A doctor in the US has been charged with 25 counts of murder for administering high, and sometimes fatal, doses of opioid painkillers to dozens of very sick patients, according to prosecutors.

Ohio-based Dr William Husel has turned himself in to police following a six-month-long investigation into what Mount Carmel Hospital in Columbus called his administration of “inappropriate” doses of fentanyl to patients, says Franklin County prosecutor Ron O’Brien.

If convicted, Dr Husel faces 15 years to life in prison for each count.

“By giving fentanyl at these levels, we were comfortable with the information we had that it was a sufficient amount that the only rational purpose could be to shorten a person’s life,” Mr O’Brien says.