Justice suspects Frédéric Péchier of new cases of poisoning of patients. The ex-anesthesiologist from Besançon is already indicted for 24 voluntary poisonings, which he has always denied. The trial is postponed until all the expert opinions have been rendered.
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“It’s awful”, declares Tuesday, September 27 on franceinfo master Frédéric Berna, lawyer for civil parties in the Péchier case. New deaths are attributed to the anesthesiologist, thus pushing back the prospect of a near trial since the magistrate-instructor is now waiting for all the results of the ongoing expertise – expected for January 2023 – to be returned to hear Frédéric Péchier and decide on he will be indicted for these eight new cases.
“It should be understood that five years ago, the first civil parties who thought they had been victims of a medical accident, were called to be implicated as victims in this criminal case.explains the lawyer. Since then, they have lived with that, with a certain number of questions, they would like this file to move forward, to move on and above all to have explanations.
Regarding these new cases, Frédéric Berna says he is both surprised and not surprised. Surprised, because this is not what the civil parties expected: “We were rather waiting for the end of the counter-expertise and the closure of this file.” And not surprised “because we knew full well that, given the magnitude of the unexplained cases, there were certainly poisoning cases that would go unsolved.” He adds that “Doctor Péchier and his defense requested multiple expert reports and what is interesting is that they revealed new suspicions of poisoning.”
“There are very serious elements”, says Frédéric Berna. According to him, “We must stop the conspiracy theory” around this case. Frederic Pechier “has every right to claim his innocence […] but today, the elements of the file confirm us in the idea that doctor Péchier is necessarily concerned by these poisonings. Frédéric Berna regrets that the doctor in question has “always makes sure not to explain” and now waiting to be able “create this legal debate and hear its explanations”.
The anesthesiologist Frédéric Péchier, already indicted in Besançon for 24 poisonings which he has always denied, is suspected of eight new cases of potential poisoning of patients in Besançon, including four fatal, announced Tuesday the public prosecutor Etienne Coats : “The investigating judge is therefore now seized of a total of 32 cases of potential poisoning, including 13 fatalities”which occurred during operations in two private clinics in Besançon between 2008 and 2016, he notes.