An Ohio hospital system has reached nearly $4.5 million in settlements so far over the deaths of patients who allegedly received excessive painkiller doses ordered by a doctor now charged with murder.
At least 29 wrongful-death lawsuits have been filed against the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System and now-fired intensive care doctor William Husel, who pleaded not guilty to murder charges in 25 deaths that occurred between 2015 and 2018.
His lawyer has said Husel was providing comfort care to dying patients, not trying to kill them.
Mount Carmel has reached settlements in seven cases to date, plus two that didn't involve lawsuits.
"It is our hope that these settlements will bring some measure of closure and comfort to the families," Mount Carmel said in a statement. The hospital system has also publicly apologized for the patient deaths.
The settlements range from $200,000 to $700,000. In most cases, patients' families get two-thirds or less of the payouts from the hospital's insurers. The rest goes to their attorneys.
The families and the lawyers aren't commenting on the settlements, citing related confidentiality agreements.
The hospital system has asked a court to pause proceedings in the other lawsuits while Husel's criminal case is pending. Mount Carmel said it is working with families' attorneys in the civil cases "to resolve these matters fairly" outside of court.
Mount Carmel might have an interest in settling cases before Husel's potential criminal trial to avoid the risk that information exposed during such a trial would point to more liability by the hospital system — a scenario that would "add zeroes to the settlement checks," said Michael Benza, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Mount Carmel found that Husel ordered potentially fatal drug doses for 29 patients over the past several years. It said six more patients got doses that were excessive but did not likely cause their deaths.
Inspectors found that the doctor overrode a dispensing system to access large doses of drugs in many of the cases. Mount Carmel has since tightened its drug policies and access .
All but one of the patients were at Mount Carmel West hospital in Columbus. The exception, 70-year-old Robert Lee of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, was treated at Mount Carmel St. Ann's in suburban Columbus after suffering a heart attack in October 2017.
Lee's death was among the 25 that led to murder charges. His relatives didn't sue, but in probate court filings associated with a $675,000 settlement, they alleged that medical records show Husel ordered an excessive dose of fentanyl for Lee before having an "end of life" discussion with the family.
"Based on that, it appears that Dr. Husel made the unwarranted decision to end Mr. Lee's life before he had discussed that with the family," the filed statement said. "While family members agreed that life support would be withdrawn, they did not agree to anything that would have hastened the death of their loved one."
Mount Carmel won't comment on specific cases, except to note that the patient in the most recent lawsuit, 55-year-old Drake Mills, wasn't among the patients it found to be affected by Husel's alleged misconduct.
Mills died in June 2018, about two weeks after abdominal pain sent him to the emergency department, according to the lawsuit. It alleges he was given a lethal combination of fentanyl and other medication in conjunction with efforts to withdraw a ventilator, but doesn't specify who ordered or administered the drugs in question.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.
Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.
In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.
“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Jill Lawless contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
