Mount Carmel doc accused of leading 27 fentanyl deaths, families sue

Mount Carmel Health Systems released a statement Monday revealing that an intensive-care unit doctor, Dr.William Husel, was found to have administered potentially lethal doses of fentanyl to 27 near-death patients between 2015 and 2018.

Mount Carmel CEO Edward Lamb announced that these findings were a result of an investigation launched against Husel, the results of which have been turned over to authorities.

Husel has since been fired.

Additionally, 20 hospital staff members have been suspended while additional investigations continue.

News of the investigation came after a lawsuit was filed earlier that day against Husel, a nurse, and a pharmacist in the death of  79-year-old Janet Kavanaugh, who received a lethal dose of fentanyl from Husel in 2017.

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Another lawsuit was filed against Mount Carmel Health Systems, Dr. William Husel regarding the 2018 death of Bonnie Austin.

According to 10TV, the suit accuses Husel of ordering that 600 micrograms of fentanyl be administered to Austin after she was transported to Mount Carmel West hospital on September 30, 2018 for a collapsed lung.

Allegedly, he then told her husband that she was brain dead.

“This excessive dosage was grossly inappropriate given Bonnie Austin’s condition and was either ordered negligently and not properly reviewed or was intentionally prescribed by Dr. Husel for the purpose of ending Bonnie Austin’s life,” the lawsuit states, per 10TV.

Lamb states that Mount Carmel takes full responsibility for the fact that the procedures in place were insufficient for preventing these events from occurring and they are making sure to gain full understanding of these cases to ensure that they don’t happen again.

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