He studied medicine in Lyon and Paris, where he obtained his doctorate in 1866. In 1874 he became a physician at Bicêtre Hospital, and in 1879 was appointed chair of general pathology. In 1886, he became a member of the Academie de Médecine.
He was the author of Traité de Pathologie Générale, a compendium of medical pathology, and also "Lectures on Auto-Intoxication in Disease, or Self-Poisoning of the Individual". Other noted writings by Bouchard are as follows:
Études expérimentales sur l'identité de l'herpès circiné et de l'herpès tonsurant, 1860
Des dégenerations secondaires de la moëlle épinière, 1866
Étude sur quelques points de la pathogénie des hémorrhagies cérébrales, 1866