COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Latest on claims that Ohio hospital patients received potentially fatal doses of pain medicine (all times local):
3:30 p.m.
Ohio’s medical board has suspended the license of a doctor accused of ordering excessive and possibly fatal pain medicine for dozens of hospital patients without their families’ knowledge.
The board says William Husel (HYOO’-suhl) invoked his right against self-incrimination when its representatives asked whether he purposefully ordered excessive doses to end patients’ lives.
The allegations are under investigation by the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System, local authorities, and state officials acting on behalf of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Husel was fired, but no charges have been announced. His lawyers aren’t commenting.
Mount Carmel says it’s investigating whether patients got lethal doses when they still might have had opportunity to improve with treatment.
It publicly apologized and put 20 pharmacists and nurses on leave pending investigation.
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10:20 a.m.
Two more lawsuits are alleging hospital patients were negligently or intentionally given lethal doses of pain medicine ordered by an Ohio doctor without the families’ knowledge.
The Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System says Dr. William Husel (HYOO’-suhl) ordered excessive doses for at least 34 patients over several years. It fired Husel, notified authorities and put six pharmacists and 14 nurses on leave pending investigation.
Husel’s lawyers aren’t commenting.
He and the hospital face at least six wrongful-death lawsuits, including the two filed Friday over the deaths of 69-year-old Joanne Bellisari in May 2015 and 80-year-old Jim Allen in May 2018.
Mount Carmel initially said the affected patients were near death. It now says it’s investigating whether some got potentially fatal dosages when they still had an opportunity to improve with treatment.
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