On January 11, 2017, Sandra Simard was admitted to the Saint-Vincent Clinic in the eastern French city of Besançon for back surgery. The 36-year-old patient had no personal risk factors and the procedure was routine, but she suffered a cardiac arrest on the operating table. Frédéric Péchier, an anesthesiologist and intensive care doctor, responded to the emergency and administered two vials of calcium gluconate. The young woman survived after spending five days in a coma.
In medical jargon, this is called a "serious adverse event" (SAE): a major complication that occurs during an operation. The Saint-Vincent Clinic had recently experienced several such incidents, raising questions among the medical staff. The IV bags used to administer Simard's medication were analyzed. One of them showed a potassium concentration that was 100 times higher than the level expected: The bag had clearly been poisoned. Prosecutors were alerted.
Less than 10 days later, on January 20, 2017, Péchier found punctured paracetamol bags on his anesthesia table, right after he had performed general anesthesia on a patient who also developed cardiac complications during an operation. He decried the bags as foul play. Two months later, he was charged.
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