The Besançon poisonings was a French legal case resulting in the conviction of French anesthesiologist Frédéric Péchier to a life sentence for intentionally poisoning 30 patients and killing 12.
The poisonings took place in Besançon between 2008 and 2017. A renowned physician in his field, Péchier was found guilty of deliberately inducing cardiac arrest or serious complications in surgical patients by manipulating anesthetic infusion bags in order to position himself to intervene and appear as a savior, known in criminology as an angel of mercy.
The case broke in 2017 when several unusual medical incidents raised alarms. An initial indictment was issued in 2017, expanded in 2019 and then in 2022, covering a total of thirty cases, including twelve fatalities. Péchier maintains his innocence and denounces a lack of direct material evidence. The complex and highly publicized investigation involves medical experts and investigators to determine the practitioner's responsibility.
Events
The physician was first indicted in 2017 for seven poisonings. He was released, placed under judicial supervision, and banned from practicing his profession.
On 20 January 2017, a 70-year-old man undergoing surgery for prostate cancer suffered a cardiac arrest. Tests revealed a massive injection of mepivacaine equivalent to nine times the normal dose. This is the only case in which the physician was directly the referring anesthesiologist and in which a syringe containing the product was found. This case is considered by the prosecution to be the key piece of evidence in the case, but the accused continues to dispute it, citing outside manipulation.
The case was reopened in May 2019, with the anesthesiologist suspected by investigators of poisoning twenty-four people, including a four-year-old child.
These alleged malicious acts, which occurred at the Saint-Vincent clinic and the Franche-Comté Polyclinic in Besançon, are said to have led to fatal cardiac arrests in some cases and serious after-effects in others. On 16 May 2019, after 48 hours of prolonged police custody, the doctor was brought before the judge of liberties, who nevertheless decided not to place him in pre-trial detention.
In December 2025, at the end of a three-month trial, he was convicted to a life sentence.
Known victims The Frédéric Péchier case, at the start of his trial, involves 30 alleged victims, 12 of whom are deceased. DateNameAgeStatus10 October 2008Damien Iehlen53 years oldDeceased14 October 2008Suzanne Ziegler74 years oldDeceased7 April 2009Bénedicte B.41 years old27 April 2009Michel V.48 years old22 June 2009Nicole D.65 years old8 September 2009Éric G.49 years old25 September 2009Sylvie G.41 years old15 September 2010Monique Varguet64 years oldDeceased8 July 2011Ulysse B.61 years old9 January 2012Christian P.63 years old19 January 2012Micheline G.52 years old31 January 2012Denise M.80 years old5 September 2012Pascal B.11 December 2012Annie Noblet66 years oldDeceased7 February 2013Monique C.62 years old27 June 2013Anne-Marie Gaugey66 years oldDeceased3 mars 2014Armand Dos Santos72 years oldDeceased10 June 2014Jean Benoît79 years oldDeceased8 January 2015Odile L.43 years old13 mars 2015Edith Bongain89 years oldDeceased20 April 2015Sylviane Baugey57 years oldDeceased5 October 2015Christian D.66 years old28 January 2016Wilhem B.16 years old22 February 2016Tedy H.4 years14 April 2016Laurence Nicod50 yearsDeceased5 September 2016Kévin B.26 years old31 October 2016Bertrand Collette56 years oldDeceased21 November 2016Henri Quenillet73 years oldDeceased11 January 2017Sandra Simard36 years old20 January 2017Jean-Claude Gandon70 years old
See also Angel of death (criminology) Efren Saldivar, a respiratory therapist and serial killer who used paralytics to induce cardiac arrest
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