Doctor Who Poisoned Patients To Play Hero Gets Life Term In France

A French court has sentenced a doctor to life imprisonment for deliberately injecting poison into patients, leading to the deaths of 12 people over more than a decade.
The convicted doctor, Frédéric Beschier, 53, from Besançon in eastern France, was found guilty of administering lethal doses of potassium chloride to patients between 2008 and 2021. Investigators said the injections were given during or around medical procedures, causing cardiac arrest.
The court heard that Beschier induced medical emergencies by poisoning patients, then attempted to resuscitate some of them to portray himself as a life-saving hero. While several patients survived after emergency treatment, 12 others died before they could be revived.
Prosecutors revealed that Beschier had poisoned at least 30 patients during the period under investigation. The pattern of unexplained cardiac arrests eventually raised suspicion, leading to a police probe and his arrest.
Terming the acts as calculated and premeditated killings, the court held him fully responsible for the deaths and imposed a life sentence, the harshest penalty under French law.