The poisoning of seven patients, two of whom died, in Besançon is not an accident according to the prosecution, which evokes voluntary acts likely to lead to death.
An anesthesiologist indicted makes the headlines. He is suspected of having poisoned seven patients, two of whom died, between 2008 and 2017 in Besançon (Doubs). This “is not an accident”, it is “voluntary acts likely to lead to death,” said the prosecution on Tuesday.
Last night, the 45-year-old doctor was placed under judicial supervision for “poisonings with premeditation”. And since then, the reservations about his guilt seem to be shrinking. The toxicological analyzes carried out in bags of rehydration solution and paracetamol, used during the operation of some of the victims, “made it possible to find large quantities of potassium or of anesthetics, in lethal doses”, indicated the vice. – prosecutor, Christine De Curraize, during a press conference in Besançon.
No confession
The nature and the doses introduced “knowingly” into these infusion bags, “where they normally do not have to be”, indicate that “it could only be a question of voluntary acts of a nature to involve the death of patients, ”she added in comments reported by Agence France Presse (AFP). At this stage of the investigation, the latter categorically excludes the hypothesis of an accident. According to Ms. De Curraize, “this case will require a certain number of expertises and we are not immune to seeing the number of victims increase”, she fears.
The prosecution, which had asked for the practitioner’s pre-trial detention, finally announced that it would appeal against his placement under judicial supervision. The latter, also banned from exercising his profession and in the obligation to pay a deposit of 60,000 euros, categorically contests the facts with which he is accused. The crime of poisoning with premeditation is punishable by life imprisonment.
A case far from unique
But the case of this practitioner is far from unique. Recently in Japan, an investigation was opened into the deaths of 46 people from poisoning in the same hospital. In England, a nurse was convicted of murdering patients. Contacted by Why actor, Professor Michel Bénézech, psychiatrist and criminologist, believes that “these killers very often act out of compassion and are convinced that they have the right to life or death over their victims”.
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