French court finds ‘twisted’ anaesthetist guilty of killing 12 patients
Guardian20 hrs
French Anesthetist Gets Life for Poisoning 30 Patients
Is this a cut-and-dried case of a calculating serial killer, or does the circumstantial evidence warrant an appeal?
Above: Frederic Pechier arrives at a courthouse in Besancon, France, on Dec. 15, 2025. Image credit: Arnaud Finistre/Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
This doctor deliberately poisoned 30 patients over nearly a decade, killing 12 of them, by contaminating IV bags with lethal substances. His motive was not medicine, but ego — a calculated effort to assert superiority and psychologically torment colleagues he resented. The evidence is overwhelming: he was present at every suspicious cardiac arrest, quickly identified antidotes before lab confirmation and targeted patients under the care of doctors he had conflicts with. Justice demands he never walk free again.
Narrative B
While this ruling should be respected, the appeals process exists to examine unresolved questions. Péchier's conviction rests largely on circumstantial links and statistical patterns, not physical evidence, eyewitnesses or a confession, all of which he's denied for eight years. Even prosecutors acknowledged many adverse events could reflect medical errors by others, while his frequent presence may be explained by his role in emergency response rather than deliberate poisoning. These issues warrant an appeal.