Riverside County has paid $257,500 to the family of Jeffrey Owens to settle claims stemming from a drug error that contributed to his death in June at Riverside County Regional Medical Center.

County officials confirmed Tuesday that the payment had been mailed to the family's attorney. Riverside County supervisors authorized the settlement Oct. 29.

"The loss is still there and it's hard to get past that. But it brings these sorts of matters to a close," Owens' partner, Jeffrey Holland, said Tuesday.

Holland and Owens' brothers, Brent and Robert Owens, filed a claim with the county on Oct. 22 seeking unspecified damages from Owens' death at the county-owned hospital in Moreno Valley. The county denied the claim two days later.

Owens, 40, of Moreno Valley bled to death June 6 after receiving a massive overdose of an anti-clotting drug. The overdose happened just before surgery to repair stab wounds Owens suffered in a confrontation outside a Riverside bar. He died about 5 1/2 hours after the overdose, as doctors tried to stop the bleeding.

Five men have been charged with murder in connection with the attack on Owens outside The Menagerie, a gay bar. A Riverside woman has been charged as an accessory. They also are accused of committing a hate crime in connection with the attack. Police said one of the suspects was heard using a anti-homosexual slur. A preliminary hearing on the charges is scheduled to resume Dec. 12 in Riverside County Superior Court.

When Riverside County supervisors rejected the family's claim, that initiated a six-month period in which the family could have filed a lawsuit against the county. No lawsuit was ever filed. On Oct. 29, county supervisors in closed session authorized a settlement with Owens' family, county spokesman Ray Smith said.

Holland said the settlement was welcome.

"This isn't something we'll have to be battling for years to come," he said.

Smith declined to say how long the county had been in settlement negotiations with the Owens family. He added: "It's not unusual to reach a settlement after a claim is denied."

The settlement will be paid out of a county fund set up for such claims, he said.

State regulators investigating the accidental overdose found a string of problems at the county-owned hospital. Investigators concluded the hospital relied on murky guidelines governing the use of the anti-clotting drug Heparin, failed to make those guidelines readily available to nurses and failed to supervise the work of pharmacists who might have caught the error.

"It sounded as though Jeffrey's death was a culmination of those things," Holland said.

Riverside County Regional Medical Center has taken steps to address the state's concerns, said Dr. Benson Harer, the hospital's chief of staff. The hospital has rewritten policies, provided more frequent training for nurses and upgraded equipment to prevent overdoses.

"I was encouraged that they're willing to make changes," Holland said.

Staff writer Tanya Sierra contributed to this report.

Reach Douglas E. Beeman at (909) 368-9549 or dbeeman@pe.com