2nd Suit Filed Over Pain Meds Given To Near-death Patients

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A second wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against an Ohio doctor accused of ordering that near-death hospital patients get potentially fatal doses of pain medicine without their families’ knowledge, an attorney said Wednesday. The Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System announced this week that an intensive care doctor ordered pain medicine for at least 27 patients in dosages significantly bigger than necessary to provide comfort for them after their families asked that lifesaving measures be stopped. Mount Carmel publicly apologized and said it has fired the doctor, reported findings of its internal investigation to authorities and removed 20 employees from patient care pending further review. The announcement involving patients from the past few years raised questions about whether drugs were used to hasten deaths intentionally and possibly illegally. The new lawsuit alleges one of the patients, 64-year-old Bonnie Austin, of Columbus, was killed negligently or intentionally in September when she was given an outsize dose of the painkiller fentanyl and a powerful sedative ordered by a doctor who said she was brain-dead. Medical records indicate the drugs were administered before her husband decided to withdraw life support, said attorney David Shroyer, who represents the family. Their lawsuit was filed against Dr.

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