SPOKANE — The family of a Tri-Cities man who died after being found bloody and unconscious in an Eastern State Hospital restroom has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the psychiatric facility.
The Spokesman-Review reported Wednesday the hospital agreed to pay $360,000 to settle with the family of 43-year-old Misael Rodriguez.
His family filed a $2.5 million lawsuit in Spokane County Superior Court in 2014 alleging he was assaulted to by another patient and the hospital failed to properly supervise the alleged attacker. The hospital and the state Department of Social and Health Services, which runs the hospital, deny an assault took place.
The hospital said in a statement that law enforcement who investigated found no evidence of criminal activity and that the medical examiner determined the patient’s death was the result of natural causes.
A family attorney, Kelly Konkright, says the family agreed to settle the suit because their main goal was to bring attention to Rodriguez’s death.
