COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A former physician for Mount Carmel who was acquitted of 14 murder charges in 2022 will be back in court suing multiple hospital systems for defamation.
William Husel’s cases against Mount Carmel Health System, former Mt. Carmel CEO and president Edward Lamb, and Mt. Carmel’s parent company Trinity Health Corporation, will go to trial after Franklin County court of common pleas dismissed the defendants’ motion to have a summary judgment. Instead, a trial will begin on June 2.
Husel sued all three for one claim of defamation in 2019 and sued Mount Carmel for breach of contract. From 2015 to 2018, critically ill patients in Columbus ICU physician Husel’s care died from a potentially excessive amount of painkillers. In 2019, Husel faced 14 murder charges in relation to his patient’s deaths. A jury ultimately found him not guilty in 2022 after a months-long trial. Husel surrendered his medical license in the aftermath of his trial.
He filed multiple new civil lawsuits which included a 2023 suit for $20 million against Mount Carmel in which Husel’s attorneys claim “malicious prosecution” against him.
This lawsuit was dismissed in March of 2024 before he filed a new suit a month later, which alleged public statements from the defendants calling him responsible for patient deaths and attempts at influencing local media.