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Here's what we know about the Ohio doctor accused of overprescribing pain meds ahead of his trial | CNN
William Husel faces 14 charges of murder.
Anyone following this case? Thoughts?
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Here's what we know about the Ohio doctor accused of overprescribing pain meds ahead of his trial | CNN
William Husel faces 14 charges of murder.www.cnn.com
Anyone following this case? Thoughts?
I use high doses (though not that high) at end of life comfort care because the only way I can fail my patient at that point is to wimp out on the dosing and make their last moments misery. The icu lawsuits seem to stem from patient families (allegedly) not understanding they were agreeing to end of life care.Very gray area for palliation with end of life patients. Giving such high doses of fentanyl does raise eyebrows. Withdrawal of care leading to death is not illegal. But active euthanasia is.
How can anybody push this dose of medicine and not expect some blowback.10mg diluadid. 2000mcg fentanyl. Has anyone ever pushed these doses?
At my hospital this would have raised red flags instantly - and people would likely be thinking diversion. I don’t know a nurse that would push even 250 of fentanyl
Very gray area for palliation with end of life patients. Giving such high doses of fentanyl does raise eyebrows. Withdrawal of care leading to death is not illegal. But active euthanasia is.
10mg diluadid. 2000mcg fentanyl. Has anyone ever pushed these doses?
At my hospital this would have raised red flags instantly - and people would likely be thinking diversion. I don’t know a nurse that would push even 250 of fentanyl
Heh, more like late 2000s. Some anesthesiologist still does the same stuff they learned in residency 30 years ago, without any desire to change... If it works, I guess.In the 1990s, a typical heart would get midazolam 20mg and fentanyl 2000-3000mcg (40-60ml) for their anesthetic but definitely not on the floor. And that was the whole anesthetic. No vapor, no propofol although some perfusionists would crack a little forane on pump.
In the 1990s, a typical heart would get midazolam 20mg and fentanyl 2000-3000mcg (40-60ml) for their anesthetic but definitely not on the floor. And that was the whole anesthetic. No vapor, no propofol although some perfusionists would crack a little forane on pump.
These families are in it for the money.
""It is shocking that this is happening. I am completely shocked and disappointed in the whole judicial system," said Sean Thomas, son of Jan Thomas.
"Every time this is covered, she dies again," Sean Thomas said. "Every time her name flashes in the story -- it's back in the news. There is movement in the case. She dies all over again. And now to hear that 11 of these cases were dismissed, she is dying all over again.""
What a crock of horse****. This doc made sure their loved one had a peaceful death after they were already dead (if not actually brain dead). Of course he went overboard with his dosing, but it just shows the hypocrisy of the "double effect principle" (Goods, causes and intentions: problems with applying the doctrine of double effect to palliative sedation - BMC Medical Ethics).
He's an idiot for being so liberal with his dosing, but if he gets convicted of murder then nobody better ever make anybody comfort in the hospital anymore.
In my ICU rotations anytime we did comfort measures I had to document something along the lines of “spoke with patient/family about comfort measures and that while our goal is palliation the administration of these medications could in theory hasten the patient’s death.”These families are in it for the money.
""It is shocking that this is happening. I am completely shocked and disappointed in the whole judicial system," said Sean Thomas, son of Jan Thomas.
"Every time this is covered, she dies again," Sean Thomas said. "Every time her name flashes in the story -- it's back in the news. There is movement in the case. She dies all over again. And now to hear that 11 of these cases were dismissed, she is dying all over again.""
What a crock of horse****. This doc made sure their loved one had a peaceful death after they were already dead (if not actually brain dead). Of course he went overboard with his dosing, but it just shows the hypocrisy of the "double effect principle" (Goods, causes and intentions: problems with applying the doctrine of double effect to palliative sedation - BMC Medical Ethics).
He's an idiot for being so liberal with his dosing, but if he gets convicted of murder then nobody better ever make anybody comfort in the hospital anymore.
From an outsider’s perspective I think it’s interesting that in the EM thread nobody mentioned diversion but in the Anesthesiologist thread multiple people mention it within the first few posts.
I know there are plenty of good reasons for it, just thought it was interesting.
Also, within anesthesia itself, drug diversion is something that we’re taught about in our CMEs because it is a little more common than among anesthesiologists than the rest physician population.From an outsider’s perspective I think it’s interesting that in the EM thread nobody mentioned diversion but in the Anesthesiologist thread multiple people mention it within the first few posts.
I know there are plenty of good reasons for it, just thought it was interesting.
Heh, more like late 2000s. Some anesthesiologist still does the same stuff they learned in residency 30 years ago, without any desire to change... If it works, I guess.
What is wrong with 2 midaz and 8 of morphine.I used to cringe while in the cvicu during training whenever the “palliative care” trained physicians came around. For withdrawal of care for ecmo patients they’d order 2mg versed and 8mg morphine. Even the young ones…
That being said, there has to be some middle ground. I don’t think the guy is guilty of murder by any means but those doses are pretty crazy.
It’s withdrawal of care…much like Dr Husel I’d rather see someone overdosed rather than under. Again find middle ground.What is wrong with 2 midaz and 8 of morphine.
AmylNarcus, I initially thought the same thing… no way Will would do this purposely - but then I read about his criminal history prior to ccf and came to the conclusion that I really didn’t know him.
What if your ph was 6.9 in terminal shock after a recent cardiac arrest with the usual broken ribs and a pneumothorax with a large bore chest tube that was put in with no lidocaine peri-arrest with intact brainstem reflexes and the decision had been made to extubate you and cease support. Would you be worried about the dose being too high then?My hospital is rough too. Skin popping heroin abusers, crazy homeless, gsw almost daily…. And lots of foreigners - more than Ohio for sure. I take care of pall med patients daily…. But I’ve never pushed 10mg of diluadid. I don’t believe the intent was criminal but his judgement is highly questionable. I hope he gets off… I don’t think he deserves to go to jail but I don’t think he should be a doctor anymore. I certainly don’t want him as a representative of my profession and I wouldn’t let him put me to sleep…I thought that then too.
I’m fine if you want to give doses got and titration to effect and go up, or start an infusion and go up, but giving a large dose at once like the ones he did will be considered intentionally giving a drug that will cause death, no way around it.What if your ph was 6.9 in terminal shock after a recent cardiac arrest with the usual broken ribs and a pneumothorax with a large bore chest tube that was put in with no lidocaine peri-arrest with intact brainstem reflexes and the decision had been made to extubate you and cease support. Would you be worried about the dose being too high then?
When death is going to occur on the order of minutes you only get to have one dose, there is no titration...I’m fine if you want to give doses got and titration to effect and go up, or start an infusion and go up, but giving a large dose at once like the ones he did will be considered intentionally giving a drug that will cause death, no way around it.
Those are not doing anything given pharmacokinetics on ECMO and the likely tolerance built up over the past days-weeks.What is wrong with 2 midaz and 8 of morphine.
The problem there is that those infusion adjustments are not instantaneous. As we all know, ICU nurses are stretched thin. They may increase the fentanyl drip from 150 -> 200 then leave the room. Now the patient has another 15-20 minutes of poorly controlled pain. Now add in the act of donning/doffing COVID gear. My personal preference is to order more than I need and have at the bedside. In the presence of a nurse I administer the medications in repeat dosing until the patient is objectively comfortable. Then we can start the infusion. I dont abandon my patient based on a lawyers definition of what is an appropriate dose of pain medicineI’m fine if you want to give doses got and titration to effect and go up, or start an infusion and go up, but giving a large dose at once like the ones he did will be considered intentionally giving a drug that will cause death, no way around it.
The problem there is that those infusion adjustments are not instantaneous. As we all know, ICU nurses are stretched thin. They may increase the fentanyl drip from 150 -> 200 then leave the room. Now the patient has another 15-20 minutes of poorly controlled pain. Now add in the act of donning/doffing COVID gear. My personal preference is to order more than I need and have at the bedside. In the presence of a nurse I administer the medications in repeat dosing until the patient is objectively comfortable. Then we can start the infusion. I dont abandon my patient based on a lawyers definition of what is an appropriate dose of pain medicine
Also, we need to think about what the perfect pain strategy at end of life would look like. Ideally, regardless of the underlying pathology, we would want JUST enough pain and anxiety medicine that a patient is awake, happy, able to talk to family and have a quality of life in those last minutes/hous/days/weeks etc. However, when someone has horrible anoxic brain damage or massive brain bleed or horrible metastatic lung cancer with bone pain, chronic dyspnea etc, are we able to get them there to that perfect level of coherence and lack of pain?
This sounds quite appropriate, but even you admit that you titrate to effect as quickly as possible, certainly you don’t push milligram doses of fentanyl at a time. Even though it achieves the same effect, pushing a huge bonus all at once is just not justifiable medical legally.The problem there is that those infusion adjustments are not instantaneous. As we all know, ICU nurses are stretched thin. They may increase the fentanyl drip from 150 -> 200 then leave the room. Now the patient has another 15-20 minutes of poorly controlled pain. Now add in the act of donning/doffing COVID gear. My personal preference is to order more than I need and have at the bedside. In the presence of a nurse I administer the medications in repeat dosing until the patient is objectively comfortable. Then we can start the infusion. I dont abandon my patient based on a lawyers definition of what is an appropriate dose of pain medicine
Also, we need to think about what the perfect pain strategy at end of life would look like. Ideally, regardless of the underlying pathology, we would want JUST enough pain and anxiety medicine that a patient is awake, happy, able to talk to family and have a quality of life in those last minutes/hous/days/weeks etc. However, when someone has horrible anoxic brain damage or massive brain bleed or horrible metastatic lung cancer with bone pain, chronic dyspnea etc, are we able to get them there to that perfect level of coherence and lack of pain? Probably not. Again, i dont know what exactly was going on with this guy, but if he was the bedside physician and he was truly trying to relieve suffering at end of life with a higher than typical dose of opioid in patients who were clearly dying, then I truly hope he gets off. What comes from all this? More nursing checks? More limits on bolus administration of opioid. All this will accomplish is more pain, more headache for providers and worse patient care.
But it is justifiable based on context... Some of the people he withdrew care on must have died within minutes of stopping support given the labs posted. How long do you think it takes for the fentanyl to work and see an effect? If the goal is comfort and you give 200 mcg bolus to someone who has been on a gtt at 150/hr for 2-3 days do you think it is going to work? Why is 1000 a crime but 500 is ok if the person is going to die in a few minutes anyways?This sounds quite appropriate, but even you admit that you titrate to effect as quickly as possible, certainly you don’t push milligram doses of fentanyl at a time. Even though it achieves the same effect, pushing a huge bonus all at once is just not justifiable medical legally.
From an outsider’s perspective I think it’s interesting that in the EM thread nobody mentioned diversion but in the Anesthesiologist thread multiple people mention it within the first few posts.
I know there are plenty of good reasons for it, just thought it was interesting.
This story was even worse since it was a vindictive RN that had a bone to pick with the doctor and kept making it an issue despite the family's insistence that they felt their kid had been wonderfully taken care of.For those who don’t remember, this was a similar case complicated by the fact that the child was a DCD donor. Fentanyl 500mcg was given to a 21kg child who was gasping for breath. I think charges were eventually dropped.
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Doctor accused of using painkiller to quicken death of 8-year-old boy, police say
Police are investigating a claim by a Los Angeles County coroner's investigator that an anesthesiologist used a painkiller to hasten the death of a gravely injured boy to increase the likelihood his organs could be harvested without deterioration, a newspaper reported Monday.www.foxnews.com
This story was even worse since it was a vindictive RN that had a bone to pick with the doctor and kept making it an issue despite the family's insistence that they felt their kid had been wonderfully taken care of.
Then that same RN sued the state and won millions.
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Former LA County coroner’s investigator gets $8.4 million in lawsuit
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a day before finding in favor of Denise Bertone, who also is a registered nurse.www.dailynews.com
This is anesthesia style of care that basically nobody else does. Standing at the bedside rapidly bolusing and titrating medications until we achieve the desired effect.
I did do some palliative care as part of my chronic pain rotations in residency. We had a very dedicated director of pain at the time and we would go to a freestanding hospice, stand at the bedside, and titrate low dose ketamine and lidocaine infusions on end stage patients to get them symptom relief. This was in the mid 1990s.
I watched part of the opening arguments in the trial a moment ago. It sounds like for at least one of the patients, he titrated fentanyl in 100-200mcg doses over the course of minutes as the patient was still tachypnic post palliative extubation.This sounds quite appropriate, but even you admit that you titrate to effect as quickly as possible, certainly you don’t push milligram doses of fentanyl at a time. Even though it achieves the same effect, pushing a huge bonus all at once is just not justifiable medical legally.
8.4 million dollars. Imagine what we could have done with that. Brand new pediatric hospice building? International outreach program with quality hospice care provided to a country in central America perhaps? Probably best spent on this individuals vacation house in Key westThis story was even worse since it was a vindictive RN that had a bone to pick with the doctor and kept making it an issue despite the family's insistence that they felt their kid had been wonderfully taken care of.
Then that same RN sued the state and won millions.
![]()
Former LA County coroner’s investigator gets $8.4 million in lawsuit
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a day before finding in favor of Denise Bertone, who also is a registered nurse.www.dailynews.com
They were all being terminally extubated from what I have read.If they were all intubated the fentanyl didn’t hasten anything. If any of them weren’t I think he’s got some ‘splanin to do.
The Husel likely came to the attention of the hospital and law enforcement because of a nurse or other staff member who didn't agree with the doses being ordered (or maybe just didn't like him I suppose).This story was even worse since it was a vindictive RN that had a bone to pick with the doctor and kept making it an issue despite the family's insistence that they felt their kid had been wonderfully taken care of.
Then that same RN sued the state and won millions.
![]()
Former LA County coroner’s investigator gets $8.4 million in lawsuit
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a day before finding in favor of Denise Bertone, who also is a registered nurse.www.dailynews.com
I watched part of the opening arguments in the trial a moment ago. It sounds like for at least one of the patients, he titrated fentanyl in 100-200mcg doses over the course of minutes as the patient was still tachypnic post palliative extubation.
So some of you are ok with extubating someone *with the purpose of hastening their death* but are going to split hairs about the doses used to keep them comfortable while this death is happening? In case it speeds up their death?? Which is exactly what taking them off the vent does???
I just don't get the hand-wringing over the dose. The ethical dilemma here is academic and manufactured. Give me the big dose if it ever comes to that. And if you're worried that the dose might not be big enough, give me a bigger one. The only real failure here is if the dose is too small.
That would be malpractice unless the person is going to take months to die since that patch will take 3 days to workSo some palliative extubations the patients are ordered fentanyl patches. How many mcgs of Fentanyl are on a Duragesic patch? What if the injection was IM due to a faulty IV. Get another IV. But how is the IM dosing any different? What if you didnt have Duragesic patches?