Link below. Wasn't following this story but saw the headline this morning. The doc in question prescribed massive doses of the pain-killer Fentanyl for 14 patients who were apparently (supposedly) at death's door. The state prosecuted him for murder, and after deliberating for seven days, the jury found him NOT guilty on all counts.
Certainly raises some interesting questions. Unlike the handful of terrible cases where medical personnel have murdered patients for the fun of it, this is a harder call, especially if you've ever seen a loved one in a terminal medical situation suffer great pain due to under-prescription of narcotics because "we don't to get him addicted." Hopefully, that kind of stupid barbarism is rarer now, but it still definitely happens...and at one time happened with some frequency.
The doc lost his medical license three years ago due to these charges, so his life has likely already been ruined. Also, some big bucks were paid out in wrongful death lawsuits. I don't know, if we start giving docs, however well-intentioned, a green light to prescribe 10 times the normal dose of pain-killer, we could end up on a slippery slope very quickly. But there's gotta be some middle ground where people in terminal situations are given a sufficient amount of drugs, however much that may be, to prevent agonizing pain. You wonder what was going through the minds of the jurors.
www.nbcnews.com
Certainly raises some interesting questions. Unlike the handful of terrible cases where medical personnel have murdered patients for the fun of it, this is a harder call, especially if you've ever seen a loved one in a terminal medical situation suffer great pain due to under-prescription of narcotics because "we don't to get him addicted." Hopefully, that kind of stupid barbarism is rarer now, but it still definitely happens...and at one time happened with some frequency.
The doc lost his medical license three years ago due to these charges, so his life has likely already been ruined. Also, some big bucks were paid out in wrongful death lawsuits. I don't know, if we start giving docs, however well-intentioned, a green light to prescribe 10 times the normal dose of pain-killer, we could end up on a slippery slope very quickly. But there's gotta be some middle ground where people in terminal situations are given a sufficient amount of drugs, however much that may be, to prevent agonizing pain. You wonder what was going through the minds of the jurors.
William Husel, Ohio doctor accused in 14 high-dose fentanyl deaths, acquitted of murder
Husel's trial, which lasted about two months, has been one of the biggest cases of its kind against a health care professional in the U.S.
www.nbcnews.com
