Former Arkansas nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz was hit with an $8.4 million judgment over the death of a resident, Arkansas Business reported Jan. 23.
Freddie Miles entered a facility owned by Mr. Schwartz in early 2017 and died in June of the same year.
"During a very short residency they allowed her health to rapidly decline due to their failure to monitor her needs," attorney Kyle Phillip Ludwig, of the Ludwig Law Firm of Little Rock, told the newspaper. "My client was often left malnourished and dehydrated. She was essentially left to decay in her bed."
The estate of Freddie Miles won the award in a default judgment after Mr. Schwartz failed to appear.
The judgment is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed against Mr. Schwartz, including criminal charges over allegations that he committed Medicaid fraud by exaggerating his former company's costs. He is also charged with failing to pay more than $2 million withheld from his Arkansas employees' paychecks between July 2017 and July 2018, according to the report. Mr. Schwartz will face a jury trial in late March.