colleagues
scary..
— E-Bernatus LeHorsain (@CowTent1) June 25, 2023
Ah frankly, you take the head with him, he tries to kill your wife. This guy is the devil…#SeptAHuit
— Please (@etsiquoi) June 25, 2023
poisoning to better save lives: Münchhausen syndrome by proxy
in short, mentally ill
— E-Bernatus LeHorsain (@CowTent1) June 25, 2023
A trial scheduled for 2024
THE report from Seven to Eight rebroadcast an interview with Dr. Péchier made in 2017, at the start of the affair. We see the doctor denying all the accusations en bloc while the elements of the investigation seem numerous to overwhelm him. Indeed, all the incidents that occurred in the operating room took place after disagreements and conflicts between Dr. Péchier and some of his colleagues.
The anesthesiologist is now indicted and has been placed under judicial supervision, forcing him to live far from Besançon. He is prohibited from exercising any medical activity until his trial… scheduled for 2024. A late judgment for many Internet users who have not failed to denounce the slowness of French justice.
he poisoned for 10 years ????
justice is very very slow…
— E-Bernatus LeHorsain (@CowTent1) June 25, 2023