An Ohio doctor accused of prescribing fatal doses of fentanyl to 14 patients over the course of four years has been acquitted of all charges.
William Husel was arrested and charged with 25 counts of murder in June 2019 after two pharmacists at the Mount Carmel Health System raised concerns the doctor was prescribing unusually high doses of fentanyl. A county jury cleared him of remaining charges on Wednesday, settling a case examining whether the doctor murdered his patients or simply offered comfort to those who were terminally ill.
“The jury, after review of all the evidence, was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that William Husel was guilty of any charges submitted to them,” said G. Gary Tyack, the Franklin County prosecuting attorney, in a statement. “We accept the jury verdict.”
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Husel, 46, was accused of killing 14 patients between 2015 and 2018.
Husel was terminated from his position as an ICU doctor after the hospital conducted an internal investigation determining he had prescribed patients excessive doses of fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid that can be deadly if taken in high doses. Pharmacists would prepare the fentanyl doses Husel had prescribed, convincing them the high doses were necessary for the patients’ treatment, prosecutors said.
In one case, a patient received a dosage that was 20 times higher than what is recommended by the Food and Drug Administration, county prosecutors alleged. His attorneys argued Husel was merely acting out of compassion to help his patients who were in pain. However, prosecutors said several people were not sick enough to die when they received the fatal doses.
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A county judge dismissed 11 of the 25 murder counts in January after a request from prosecutors, although it’s not clear why they pushed to clear the charges. The jury acquitted Husel of the remaining 14 on Wednesday, bringing an end to the yearslong controversy that ended in the hospital chief executive’s resignation and the termination of more than 20 employees.
