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COLUMBUS, Ohio – A specialist intensive care physician in Ohio has been arrested and charged with murder Wednesday following the deaths of 25 hospital patients who would have deliberately suffered an overdose of painkillers.
Dr. William Husel, who was fired from the Mount Carmel Health System in the Columbus area in December and was stripped of his medical license after the discovery of the facts, has been convicted of 25 counts of murder .
Franklin County Attorney Ron O'Brien stated that the other medical personnel who were interviewed were treated as witnesses and that he does not expect that other people will be indicted.
A lawyer from Husel said that he had no plans to kill patients. Messages asking for comments were left to this lawyer.
The Mount Carmel Health System revealed that Husel had ordered the administration of potentially lethal drug doses to 29 patients over a period of several years, including five who could have received this pain medication while it was still possible to improve their treatment conditions.
The hospital system reported that six other patients received excessive doses, but probably did not die.
Many of the deceased patients were seriously ill. Any potential motive remains uncertain.
Police Sgt. Terry McConnell said that none of the families affected by the police had felt that what had happened was a "mercy treatment".
Husel was fired after concerns, although Mount Carmel said that it would have had to speed up the process of investigation and dismissal of Husel, who worked in this company for five years.
Health system officials said Husel had been removed from his patient's care only four weeks after his worry last fall, and that three patients had died during those weeks after receiving excessive doses that he had prescribed.
After Husel 's accusation, Mount Carmel officials pledged to continue to cooperate with the authorities.
More than two dozen lawsuits for wrongful death have been filed against the doctor and the hospital system. The families claimed that their loved ones had been killed by negligence or intentionally by an overdose of badgesic ordered by Husel. Some also wondered if they had been misled as to the severity of the patients' condition.
Mount Carmel has publicly apologized and has already settled some civil cases for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The hospital system officials said that all employees involved in administering medication for affected patients had been removed from patient care as a precaution.
48 nurses and pharmacists under review were reported to their respective boards. Thirty of these employees have been on leave and 18 are no longer working there, including some who left several years ago, officials said.
Husel was previously a supervised resident at the Cleveland Clinic, where his work is the subject of an internal investigation. According to a preliminary study, his prescribing practices were "consistent with appropriate care".
The state medical board has suspended its license. The files do not show any previous disciplinary action against him, and counsel will not indicate whether he has received complaints that did not result in such action.
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