Ohio doctor accused of overprescribing fentanyl to the dying found not guilty of murder

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by ajenn22
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(CNN) The Ohio doctor accused of overprescribing fentanyl to his critically ill patients and hastening their deaths was found not guilty of 14 counts of murder on Wednesday.

William Husel and his attorney embraced at the defense table after the 14th and final not guilty verdict was read in court. He was subsequently discharged from the courtroom.

The decision comes just over a week after jurors began deliberating and days after they said they were at an impasse and could not reach a unanimous verdict , leading Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook to instruct them to continue their deliberations.

William Husel was accused of overprescribing fentanyl to dying patients in the intensive care unit from 2015 to 2018.

After the verdict, Franklin County Ohio prosecutor Gary Tyack praised both sides of the case.

"The State of Ohio v. William Husel was carefully tried and prepared by both the Prosecution and the Defense," he said. "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. We accept the jury verdict."

reefersutherland91 on April 20th, 2022 at 17:41 UTC »

Happened with my grandmother. Mom can’t accept she died because her organs failed due to diabetes and a sedentary lifestyle. She still says that they “killed her with morphine” as if spending perhaps another miserable 18 months on dialysis was some sort of fantastic outcome. I had to press her to make the call to go hospice.

suppersready90 on April 20th, 2022 at 16:38 UTC »

Here's a link to a local new station's coverage:

https://www.10tv.com/article/news/investigations/10-investigates/mount-carmel-patient-overdose-deaths/dr-william-husel-found-not-guilty-14-counts-of-murder-trial/530-a457e6f0-796a-43c5-b269-515499c97ec7

Until very recently I lived in Columbus. This has been a big big story.

WCMH and WSYX are the other local stations. The Columbus Dispatch is the local paper though it's hard to say how strong their pay wall is these days.

LuangPrabangisinLaos on April 20th, 2022 at 16:14 UTC »

I guess people aren't aware, but in palliative care this is totally normal. It isn't assisted suicide, but if they die while high on narcotic medication it's a win for patient care.

I mean, realistically what is the purpose of modern medicine when we get to the point of terminal illness? Comfort. I mean all medicine is effectively about comfort. We see it as treating illness. How do you treat a person who cannot recover? By giving them the best comfort we can. The wheel chair to a person with parapelgia is the same as a narcotic for someone in terrible pain that will only end when they die.