COLUMBUS, Ohio — An attorney for Dr. William Husel wants his client’s deposition sealed - arguing if the details of what he told patients’ attorneys were made public, it would cause Husel embarrassment and potentially prejudice a jury ahead of a civil trial.
While Husel was acquitted of 14 counts of murder in April, he still faces ten wrongful death lawsuits that allege he and Mount Carmel Health Systems were negligent and responsible for the deaths of patients under his care through overprescribing them doses of fentanyl and other drugs.
The patients were critically ill and the hospital has stated previously that many were near death. Husel’s attorneys have argued it was the patients’ medical conditions that caused their deaths – not the drugs ordered by Husel.
Attorneys for the patients’ families have opposed the motion to seal Husel’s deposition, arguing some of the details revealed in the 10-day deposition in August have already been reported on – including that Husel faced pipe bomb charges while in college at Wheeling Jesuit College in West Virginia and that he has been divorced previously and since re-married to a nurse he worked with at Mount Carmel West.
“We shouldn't be handcuffed to not talk about what he said and what he didn't say," Attorney Dave Shroyer told 10 Investigates. "This deposition was taken down by a court reporter who was under oath. It was videotaped by a videographer.
"We want to file both of those and make those available... I think it's an important public policy issue. I think it's important for the public to know what the thought process was of William Husel in this case."
Attached to these latest court filings were affidavits from May showing that after his acquittal – prosecutors were still weighing another criminal case against Husel for the deaths of 18 patients who were not part of his original murder trial.
According to one of the affidavits, prosecutors noted that while a grand jury indicted Husel on 25 counts of murder, Columbus Police originally began investigating the deaths of the 32 patients.
Seven of those patients’ cases were never presented to the grand jury.
Prior to the start of his trial, prosecutors dismissed without prejudice 11 of the 25 counts. They focused their criminal case largely on those patients who received 1,000 micrograms of fentanyl or more.
But according to these affidavits from May of 2022, prosecutors acknowledged that they had been in communication with the patients’ civil attorneys and their family members and that the “information and records obtained from these communications was assembled and compiled in connection with a pending criminal investigation and proceeding.”
Prosecutors also noted that the information was shared with investigators “to facilitate further investigation and review of evidence for the 11 cases where the charges were dismissed without prejudice and the deaths of 7 patients that were not presented to the grand jury. The investigation and review of evidence involving these 18 patients deaths is active and ongoing.”
That affidavit was included in the ongoing civil cases against Husel.
When reached by phone, Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Janet Grubb said she had no comment beyond what was contained in the court record.
“It says what it says,” Grubb told 10 Investigates.
Husel’s criminal defense attorney Jose Baez told 10 Investigates by phone Wednesday that he believes the jurors “spoke loudly and spoke clearly” when deciding to acquit Husel on murder charges. He added that the prosecutors didn’t want to “let it go” and hoped that they would not pursue additional criminal charges against the former Mount Carmel doctor.
This story will be updated.