The law firm that filed 17 civil suits against former Mount Carmel doctor William Husel and the hospital says the remaining 8 cases have been settled.
Attorney Gerald Leeseberg, of the Leeseberg Tuttle law firm, confirmed the final cases have been settled after 9 cases were previously resolved.
In April, Husel was acquitted on 14 counts of murder in Franklin County Common Pleas Court following a 7-week trial. The civil suits were filed in an effort to hold Husel and Mount Carmel Health Systems responsible for the deaths of patients who were under his care. The suits alleged the patients died after Husel prescribed large quantities of fentanyl and other drugs.
Husel's defense team argued that he was providing end-of-life comfort care.
Husel surrendered his license in May, and the state medical board permanently revoked it.
Husel's attorney, Doug Graff, said the publicity surrounding the case would hinder Husel from practicing medicine again.
Details about the settlement in the 8 remaining cases have not been released, but Leeseberg says once the agreements go through probate court for approval, the details will be made public.
"The amounts being paid to the individual families will be required by agreement to be confidential,” says Leeseberg. "But eventually all of the settlements will have to be submitted to the probate court for review and approval because they involve wrongful death claims, which are under the jurisdiction of the probate court and so those amounts will become public."
Leeseberg expects the settlements to be approved by the end of the year or in January.
Despite his acquittal, Husel still faced an administrative charge of failing to cooperate with a medical board investigation into the criminal allegations.
