Dr. William Husel murder trial: Updates & summary for March 7, 2022

The trial of Dr. William Husel is being livestreamed each day on NBC4i.com and the NBC4 app. 4:34 p.m. update: Proceedings have ended for the day and are expected to resume Tuesday at 9 a.m.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Mount Carmel ICU physicians and top executives took the stand Monday in the murder trial of former Mount Carmel doctor William Husel.

Husel, 46, is facing murder charges in the deaths of 14 ICU patients who were under his care at the former Mount Carmel West hospital from 2015 to 2018. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

After prosecuting and defense attorneys questioned Dr. Dan Roth, chief clinical officer of Mount Carmel’s parent organization Trinity Health, Dr. David Ralston took the witness stand.

Ralston, who has served as an ICU, pulmonary and sleep physician at Mount Carmel since 1997, spoke about the process of removing a patient from a ventilator and the types of medication administered to critically ill patients, including Versed and Midazolam to numb their sense of pain, he said.

Ralston testified that he’s removed over 1,000 patients from a ventilator during his time as a critical care physician, and one of the most important steps in the process is communicating with the patient’s family.

“You want to establish a relationship with the family,” Ralston said. “You want to relay trust and confidence to them too. Try to figure out what (the patient) would want under those circumstances.”

After the prosecution finished questioning Ralston, Husel defense attorney Diane Menashe questioned him about how many times he was interviewed by Columbus Police and the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office and specific topics they discussed during those interviews.

Menashe also questioned Ralston about the “compassionate extubation order set” and when it was used at Mount Carmel West.

Summary of last week:

Judge Michael Holbrook sent the jury home for the weekend Thursday morning after a sidebar that took over an hour with prosecution and defense attorneys arguing whether recent testimony potentially relied on privileged information.

Before the recess, the week was full of top hospital executives from Mount Carmel and medical experts testifying in the trial.

While prosecutors argue that Husel administered fatal doses of the opioid painkiller fentanyl that served no therapeutic purpose, his defense team has contended that he was providing comfort care to critically ill patients.

One of the state’s key witnesses who testified last week was Dr. Wes Ely, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University and pulmonary and critical care medicine specialist. Ely gave scathing reviews of Husel’s “mind-boggling” medication orders and later admitted while being cross-examined by defense attorney Diane Menashe that he opposed euthanasia.

Other notable testimony came from John “Sean” O’Connell, the former director of pharmacy at Mount Carmel West, who spoke about how he and other senior hospital executives handled concerns regarding fentanyl doses order by Husel.

Former Mount Carmel West Vice President Dr. Larry Swanner took the stand Wednesday to discuss steps the hospital took following reports of Husel’s medication orders.

Swanner said he placed Husel on administrative leave in 2018, and a few months later, Swanner himself was terminated from the hospital. Swanner told defense attorney Jose Baez that he was never given a reason as to why he was fired.

Attorneys have said the trial could last up to eight weeks.

Here are some of the individuals who may appear during the proceedings:

Judge