DETROIT — An Ohio doctor acquitted in the deaths of 14 patients who died after being given painkillers has filed a lawsuit against a Catholic National Health System that runs the hospital where he worked in the intensive care unit.
William Husel Claims Malicious Lawsuits and Names Trinity Health Corp. in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Detroit. He is asking for a jury trial and at least $20 million in damages.
Husel has been accused to order pain medication for patients in the Mount Carmel Health System in the Columbus area. He has been charged in cases involving the use of at least 500 micrograms of the powerful painkiller fentanyl.
Prosecutors in that case had said ordering such doses for a non-surgical situation indicated an intent to end lives. Husel’s lawyers argued that he was providing comfort care to dying patients, not trying to kill them.
A jury found Husel not guilty of 14 counts of murder in April 2022.
Husel was fired in late 2018 from Trinity Health member Mount Carmel West Hospital. He was later charged with 25 counts of murder. Eleven of these counts have been fired by county prosecutors in January 2022.
Husel “voluntarily surrendered his license to practice medicine,” according to the federal lawsuit.
“Dr. Husel understood that, notwithstanding the acquittal, the reputational damage he suffered would prevent him from working as a physician,” the complaint states.
According to Husel’s attorney, Robert Landy of the New York-based law firm Ford O’Brien Landy, a separate defamation lawsuit against Trinity is pending in Franklin County, Ohio.
This lawsuit was filed while Husel was under indictment. The damages sought by Husel in the malicious prosecution lawsuit are in the event he does not recover the amount in the defamation case, Landy said.
“A malicious prosecution is saying that someone is complaining to authorities in an effort to have you arrested and charged, as opposed to a good faith belief that you did something wrong,” Landy said. “It only works if the accused is acquitted.”
Trinity Health said through a spokeswoman on Thursday that the claims in the lawsuit “are without merit.”
“We will deal with the matter appropriately through the legal process,” Trinity Health said in an email. “As this is an ongoing lawsuit, we have no further comment.”
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