A former anaesthetist has been jailed for life for intentionally poisoning 30 patients, including 12 who died.

A court in the city of Besançon in eastern France found Frédéric Péchier guilty of contaminating infusion bags with substances that caused cardiac arrest or haemorrhaging.

His youngest victim, a four-year-old child, survived two cardiac arrests during a routine tonsil surgery in 2016. The oldest victim was 89.

"You are Doctor Death, a poisoner, a murderer. You bring shame on all doctors," said prosecutors last week. "You have turned this clinic into a graveyard."

Péchier was first placed under investigation eight years ago, when he was suspected of poisoning patients at two clinics in Besançon between 2008 and 2017.

His first known victim, Sandra Simard, was 36 when she experienced a sudden cardiac arrest in the middle of spine surgery. She survived thanks to intervention by Péchier, although she went into a coma.

Tests on her infusion bags showed concentrations of potassium 100 times the expected dose and the alarm was sounded with local prosecutors.

During the 15 weeks of the trial, Péchier sometimes acknowledged that some of the patients who fell ill or died may have been poisoned but he denied any wrongdoing.

"I have said it before and I'll say it again: I am not a poisoner... I have always upheld the Hippocratic oath," he stated.

Péchier will now spend a minimum of 22 years behind bars, having been at liberty throughout the trial.

He has 10 days to lodge an appeal, which would entail a second trial within a year. (BBC)

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