Alabama Widow Awarded $850,000 in Husband’s Death

A jury in eastern Alabama has awarded a widow $850,000 after her husband was given three times his normal dosage of medication and died Christmas Day.

AL.com reported Wednesday that a jury spent hours deliberating before delivering the verdict against Dr. Rao Meka in the 2007 death of 62-year-old Jesse Ridgeway Haralson.

Haralson was hospitalized for 11 days with pneumonia, and officials have said he was given three times the amount of lithium that needed to be administered to treat his bipolar disorder.

Haralson’s wife, Mary Jane, settled with Lanier Memorial Hospital for $1 million before the case against Meka began.

Haralson was transferred to hospitals in Montgomery, where tests showed high lithium levels in his system, and was then moved to Birmingham for dialysis where he died.