A Franklin County judge has determined the defamation case of a former Mount Carmel doctor against the hospital system will not be decided by a jury.
Common Pleas Court Judge Stephen McIntosh ruled on June 16 that William Husel’s arguments against his former employer, former CEO Ed Lamb and Mount Carmel’s parent company, Trinity Health Corp., had not been sufficiently proven to have the jury in the case decide it. McIntosh also determined the statements Mount Carmel had made publicly were opinions, which do not qualify as defamation.
The defendants’ attorneys asked McIntosh that morning to issue a directed verdict in the trial, which began two weeks ago, arguing that Husel’s own testimony proved the hospital’s case. Husel testified that being reported to the Ohio Medical Board and the National Practitioner Data Bank, as well as going to trial in 2022 for 14 counts of murder, brought unwelcome notoriety and made it difficult for him to get a job.
Husel’s attorneys argued that Mount Carmel’s public statements and actions hurt Husel’s reputation and ability to have a career in medicine.
McIntosh sided with the defendants, saying there was no direct link proven at trial that Mount Carmel’s statements, and those statements alone, caused the harm to Husel’s reputation and rendered him incapable of being a doctor.
“If indeed what the defendants did was the start of what caused all of this, then this could have ended if the prosecutor’s office failed to get an indictment, if the medical board had given him his license back, if the families were unable to find attorneys to find a meritorious cause of actions; the defendants would have stood alone in the statements that they made,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh said Husel’s own testimony about the appropriate dosage of fentanyl being an opinion that varies from doctor to doctor with no clear medical standard also supported the hospital’s argument that the statements made in early 2019 were, in fact, opinions.
Under Ohio law, opinions are not statements that can be part of a lawsuit for defamation.
Husel was found not guilty at trial of all criminal charges against him. He voluntarily surrendered his medical license after his acquittal.
Husel had been expected to request the jury award him more than $17 million in earnings based on his estimated career earnings.
In a statement, Husel’s legal team said it was exploring all options, including an appeal.
“We are disappointed by the Court’s decision to remove this case from the jury’s hands,” Adam Ford, an attorney for Husel, said in the statement. “After weeks of evidence and testimony, the ruling effectively silences the voices of those who came seeking justice.
“The record contains substantial evidence that deserves to be weighed by a jury – not dismissed by a procedural motion. This is not the outcome that any reasonable person expected, nor is it one that reflects the strength of the evidence presented. … This case has always been about more than one courtroom or one ruling. It is about truth, accountability, and the right of every individual to defend their name against false and damaging accusations.
“That fight does not end today.”
(This story has been updated to add additional information.)
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@gannett.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Judge throws out former Mount Carmel doctor’s defamation case
Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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