COLUMBUS, Ohio — Closing arguments have been pushed back until next week in the murder trial of former Mount Carmel physician Dr. William Husel.
The arguments were originally scheduled to be held on April 4, but are now expected to start on April 11. The court has not explained why the arguments keep getting pushed back.
The defense unexpectedly rested its case one day after calling its first witness last week.
Prosecutors called a total of 53 witnesses to testify over the course of six weeks. The witnesses included hospital administrators, nurses, two medical experts and the family members of patients, who recounted their time inside Mount Carmel West’s intensive care unit.
Husel is charged with 14 counts of murder – accused of killing his patients through overprescribing medications – including fentanyl and other drugs. Prosecutors allege the drug amounts were so excessive that they accelerated the deaths of these patients.
His defense team has argued that the patients were critically ill and that Husel was providing comfort care and that it was the patients’ underlying medical conditions – not Husel’s drug orders – that led to their deaths.
Before the trial started, prosecutors initially chose to focus their case on 25 patients who received 500 micrograms of fentanyl or more. In January, they chose to dismiss 11 charges. All but three of 14 patients that remained part of the murder trial received 1,000 micrograms of fentanyl and other medications.
Husel was fired by Mount Carmel Health System in December of 2018 after questions were raised about his patient care.
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