Ohio hospital fires 23 employees after doctor is charged with patient overdose deaths

 by Regina Barton

An Ohio hospital system is firing 23 employees following an internal investigation into the overdose deaths of 25 patients.

The Mount Carmel Health System announced its plans Thursday, almost five weeks after a former employee of the hospital, Dr. William Husel, pleaded not guilty to the overdose deaths of his patients.

Husel, 43, is accused of deliberately prescribing fatal doses of opioids that led to the deaths of 25 patients. County prosecutor Ron O’Brien said the high doses administered by the Columbus doctor “could not support any legitimate medical purpose.”

In January, Mount Carmel launched an investigation into Husel’s conduct and their own pharmaceutical practices. CEO Ed Lamb, who is planning to resign as a result of the scandal, said a “case-by-case examination of every colleague who was a part of the medication and administration of the affected patients,” as well as management was conducted.

The investigation revealed William Husel, an ICU doctor and anesthesiologist, overprescribed opioids to 35 patients. Husel was suspended last fall and fired in December. Dozens of additional employees were found to be partially liable for the deaths.

Twenty-three, including five managers in charge of physician, nursing, and pharmacy oversight were terminated Thursday. Eleven employees will have to complete additional training and education. One remains on administrative leave.

O’Brien does not plan to charge the nurses and pharmacists involved in the case. He says they were just carrying out Husel’s orders.

“We have the ability to speak up because we have a license and I understand that, but our doctor is our expert and they’re guiding the care,” a Mount Carmel employee told WOSU in January.

Lamb said he will resign by the end of July. Chief Clinical Officer Richard Streck will retire in September.

“These last months have been difficult for our healthcare system, and, in times such as these, new leadership has the ability to facilitate healing and help restore the trust of the community,” Lamb said in a statement.

Husel, who is awaiting trial, maintains he was providing comfort to dying patients, not trying to kill them.

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Ohio hospital fires 23 employees after doctor is charged with patient overdose deaths

Lawsuit: November death of Mount Carmel patient triggered investigation

A Grove City woman who went to Mount Carmel West hospital was the last intensive-care patient to receive an excessive and potentially fatal dose of pain medication from Dr. William Husel, and the case triggered the hospital's investigation, attorneys said Wednesday.

Husel apparently was escorted out of the hospital sometime after 82-year-old Melissa Penix died shortly before 11 p.m. on Nov. 20. She had received a 2,000-microgram dose of the opioid fentanyl, said attorney Craig Tuttle of the Columbus firm Leeseberg & Valentine.

The dose is the highest reported by attorneys representing more than 15 families of Mount Carmel Health System patients who died under Husel's care. The highest previously reported dosage was 1,000 micrograms.

Tuttle called the dose given Penix "absurd and unfathomable."

"It was just stunning. ... And the family was appalled and shocked at learning the truth," he said.

Health care professionals have told The Dispatch that a 250-microgram dose would be enough to raise questions.

Husel has been accused of ordering excessive doses of painkiller from 2015 to 2018 for 33 near-death patients at Mount Carmel West in Franklinton and one such patient at Mount Carmel St. Ann's in Westerville. All the patients died, and Mount Carmel has said the doses potentially caused the deaths of 28 of them.

Attorneys said a wrongful-death lawsuit probably will be filed on behalf of Penix's husband in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Thursday. A copy of the suit decries the health system for failing to act on formal complaints filed on Oct. 25 and Nov. 19 about Husel's care, and it says that hospital representatives told Penix's family that her death triggered their investigation.

Mount Carmel has said Husel was removed from patient care on Nov. 21, and it has acknowledged that three patients died after the Oct. 25 complaint. A public apology was issued in January. All patient families also have been notified about the dosing issues, the system has said.

"Our family is immensely disappointed in the tragic choices of Dr. William Husel, the nurses, pharmacists, and leadership of Mount Carmel Health System," Penix's family said in a statement. "Melissa, affectionately known as Mel or Meemaw, was a devoted Christian, a wife of more than 65 years, a mother to all who graced her home, a loving and laughing grandmother and cookie-giving, color-right-along-with-you great-grandmother."


The Penix suit will name as defendants Mount Carmel, Husel, a pharmacist believed to have approved the order, and a nurse believed to have administered it. It also will list unnamed administrators and managers who were aware of the Oct. 25 report and/or the Nov. 19 report.

Penix, the law firm said in a statement, had been taken to the hospital with stomach pain on Nov. 15 and subsequently was diagnosed with pneumonia. On Nov. 19, she was admitted to the ICU with increasing difficulty breathing and was placed on a ventilator to allow her body to rest and heal, the statement said.

Penix was able to smile, make gestures and interact with family members, according to the firm. Then, on the afternoon of Nov. 20, she complained of stomach pain. A few hours later, Husel told her family that she had a severe stomach infection and was brain-dead, and that her organs were failing, the firm said. They were encouraged to remove care, which they did.

Penix, the firm said, died within five minutes of being administered the fentanyl.

Also on Tuesday, attorney David Shroyer, who has filed three wrongful-death lawsuits in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on behalf of patient families, said he submitted a motion agreeing to postpone questioning Husel under oath but asking a judge to allow the civil cases and evidence-gathering to proceed.

The motion is in response to one filed Tuesday by Husel's attorney, Gregory Foliano, who argued that the civil cases should be put on hold until after the completion of a related criminal investigation and any potential prosecution so that Husel does not have to respond to questions that could be used as evidence in any criminal matter.

The Ohio Department of Health said Mount Carmel submitted a correction plan Wednesday for St. Ann's hospital in response to a warning from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the hospital could be terminated from the Medicare program over serious pharmaceutical-service deficiencies. A plan for Mount Carmel West was submitted Tuesday.

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Lawsuit: November death of Mount Carmel patient triggered investigation

Texas doctor 'horrified' patient deaths linked to his role in $60M Medicare fraud scheme

An Arlington doctor pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to a conspiracy charge in what government officials say was a $60 million scheme to defraud Medicare.

Dr. Charles R. Leach, 66, is one of 16 defendants in the criminal case involving Novus Health Services and Optim Health Services, collectively known as Novus. The Frisco-based company was one of the largest hospice providers in North Texas before it shut down in late 2015.

A federal indictment alleges they defrauded the government by billing for hospice care that wasn't always delivered or warranted. In some cases, patients died after receiving high doses of medication to justify the higher billings, authorities said.

Leach's attorney said the doctor knew nothing about hospice patients being overmedicated to hasten their deaths.

"Dr. Leach is very remorseful for his role," his attorney, Mick Mickelsen, said after the hearing. "He has taken responsibility and [is] fully cooperating with the government."

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 14.

Leach worked as a medical director for Novus from April 2014 to October 2015. He also briefly worked for Novus Home Health.

As part of his plea deal, Leach said he falsified claims to Medicare and Medicaid by claiming to have provided medical care that he had not.

He also signed blank prescription forms in bulk for controlled substances such as hydromorphone or morphine. Those drugs were then used to overmedicate patients, according to prosecutors.

The plea documents state that Leach knew Novus CEO Bradley Harris often directed medical services. But Harris, a certified public accountant, had no medical license.

Mickelsen said Leach signed the blank prescriptions "out of convenience" but had no knowledge that drugs were being used to hasten patients' deaths.

"He was horrified to find out," Mickelsen said. "He's responsible, though, for making that possible by breaking the rules when it comes to how those scripts were issued."

Leach is the fourth Novus defendant to plead guilty to conspiracy. The three others were Jessica Love, a registered nurse case manager and regional director for Novus; Melanie Murphey, who worked as Novus' director of operations; and Taryn Stuart, a Novus hospice nurse.

As part of their plea agreements, the defendants face up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice any financial gain they received.

Twelve others, including Harris, are scheduled to go to trial in January.

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Texas doctor 'horrified' patient deaths linked to his role in $60M Medicare fraud scheme