麻豆传媒

Four years after he was fired from Ohio's Mount Carmel Health System for prescribing lethally high doses of fentanyl to more than 20 patients, William Husel, DO, will stand trial for murder starting February 14.

Husel, 46, who has pleaded not guilty, was previously charged with killing 25 people from 2015 to 2018. During that time, the former intensive care physician allegedly administered doses of fentanyl that ranged from 500 mcg to as high as 2,000 mcg per patient -- amounts that either caused or accelerated victims' deaths.

However, in a recent development, Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook officially 11 of these charges. Records showed that patients had received 1,000 mcg of fentanyl or less in most of the cases that were dropped. Holbrook will allow prosecutors to submit evidence of these "lesser offenses" during the course of the trial, but has ordered that discussion of any dismissed charges be barred during the still ongoing jury selection process.

Due to the notoriety of the case and the possibility that the trial will span several months, jury selection has been complicated: said that court officials are seeking about triple the typical number of potential jurors.

The defense filed documents claiming Husel has immunity for any charges less than murder, arguing that he was providing "comfort care" to the patients who died after receiving fentanyl under his medical supervision.

This line of defense calls upon specific elements of the Ohio Revised Code, which that "health care personnel who are acting under the direction of the principal's attending physician and who carry out the responsibility to provide comfort care to a principal in a terminal condition or in a permanently unconscious state in good faith" are not subject to criminal prosecution if medication is administered "for the purpose of diminishing [the patient's] pain or discomfort and not for the purpose of postponing or causing the principal's death, even though the medical procedure, treatment, intervention, or other measure may appear to hasten or increase the risk of the principal's death."

News of the dismissed charges understandably came as a blow to the families of Husel's deceased patients.

"It doesn't make sense. It's not enough? It was enough to kill her but it's not enough to prosecute him," Nicole Thomas, daughter of Jan Thomas who died after receiving 800 mcg of fentanyl, told .

Husel began prescribing excessive doses of fentanyl to patients -- many of whom were critically ill -- in 2014. The hospital received its first complaint against Husel in 2018, 5 years after he started working there.

According to a from Mount Carmel that mapped out the timeline of the hospital's investigation into Husel, three more patients died under his care after the first report was filed against him but before he was ultimately removed after two hospital pharmacists expressed concerns. A total of 35 patients were "affected by Dr. Husel's actions," the report noted.

As of 2020, Mount Carmel has more than $13 million in wrongful death settlements to the families of Husel's alleged victims and fired more than 20 of its employees.

As a result of the investigation, 25 nurses who physically administered the doses prescribed by Husel were by the Ohio Board of Nursing that their licenses were at risk; since then, the licenses of two nurses were .

Ten former Mount Carmel employees -- including nine nurses and a pharmacist -- who were fired due to their apparent involvement in the Husel case ended up suing the health system for wrongful termination and defamation, that the pain medication was necessary for the patients.

While awaiting his trial, Husel himself also filed a against Mount Carmel and parent company Trinity Health in 2020. Husel argued that Trinity Health, Mount Carmel's insurer, should cover the costs of his murder trial. However, a judge disagreed, ordering Husel to pay for his own legal defense.

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