World News | Doctor acquitted of 14 patient deaths suing health system

DETROIT, April 14 (AP) — An Ohio doctor who was acquitted of 14 patients who died after taking painkillers has sued the National Catholic Health System, which runs the hospital where he worked in the intensive care unit. File a lawsuit.

William Husel filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Detroit, claiming bad faith and naming Trinity Health Corp. He is seeking a jury trial and at least $20 million in damages.

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Husel is accused of ordering pain medication for patients at the Mount Carmel Health System in the Columbus area. He was indicted in a case involving the use of at least 500 micrograms of the powerful painkiller fentanyl.

Prosecutors in the case have said that ordering such doses in a non-surgical setting indicates an intent to end life. Husel’s lawyers argued that he was providing comforting care to dying patients, not trying to kill them.

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In April 2022, a jury found Husel not guilty on 14 counts of murder.

Husel was fired from Trinity Health’s Mount Carmel West Hospital in late 2018. He was later indicted on 25 counts of murder. In January 2022, county prosecutors dismissed 11 of the charges.

Hussle “voluntarily relinquished his license to practice medicine,” according to the federal lawsuit.

“Dr. Husserl understands that despite his acquittal, the reputational damage he has suffered will permanently disqualify him from practicing medicine,” the complaint states.

Another defamation lawsuit against Trinity is pending in Franklin County, Ohio, according to Husel’s attorney, Robert Landy of New York-based law firm Ford O’Brien Landy.

The lawsuit was filed when Husel was indicted. Randy said the damages Hussle is seeking in the bad faith suit are in case he cannot recover the amount in the defamation case.

“A bad faith prosecution case says that a person complains to authorities in order to get you arrested and prosecuted without sincerely believing that you did something wrong,” Randy said. “It only works if the accused is acquitted.”

Trinity Health said Thursday through a spokesperson that the allegations in the lawsuit are “baseless.”

“We will pursue this matter through the legal process at our discretion,” Trinity Health said in an email. “As this is an active lawsuit, we have no further comment.” (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)