FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Rikhav Vasanwala, 32, who is facing charges of raping an unconscious woman and recording it, is also a defendant in a fatal medical malpractice lawsuit filed on January 14.
According to Erin Vorhees, the filing attorney for the plaintiff’s estate, Vasanwala was a first-year resident at Mercy Hospital when a quadriplegic patient was admitted with complaints of a headache and high blood pressure.
The suit alleges that Vasanwala and other physicians failed to recognize symptoms of an intracranial hemorrhage in a timely manner, and by the time it was diagnosed two days later, it was too late. The patient died.
Vasanwala filed a response to the court on February 15, stating that “any medical care he provided to [the deceased] was reasonable, appropriate, and within the standard of care applicable,” and denied that any negligence occurred.
His 21-page filing concluded with his request for a jury trial. Vasanwala is one of several physicians named as a defendant, as well as Mercy Health and Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas. The lawsuit is ongoing in Benton County Circuit Court.
Vasanwala was a third-year resident at UAMS at the time of his rape arrest. The victim told investigators that he provided a prescription medication for her to take, then recorded himself raping her when she was unconscious. She recovered the video from his phone.
He has been placed on administrative leave. His arraignment on charges of Rape, a Class Y Felony, and Video Voyeurism, a Class D Felony, is scheduled for April 11 in Benton County Circuit Court.