Transcript
I swear to fulfill to the best of my ability and judgment this covenant, I will respect the hard won scientific gains of those positions and whose steps I walk and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. I will apply for the benefit of the SEC. All measures that are required. Avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. Above all, I must not play at God. The Hippocratic Oath, an oath taken by new physicians in hopes that the ethical standards will guide them in their pursuit to help patients. Dr. William Scott Hueso took this oath in 2008 when he graduated from the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. He would go on to complete a residency program at the esteemed Cleveland Clinic, eventually ending up back in Columbus, applying as an intensive care doctor at Mount Carmel West Hospital in 2013. He met his future wife, Mariah Baird, a nurse at Mount Carmel on the floor of the ICU unit. They later married in 2017. Just like any other doctor or nurse, hundreds of patients were assigned to Dr. Hustle.. Between 2013 and 2018, he works the night shift at the hospital, the intensive care unit is not for the light. A doctor hustle seemed to be equipped to handle the stress and to care for patients whose lives were literally on the line. He was highly respected on the floor and reportedly stayed calm no matter the circumstance. A former colleague who worked alongside of him said that Dr. Hustle. could remain calm even if the entire hospital was burning down. Other nurses would later testify that Dr. Hensel was often the topic of conversation during the day shift, as he was rumored to be a great physician who many aspired to work under. But then everything changed five years into working at Mount Carmel and October 25th, 2018, a formal complaint made by hospital pharmacists was filed against him and his team, citing concerns over his treatment of patients. The complaint was lodged after a patient of his 39 year old, James Nick Timmins, died after being admitted into the hospital two days earlier. The hospital started an investigation, and what they uncovered was multiple deaths linked to Dr. Hustle. his team and the infamous drug fentanyl. The investigation opened one of the biggest murder cases in Ohio State history. You don't ask why she did. So they have. But according to Dr. Husillos defense, he wasn't a murderer at all. He was providing proper care to his patients in their final moments. One of the things you're going to recognize right off the bat. It's there's no such thing as a medical murder case and that this is not a murder case and it's far from them. This is Jillian and in partnership with law and crime, you are listening to Court Junkie Episode two 01. James Timmons was brought in to Mount Carmel Hospital on October 22nd, 2018, suffering from an altered mental state and hypothermia, according to court reports. His condition worsened that first night in the hospital. His vitals dipping so low over the course of the night that three emergency code blue calls alerting to critical issues were triggered. The following morning he was transferred to the ICU on a ventilator. Court documents reveal that while on the ventilator, Timmons was still responsive to the medical staff's conversations and was generally alert. But in the early hours of October 24th, 2018, Nick's brother, Lynn Marshall, was notified by Dr Husillos ICU team that his brother was brain dead and that his organs were beginning to shut down. Multiple people from Dr. Husillos team called Lin and encouraged him to update his brother's paperwork to a do not resuscitate status. Did you understand what a DNR was? Yes. When in your mind, what was your understanding of what they were asking you to do, do not resuscitate. Don't save them. Let them die. What happened next? I got another phone call. I answered it. Same thing. Asked me about DNR order with my brother, and I told him to save him again. And then again, I got another phone call. I said the same thing after this, when I got up and I went back to the hospital. How many calls do you remember receiving from Mount Carmel after you had gone home to go to bed? Three to five. All right. And how many times do you remember speaking to someone from Mount Carmel? I think three times did. Each time they asked you to agree over the phone to a DNR. Yes, sir. And each time they asked you over the phone for an hour, your answer saved my brother. He went to the hospital and a nurse approached him again, asking him about the DNR. He eventually agreed to have his brother removed from life support. Hours later, at 3:00 a.m., Dr. Hussle ordered 1000 micrograms of fentanyl, 10 milligrams of Assad and 10 milligrams of the painkiller Dilaudid. The dosages of each medication were administered to Timmins by a nurse. Jacob Diemer, one of many nurses who, as a part of Dr. Hussle's team, helped to carry out his advised plan for the treatment of patients in the ICU. Deemer first injected the 1000 micrograms of fentanyl, waited five minutes and then administered 10 milligrams of facade and 10 milligrams of Dilaudid. Eight minutes after the final injection, Timmons flatlined, he was pronounced dead at 313 a.m.. The following day on October 25th, a pharmacist at Mount Carmel Hospital lodged a formal complaint against Dr. William Hueso, alleging that Dr. Hustle. and his team were requesting and prescribing excessive and potentially fatal doses of certain medications. The pharmacy staff at Mount Carmel West became alarmed about certain drugs ordered and administered at the direction of William Hughes. Their concerns were escalated to hospital administrators, other physicians and ultimately to the top medical officer at Trinity Health. The use of fentanyl in ICUs is pretty common and often used in collaboration with patients on a ventilator. The drug is often used to help a patient's blood stabilize when they first begin to rely on the ventilator to breathe, as well as to transition their body to sustain itself after a ventilator is no longer needed. But according to the complaint, the amounts Dr. Hazel was requesting were excessive. The complaint was reportedly filed away by Mount Carmel until weeks later. However, during that time, three other patients died after being administered large doses of fentanyl. 80 year old Sandra Cassell was one of those patients. She had been admitted to Mount Carmel on November 10 after suffering from cardiac arrest. She was given a dose of 1000 micrograms of fentanyl and 10 milligrams of her said on November 13th at 10:50 seven p.m., 23 minutes later, at 11:20 p.m., she was pronounced dead. Seventy five year old Rebecca Wells was admitted to Mount Carmel on November 13th. She had been experiencing shortness of breath and lightheadedness for over a month. During a visit to her primary care doctor, they advised her to visit Mount Carmel as she had a heart stent that may have needed to be looked at. On November 15th, she underwent a cardiac catheterization which inserted a catheter through the blood vessel into her heart to help the medical team detect if there was anything wrong with it. After the surgery, she experienced more breathing problems, as well as a groin hematoma that landed her in the ICU under the care of Dr. Hueso. During this time, Rebecca's close friend, Janet Watkins, her medical power of attorney, frequently spoke with Dr. Hussle and his team. At one point, she was approached by Dr. Hughes's staff and notified that the treatment plan for Rebecca was failing. Dr. Yusuf met me in the room and said I had two choices. I could either leave her the way she was, which I knew she did not want to be, and or we could pull the ventilator and let her go peacefully. Were you given any hope that she could recover? No. She changed Rebecca status to do not resuscitate on November 19th. It was then that Dr. Hustle. ordered 1000 micrograms of fentanyl and a large dose of her said to be given to her. Once administered, she died minutes later. Later that evening, another formal complaint was filed against Dr. Hustle. and his team. The hospital failed to fully investigate the report before Dr. Husillos next hospital shift, which was the following day when 82 year old Melissa Peaceniks was admitted into Mount Carmel for shortness of breath and pneumonia, among other conditions. Dr. Hustle. prescribed 2000 micrograms of fentanyl. She died five minutes later. On November 21st, a third and final complaint was filed against Dr. Hustle. and his team in the ICU, prompted by Melissa's death. This time with the third complaint against him, the hospital pushed to launch a formal investigation. And Dr. Hustle. was removed from patient care. Hospital records indicate that five days after Dr. Hussle was removed from patient care, he was re credentialed and added back to the active hospital staff roster. Mount Carmel has since denied that the change in its status meant he was allowed back at work. They released a statement to WB and asked 10, saying although he was credentialed during this time as part of our standard medical staff credentialing process, it is important to know that Mount Carmel did not allow Dr Hueso to care for patients after November 21st, 2018. Eight days later, on December 5th, Dr Hughes was fired from Mount Carmel West Hospital and a full scale investigation alongside the State Medical Board was launched. By mid-December, Mount Carmel released an internal memo to all staff to notify them that someone did not live up to medical care standards and that all teams would need to undergo more training on procedures and policies. But the three complaints lodged against Dr. Hueso would go far beyond the four patients that had died between October and November 2018. As the investigation continued, it was discovered that 27 patients who were assigned to Dr. Husillos Care had died during his five year employment, and by late December, the hospital began to notify victims families. Family members reported receiving phone calls from representatives of Mount Carmel and their parent company, Trinity Health Corps, to explain that their loved one received an excessive dosage of fentanyl, which could have caused their rapid decline and or death. They were informed that Dr Hewson, along with a team of nurses and pharmacists that assisted him in the ICU, were no longer in charge of patient care. While the investigation was being conducted. The hospital continued to uncover cases where patients died under the care of Dr. Hustle.. The number of these patient deaths went from 27 to 35. But not everyone was convinced that Dr. Hustle did anything wrong. On December 19th, 2019, a group of his colleagues rallied around him as nine nurses and a pharmacist filed a lawsuit against their now former employer, Mount Carmel West. They alleged that quote hospital executives were ignorant about the appropriate standards of care and that the pain medicine was needed to help patients in their last minutes of life in intensive care. The employees who filed the lawsuit all stood to potentially lose their medical licenses because of the investigation. But they insisted that Dr. Hueso never betrayed their trust or coerced them in any way. Their lawsuit read, quote this preposterous but headline grabbing false narrative of an evil rogue doctor and his complicit staff ultimately destroyed the lives and livelihoods of dozens of dedicated nurses and pharmacists and convinced the public, the Franklin County prosecutor and the state attorney general that something terrible had been going on, but nothing could be further from the truth. On Monday, January 14th, 2019, the first wrongful death lawsuit against Dr. Hueso was filed. The suit named both Dr. Hustle and the hospital itself for negligence in patient care, claiming the staff intentionally gave a lethal dose of fentanyl to a 79 year old patient. Janet Cavanaugh back in 2017. Janet Kavanagh had been admitted into the ICU at Mount Carmel, transferred from her assisted living facility. She died on December 11th, 2017, after receiving a 1000 microgram dose of fentanyl. She got the injections at 5:45 a.m. and was pronounced dead at six 00 three a.m.. The lawsuit also named two other people, a pharmacist and a nurse. The suit claimed both employees were readily aware of the inappropriate and excessive doses being given and did nothing to intervene. The same day, Mount Carmel Health System released a three minute video with a message from CEO Ed Lam discussing the investigation into Dr. Hussle and the lawsuit from the Kavanagh family during the five years he worked here. This doctor ordered significantly excessive and potentially fatal doses of pain medication for at least 27 patients who were near death. These patients families had requested that all life saving measures be stopped. On behalf of Mount Carmel and Trinity Health, our parent organization, we apologize for this tragedy and we're truly sorry for the additional grief this may have caused the families. Our team has contacted these families and will continue to answer their questions and concerns as best as we can. Mount Carmel provides compassionate care that takes into account the decisions of patients and their families. We believe in helping patients who are in their death die peacefully and naturally. The actions instigated by this doctor were unacceptable and inconsistent with the values and practices of Mount Carmel. Regardless of the reasons the actions were taken, we take responsibility for the fact that the processes in place were not sufficient to prevent these actions from happening. In the video, Lamb clearly lays the blame with Dr Hewson and labels the patients in question as near-death, which many family members of the patients would later say was not the truth. Also on the same day, a separate internal video was sent to the staff at the hospital. This message is especially for you. As you can imagine, this tragic news has caused many tears and anguish throughout our Mount Carmel family. The physicians actions were unacceptable and inconsistent with our mission and values. Sadly, our investigation revealed that some of our colleagues did not meet our standard of care. The actions that created this tragedy were instigated by this physician and carried out by a small number of good people who made poor decisions. They ignored the safeguards we have in place. Our culture of safety means that unintentional human error is not punished. Instead, we use those occasions to learn and become better, and we will. At the same time, we can't tolerate colleagues disregarding policies and putting our patients safety at risk. Along with Dr. Hughes, more than 20 other staff members, including his wife, Maria, who worked as a nurse alongside him, were let go. By January 16th, 2019, another wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the family of Bonnie Austin against Dr. Hazel and Mount Carmel. Bonnie's story takes place in 2018. Her husband, David, had taken her to Mount Carmel after she began having difficulty breathing on September 30th, 2018. She was given fentanyl and Vir said at approximately 11:20 p.m. on September 30th and then died just before midnight. Like the first suit, David also decided to sue a pharmacist and a nurse. By January 23rd, a third lawsuit was filed by a widow named Christine Allison. Her husband, Troy, had been transferred to Mount Carmel after struggling to breathe in 2018. He was placed on a ventilator and just two hours after they arrived. Christine was notified that in a shocking turn of events, Troy was now brain dead. She was encouraged by hospital staff to change his status to do not resuscitate. In the early hours of July 15, 2018, a dose of fentanyl was called in by Dr. Hueso and administered to Troy through his I.V.. Troy's nurse was also named in the suit, along with an unknown pharmacist who had provided the lethal dose for the nurse to administer. In February 2019, another lawsuit was filed by the family of former patient Jan Thomas. They filed the suit against not only Dr. Hueso, but his wife, Maria. This suit claimed that Jan Thomas was transported to Mount Carmel West after becoming unresponsive at her home on February 28th, 2015. She was admitted into the ICU immediately and placed under the care of Dr. Hughes, so he ordered 800 micrograms of fentanyl to be given to her via an I.V.. Dr. Hussle's wife, Maria, then gave her the dose on March 1st, 2015, just after midnight. She died at 12 11 a.m.. These are just a handful of the 31 wrongful death lawsuits that were filed against Dr. Hustle. and Mount Carmel West Hospital in the following months. There had been no on record disciplinary actions or reports made against Dr. Hughes Silver, his staff with the state medical board prior to the first formal complaint made in October 2018. But on January 25th, 2019, the State Medical Board of Ohio suspended Dr. Husillos Medical License. At the same time, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services went to Mount Carmel to carefully review all the patient records for themselves. They discovered that in 24 out of the 27 patient deaths that were actively under investigation, their medication had been dispensed from a Pyxis machine, a machine vending machine of sorts on the ICU floor. A review of the machine indicated that emergency override reports were used by nurses to obtain medicine doses from the machine without first having to contact a pharmacist for approval. The machine was used so frequently by the ICU team that hospital pharmacists were often called to restock the supply of fentanyl on the ICU floor. Well, a regular adult dose of fentanyl ranged from 20 to 100 micrograms based on weight and other factors. Dr Hewson was prescribing 10 times the recommended high dosage, giving on average 1000 micrograms to his patients and on two occasions two patients received 2000 microgram doses. Mount Carmel CEO Ed Lamb said that although they had previously thought that all the patients who died under Dr. Hussle's care were near death, they now cited that potentially five patients conditions could have improved had it not been for the dosage of fentanyl given to them. As the investigation into the allegations continued, another discovery was made by local news station W. B. A. 10 in late April 2019. An unnamed source leaked to the CBS affiliate that Dr. Hueso didn't meet Mount Carmel's own requirements to be an ICU doctor. According to their applications for ICU doctors obtained by WBNS, applicants must be an M.D. audio, have had a fellowship in critical care, served in a residency program in internal medicine and were currently eligible for the board exam. Dr. Hustle. only met two of the requirements, and he never served in a residency program an internal medicine. Once this information became public, a wave of concern flooded the community, how could a hospital hire someone unqualified for such a high position as an ICU doctor? Mount Carmel and its parent company, Trinity Health, fought back, saying that Dr. Hustle. had successfully completed a critical care fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic and had met their qualifications. They said that back in 2013, they brought Dr. Husillos application before a third party legal advising team that agreed he would be qualified to be on the floor and on the Las. But that wasn't the only part of Dr. Hughes's background, the hiring team at Mount Carmel was accused of overlooking standard background checks conducted by the hospital during the hiring process only went back in a person's history 10 years, so they completely missed the misdemeanor charge Dr. Hueso pled guilty to back in 1996. Was it relevant to what was going on now? William Hueso had attended Wheeling Jesuit College, a private Catholic school in West Virginia. His reputation on the small campus was more troublesome than anything. As a freshman, Hussle was reportedly known for running a car stereo theft ring, breaking into cars both on and off campus. Then things escalated. In 1994, Hussle allegedly figured out how to make a pipe bomb for fun and decided to use the device to blow up a trashcan on campus near a popular rec center. A harmless joke, he reportedly thought. But when the school decided to investigate the incident, he got nervous. The school took the matter so seriously. In fact, the feds got involved. Kusal, in his panic, decided it would be best to plant the pipe bomb, making material he had used in the car of a fellow student in order to frame him for the crime. It worked to a certain extent as the student Hugh Framed cracked under pressure and falsely admitted that the pipe bomb material was his. It took two years for the feds to finally discover that Hueso was the real ringleader. And in 1996, he pled guilty to one misdemeanor of improperly storing explosive materials. He was sentenced to serve six months at a community center and undergo one year of supervision, but there's no indication on how or if that sentence was ever carried out. Allegedly, the state medical board had been made aware of Dr. Husillos past. He had explained everything back when he was trying to get his license, but the information was reportedly never provided to Mount Carmel. This discovery was so alarming that the president of the hospital, Sean McKibben and his wife called police shortly after they learned about it. They told 9-1-1 dispatchers that the situation with Dr. Hustle. quote put us at risk because my husband is the president of the hospital where he used to practice. There are concerns about our security and our safety. On June 5th, 2019, William Hussle was indicted on 25 counts of murder for allegedly overprescribing pain medicine. He was facing a total of 375 years in jail, 15 years for every wrongful death conviction if found guilty. Franklin County prosecutor Ron O'Brien said his office, Columbus police and medical experts found that Hussle's actions prematurely ended the lives of his patients. He said quote, I likened it to the burning down of a candle that candle. While there may just be a half of an inch of wax left, if I blow that candle out, I'm causing that flame to go out sooner than it would naturally. Hueso pleaded not guilty and was held on a $20000 recognizance bond. A million dollar appearance bond and was forced to surrender his passport. Two days later, he posted Bond and was released. In the meantime, Mount Carmel announced that it was firing 23 employees, including five members of the management team, who were linked to the wrongful death lawsuits. An additional 11 employees would be allowed to return to work following extensive training and education. CEO Ed Lamb resigned later that month in July. Mount Carmel and its sister hospital, Mount Carmel, St Anne's, were on a downward trajectory as well following the investigations conducted by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid alongside the Ohio Department of Health. It was found that both hospitals were in violation of federal regulatory pharmaceutical practices, along with violations of building safety. They claimed failures of safety regarding the dispensing of medicine and policy violations in the use of fentanyl failed to prevent patients from receiving an overdose. But the hospital had a quick fix. Mount Carmel presented an action plan of how exactly they intended to make changes and ensure patient safety. The groups accepted the plan and Mount Carmel won approval to continue about business as usual. In August of 2019, Hueso hired a defense attorney in preparation for what was to be one of the biggest murder cases to pass through Ohio State courts. He chose none other than Jose Baez. As many of you know, Jose Baez is most known for serving as Casey Anthony's attorney when she went to trial for the first degree murder of her two year old daughter, Caylee, a case he later won. Baez went on to defend NFL player Aaron Hernandez and most recently served for some time on the defense team of Harvey Weinstein. Hueso also filed a lawsuit of his own against the parent company of his former employer, Trinity Health Corp., in hopes that they would pay for all of his legal fees. Six months later, a judge struck down the preliminary injunction and denied that Trinity should pay for anything. In December 2019, Yucel filed another lawsuit against Mount Carmel West Hospital, this one for defamation. The lawsuit named CEO Ed Lamb and their parent company for making defamatory statements to the media. He requested an over $50000 payout and money for attorney's fees. The lawsuit claimed that Hussle was fulfilling his job within the policies of the facility and that the hospital knew that no policies had been violated. Husillos team claimed all the patient deaths were the results of removing the patient from full life support through ventilator or otherwise, and were not affected by the dosages he prescribed. Baez also argued that no maximum dose of the drugs was considered illegal under the state's laws. At this point, Mount Carmel had already publicly recognized wrongdoing, and it settled various wrongful death lawsuits with families of patients as of this point. They had paid upwards of thirteen point five million dollars. Although he was connected to 35 total patient deaths, prosecutors decided to only bring 25 of them to trial. They also made the decision to not list any nurses or pharmacists as co-conspirators in the case, since in their view, they were simply following the doctor's orders. The patients all received doses of 500 micrograms or more of fentanyl. Their conditions and ages varied from 39 to 85. But just one month before the trial was set to begin, the Franklin County prosecution stunned everyone. They requested the sitting judge to throw out 11 cases from the standing, 25 charges to which he granted the request. Prosecutors declined to comment on why they decided to drop those cases weeks before the trial, but they all had one thing in common. All 11 patients received less than 1000 micrograms of fentanyl. And so on February 16th, 2022, a jury of five men and seven women were selected. In opening statements, the prosecutor said the conditions of the patients could have been improved. She argued that ventilators were not a death sentence. These medications are powerful, potent opiates, benzodiazepines and paramedics employed in the treatment of seriously ill individuals who are placed on ventilators to help sustain their lives. The evidence will show that these drugs were prescribed in massive doses in combination with one another during the ongoing COVID 19 epidemic. We became aware of the use of ventilators to care for people needing life support. Being on a ventilator was not and is not a death sentence. People do come off of them and live. Unfortunately, that was not the case for the victims in this prosecution. She promised to prove that Dr. Hustle and Doctor Hustle alone was responsible for the deaths of all 14 patients, regardless of their underlying illnesses. As we previously discussed, these people, these people were quite ill and receiving care in an intensive care unit. The state's experts will establish that not all of these people were terminally ill on the date of their death or at all during their hospitalization. We will prove that William use those apps for a cause of their individual deaths. We will prove through our evidence, all consistent with Ohio law, that the defendant is responsible for all of these deaths as the natural consequences of his unlawful acts, even though the victims had serious illnesses. Defense Attorney Jose Baez said in his opening statements that the case lying before the jury was 100 percent about comfort, care and helping a patient have dignity in their final moments. He said if the case was truly about the murder of 14 individuals, dozens of nurses and pharmacists would have needed to be charged in the crime as well because each patient had a multitude of health care professionals by their side who oversaw their care. He cited research that opioids don't hasten death. And there was research out there that you'll see that show that people sometimes even longer they live longer because of the audience, because now they can wrestle with natural and the reserves are depleted, meaning you could all agree that for a short period of time until you tire up and die and the opioids actually alleviate that. There are no maximum doses in the industry or the science. So you guys are in jury selection. It's true there are no set doses because medicine believes it's the doctor at the bedside. That's to determine whether this patient needs more or less. They want you to take the hands, take medicine, our hands of the doctors and nurses at bedside and give us a prosecutor. And that's essentially what this case will be about. Lynn Marshall, the brother of James Nick Timmins, who died one day before the first formal complaint against Dr Hueso was filed, was a witness for the state. At some point after talking to the nurse, did you agree to a DNR? Yes, because everything that he told me just sounded like there was no other option. What, if anything, did you feel during this process? Oh, it was also unreal to me like it was. I didn't know really what all that felt. It happened really, really fast. You know it. Later, a second guessed myself, but at that time I just did what I thought was right. I didn't want my brother suffer anything from what I heard. Like other patients, Timmons was placed on a ventilator before suffering from what the ICU team said was organ failure. Dr. Hueso planned for the ventilator to be removed, and the team spoke with Lynn Marshall. Far as I knew, the breathing tube was taken out and my brother had limited time. So I went in there and I just grabbed him real tight. Let's talk to him in his ear and telling him how much I loved them and how, you know, I was a little mad at him for the decision he made last summer. You know that, you know, mom and my other brother, you know, I miss him. Tim, eventually, you know, Christine Allison, whose husband Troy was one of Dr. Hussle's patients who died in 2018, also took the stand. She filed the third wrongful death suit against Dr. Hussle. She told the court that Troy went to Mount Carmel one evening when he began to hyperventilate. She had called the ambulance, but by the time they arrived, Troy was fine. All right, and then what happened after that? The guys came in. He checked his vitals. He said, You know, his his sugar is a little high. I really want to take him in just as a precaution and towards like, no problem. And did you ride with him in the ambulance? No. Troy was walking out to the ambulance. He stopped at the door and he looked at me and he said, Are you going to come? And I said, Yeah, let me get Gypsy out because I put the dog away because this guy was there. I said, Let me get Gypsy out and I'll be right over. And he's like, OK. He walked on out to the ambulance. When was the next time you saw him? They were doing chest compressions on him and in the emergency room. When she arrived at the hospital, Troy was in the emergency room and doctors were giving him chest compressions. She didn't know what was going on. He was stabilized and the doctor ordered a CT scan before sending him to the ICU. Once he was transferred there, Christine visited him. I go in his room, he's in, he's in a room. There's like, you know, the lights are all out, but the rooms have their lights on. And so I go in his room. Dr. Hueso and the nurse was there and there was a male nurse, and I believe he asked me about if Troy going to be on life support. And I was like, Well, now. And so then the next thing is he's telling me he's dying. I'm ninety nine point nine percent sure Troy is brain dead and his organs are failing. When you say he, who is he doctor? He saw, Christine said Dr. Hueso only asked generally about Troy's wishes pertaining to life support and that he didn't explicitly share his plans for Troy's treatment. He did ask me if he wanted to be on life support, and I said no, but I thought it was like wanting to know. Not that that's where we were because I even I even looked at Mariah like, why is he asking me this? Because I'm seeing a resting, comfortable man. And so I was confused, but I thought, Well, maybe he needs to know for later or something. I don't know. But then later, he didn't ask me anything else. He told me, I'm ninety nine point nine percent sure that he's brain dead and his organs are failing. Former nurses who worked alongside Dr. Hussle were also called to the stand. One of them was Tyler Springer, who worked in the ICU with patient Ryan Hayes, who was 39 years old. Springer spoke frankly during his time on the stand, saying that the orders he followed came directly from Dr. Hueso. What did you do at this point, you were given these orders? I would draw the medication up and go and give the medication to the patient as we withdraw from where on the basis. And do you remember whether you waited for approval from the pharmacy or did this the override override? And then once you went through this medication, what did you do? I went to my room. Obviously, you've got the verbal order. We put the the order in action. We put the order in overrode and then I got the medication out and went and administered to the patient, to Mr. Hayes. Yes. Was Mr. Hayes already extubated at this time? Yes. So that was done prior to you arriving in the room? Yes. Was there any family there at that point? I believe the son was there. And you said you got the order. Who did you get the order from Dr. Faisal? He testified that everything they did in the ICU was focused on patient comfort. I just want to go lastly, the doctor who saw just in your experience with him over the years when you were at Mount Carmel. He was nice. Absolutely. He seemed very smart to you. Yes. Oh yes. Yes, kind of person. You had an issue. You can go on. Absolutely. And he was receptive to change. Yes. And you told the police that. Yes. And he was even someone that you had a professional relationship with. Yes. Yes. And and you had a good relationship overall, did you not? Yes. Another former nurse, Jamie Burke, testified that although she took fentanyl out of the medical vending machine using an override method that bypassed hospital pharmacists, she was simply following the orders of the higher up Dr. Hewson. When you remove the medication from the patients, did you say that was being overrun? Yes. And were you doing that? Was this a planned procedure or was this more of an emergent situation? It's not an emergent situation, but it is urgent. But I didn't override because it was emergent. I overrode because it was a bedside procedure that the physician is there giving orders, and in that case, we are allowed to. So Dr. Hewson was standing with you. She was within the nurse's station within. I don't believe he was standing right next to me, whereas when I was pulling it up, he was standing right there with me. Another former nurse, Jacob Diemer, spoke highly of Dr Hewson and said he even looked up to him during his time working at the hospital. So here's a highly accomplished professional with training at the Cleveland Clinic, who was doing the thing that I want to be doing or something similar. And he's apparently very good. I should probably figure out why he thinks the way he thinks and learn how he does the things that he does because it's led him to a great deal of success. So I like to copy people who have walked the path before me because usually they're on to something Deemer spoke to having a limited understanding of some of the opioids used on the ICU floor, a fault the prosecution was intent on blaming Mount Carmel for. Due to lack of training, Deemer testified that although he would pull the medicine order for Dr. Hueso, he did in fact question the dosages for clarification. But he said he always got a reliable answer. Did you ask for clarification from Doctor Who, so when he gave you this verbal order? Yeah, in fact, I called pharmacy as well. Why did you ask for clarification from Doctor Who, someone gave you this big order to forward the first being that I just wanted to know where his head was at? I, although a mentor to me and established that doesn't mean that is beyond sometimes, you know, I I would not be afraid to question any anybody. But I sought the clarification because I wanted to kind of get a sense of, Hey, where's your head at? Why? Why are we doing it this way? Things like that because I just wanted to get on the same wavelength as him to help my understanding, multiple nurses who testified expressed frustration with the hospital itself rather than with Dr. Hueso. They recalled receiving no formal training on important medications and explained in critical detail that what their job centered on was saving patients and providing the most comfortable care possible. They all testified that the process of extubation the removal of ventilators was a difficult task if the patient struggled to begin breathing on their own. Their job was to make a very scary and sometimes painful process as smooth and comfortable as possible. The defense team called only one witness to the stand, Dr. Jones, if it was a critical care specialist who had trained in the same program at the Cleveland Clinic that Dr. Hustle. had. But several years apart, they had never met before trial. And I think that, you know, probably all of us have had periods in our life where we've had pain and in pain can be anything from, you know, minor and annoying to crippling and disabling. And pain can be so severe that people wish for death. You know, when they can't relieve the pain that they have missed at all, it's a spectrum in. But in the case of where pain control is given to people who you know, who are very much alive and intend to remain so, you know, there's a certain kind of pattern of prescribing that's intended to again reduce the painful symptoms and so allows a person to otherwise function in their daily life. You know, when we want pain not to be a barrier, we want it to be able to be something that we can accommodate so we can get on with it. Now, in the circumstance of when someone is dying near the end of their, you know, end of their life, it's a very different kind of project. So the first of all, I guess, you know, the question is, is dying painful at all? And I think the answer is that yes, dying is presumably very painful. He explained to the jury the importance of using a drug like fentanyl and how common it is among those using a ventilator. So a patient say has respiratory difficulty. And so they're attached, you know, through a tube, through a mechanical ventilator that is breathing, you know, helping them breathe because without it, the the act of breathing is difficult. And everyone knows what it feels like to be short of breath. It's an extremely uncomfortable and arguably terrifying experience in the extreme. And so it's very important to put in place in this case, fentanyl to blunt the kind of experience of being short of breath that can immediately occur when the ventilator is removed. He also testified about the ethics of comfort care and the accommodations provided by doctors during a patient's last days. Of course, as a doctor, my contract is with the patient, OK, and the patient is the boss of themself and they get to control what they want and what they don't want. Now what's peculiar about intensive care is that the kind of is that the patient? I may never hear their voice, I may never see them standing upright. I never know them when they're well and they can never talk to me because they're too sick. And so the entire relationship then is dependent upon, you know, what their loved ones, what their proxies are seeing. So that's a very complicated position to be as a proxy, you know, and I like to, you know, somewhat cynically say sometimes the easiest pain to bear is someone else's. But for the proxy, it's very difficult because no one wants to think it was them that killed their relative or something horrifying like that. And so I instruct people I say the way this works is that your mouth opens and their words come out of your mouth. So we're here trying to engage together to figure out what this person in the bed would want. Dr. Xvid was asked by Biya's what he thought of the state having no threshold for maximum dosages, a key factor to the defense's case that Dr. Russell was not in violation of standard protocol. I mean it. It's it's yes, it's a patient. It's obviously patients specific. And it's also based upon, you know, a doctor's view as to how much they think a person can meet. And you know, some people like, you know, I've met, you know, doctors are not all on the same page on this, OK, like some doctors feel that pain, you know, might give small quantities and others give large quantities. And and you know, the those that give small quantities might think that whatever the patient doesn't need it or the patient can manage without it or, you know, or have some other kind of notion about, you know, about how much pain someone should get, like I said, the easiest pain to bear or someone else's. So, you know, I as an anesthesiologist, I'm expert in the relief of pain. OK. And so in that way, I have a, you know, a strong clinical experience with dosage and pain relief. And it's something, you know, the anesthesiologists are particularly plugged into an expert in. He said he firmly believed that the 14 patients Dr. Hustle. was accused of killing died from the illnesses they suffered or underlying conditions. Many of the family lawsuits claimed they were informed that their loved ones were brain dead and were given the option to change their status to do not resuscitate uncross Dr Xvid said he did not know why fentanyl would then be administered to patients such as those since it would be unnecessary. But he did shoot down the idea that any of the 14 patients had actually been declared brain dead. You did not see any of these 14 patients anything in the records about them being brain dead, correct? I didn't see anything anywhere that said that any of the patients were brain dead. Doctors of it said he didn't believe the dosages of fentanyl given to the patients was reckless or intentionally excessive. He testified that he was absolutely against euthanasia and was contributing to the trial on a pro-bono basis in the name of medicine. So euthanasia is the intentional killing of a person where the killing is done in a in a pain as painless as possible. Ideally completely painless is what it's intended to be. And through cross-examination, did you testify that you were against euthanasia? Yes. Do you stand by that, that you were against a doctor intentionally killing someone? I do. And knowing that and having reviewed all the records in this case, you still chose to testify in this case, pro bono? I did. I have no further questions. Deliberations began on April 12. Six days later, the jurors announced they had reached no conclusion and were split down the middle. The judge encouraged them to keep working until they had a verdict on April 20th. They came back with one. They decided that Hussle was not guilty on all charges. He was acquitted, although William Yucel was acquitted of his criminal charges. He still faces several civil suits from individual patients families. Hussle and his wife are reportedly currently raising their two children and attempting to adjust to life post-trial while living with his in-laws. In an interview with People magazine after the trial, he also said The last three and a half years we've had this weight that's been on our chest and finally it's going to come off. We're going to try to just kind of calm the nervous system down a little bit, heal and try to just pick up the pieces and then try to get an apartment of our own again. He said he still feels bad for the families involved in the situation. I feel grief for these families. They've been through a difficult situation. I understand that they're suffering and I do feel for them. After the trial, juror Damon Massie spoke with law and crime about the jury's decision. He said it was evident that Trinity Health Corp. and Mount Carmel were trying to place blame solely on his soul for myself aid. It told me that. Trinity Health was trying to find someone to put the blame on. Actually, I believe that they had a big blaming because if there's that kind of orders now going out to where one day order it's changed out of medicine, how do you not know that as a as a realisation that that prides itself on medical care? On May 11th, 2022, the State Medical Board of Ohio permanently revoked Husillos Medical License, and that's all for this episode. As always, I'd love to know what you think about this case. You can let me know by joining the conversation on Instagram at Court Junkie, by tweeting me at Court Junkie Pod or by emailing me at podcast at Court Junk E-com. This episode was researched and written by law and crime staff to hear these episodes without the ads and to hear additional court junkie bonus content. Check out my Patreon options by going to Court Junkie.com/ support. Thanks again for listening. Until next time.
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