BENTON COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A trial date has been scheduled in a deadly malpractice lawsuit involving a doctor also charged with raping an unconscious woman.

Rikhav Vasanwala, 33, is one of the defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in Benton County circuit court on January 14, 2022. The estate of Gregory B. Lemke named Vasanwala, four other doctors, Mercy Hospital, and others as defendants, alleging that they 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 and Lemke died.

Vasanwala filed a response to the court on February 15, 2022, 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. He requested a jury trial.

On April 6, Judge John Scott amended a previous order and scheduled a ten-day jury trial to begin on January 8, 2024. The judge also set deadlines for events such as discovery, identifying expert witnesses and deposing witnesses.

Vasanwala is also facing a felony rape charge in a separate case. According to court documents, he 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. A motion hearing in the rape case is scheduled in Benton County circuit court for April 27.