Mount Carmel fined $400K over medication doses for Husel patients
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio’s pharmacy board says the hospital system where a doctor was accused of ordering fatal painkiller doses for patients will be fined $400,000 for violating state pharmacy law.
In the settlement announced Wednesday, the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System also agreed to pay over $77,000 for the state Board of Pharmacy’s investigation involving a now-closed hospital and fired doctor William Husel. He has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in 25 deaths.
He contends he was caring for dying patients, not trying to kill them.
Two pharmacists who were cited for verifying large doses of fentanyl reached separate settlements with the board that include fines and additional training.
Mount Carmel issued the following statement:
We respect and appreciate the Board of Pharmacy’s efforts to finalize an Agreement and help ensure such events never happen again.
Mount Carmel has taken the following steps to improve medication safety, including:
-Establishing a policy to reduce verbal and phone orders
-Limiting overrides to only emergency situations
-Reviewing overrides per the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ best practice recommendations
-Setting maximum doses for pain medication in our electronic medical record (EMR)
-Establishing an escalation policy for deviations in our pain medication protocols
We will continue improving our already high-quality care, because there is nothing more important to us than our patients’ safety and their trust.