William Husel, Ohio doctor accused in 14 high-dose fentanyl deaths, acquitted of murder

An Ohio doctor was acquitted Wednesday of hastening the deaths of multiple critically ill patients by ordering large doses of the powerful painkiller fentanyl.

William Husel faced 14 counts of murder — one for each patient. He was not guilty in all of the cases.

Jurors deliberated over seven days in a trial that lasted about two months. It has been one of the biggest cases of its kind against a health care professional in the U.S., tying together themes of medical treatment and ethics and what amount of opioids is suitable in end-of-life comfort care.

Husel, whose medical license was suspended in January 2019, faced life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years if he were found guilty of even one count of murder. The jury was also allowed to consider a lesser charge of attempted murder, which carries a sentence of several years in prison.Jurors had to weigh whether Husel, 46, was acting as permitted under Ohio law when, prosecutors say, he ordered 10 times the amount of fentanyl that expert witnesses said was the norm in nonsurgical settings. Most of the ICU patients who received 1,000 micrograms of fentanyl were in their 70s and 80s and needed help breathing on ventilators, although a few were as young as their late 30s.

The patients, whom Husel treated from 2015 to 2018, were rushed to the Mount Carmel Health System in the Columbus area with a variety of ailments, including cancer, pneumonia and organ failure.

Franklin County prosecutors called more than 50 witnesses, including medical experts, family members of the patients who died and Husel’s former colleagues.

“Even if their death is assured as the sun is going to rise in the morning, if you hasten that along, you caused their death in the eyes of the law,” Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor David Zeyen said in closing arguments.

Husel’s defense team, led by high-profile attorney Jose Baez, argued to the jury that no maximum doses of fentanyl are considered illegal under state law and that his client was trying to give comfort care to people who were dying or near death.

“Why will this man risk his family, his career, 17 years of trying to be a doctor, every single thing he has worked for, to hasten someone’s death or to kill them?” Baez said.

Husel, who did not testify, has not spoken publicly or given media interviews since the allegations arose in a series of lawsuits families filed in early 2019. About 35 families filed wrongful-death lawsuits against him, the hospital and other staff members; several of the families settled for a total of about $13.5 million. 

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