State Agrees On Settlement In Man`s Death
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
The family of a man who died at a state-run
nursing home would receive $108,000 under a settlement
proposal.
The settlement is to be presented to the Claims Commission on
Thursday, when a hearing on the case had been scheduled. If
approved by that panel, the award would then go before the
Legislature, which is to convene in January.
Forty-four-year-old Michael Johnson died of pneumonia in May
2003 at the Arkansas Health Center in Benton. He`d lived there
since 1998 and had suffered brain injuries in a 1996 fall.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services says
officials chose to settle the claim in part out of a desire to put
the center`s past troubles behind it. The center has changed
policies after being criticized for its quality of care.
