Cop dies during 3-way sex; widow wins $3M lawsuit By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

Jun 11, 2012

A jury has awarded a Georgia woman $3 million over her husband's heart attack, finding that his doctor should have warned the Atlanta cop against strenuous activity like the three-way sex he was having at the time he died, WXIA-TV reports.

William Martinez, a 31-year-old Atlanta police officer, collapsed and died while he and a male friend were having sex with a woman who was not his wife at an Atlanta airport motel in 2009.

The jury on Friday found that Dr. Sreenivasulu Gangasani and the Cardiovascular Group were 60% to blame for Martinez's death from atheroschlerotic coronary artery disease, agreeing with the plaintiff that the doctor did not properly diagnose and treat Martinez for high blood pressure, chest pains, shortness of breath and irregular heartbeat.

They also charged that Gangasani did not warn Martinez to avoid strenuous physical activity until more tests could be done.

"The type of sex [a threeway] that he was engaged in is the type that's totally unacceptable to our community," said Martinez family attorney Rod Edmond on Friday. "But the fact of the matter is this man could have died running on the treadmill, running after a criminal."

Last week, a Gwinnett County jury agreed, finding Gangasani "negligent." But their verdict form also found William Martinez 40% responsible for his own death.

That shared responsibility reduced the award to his widow from $5 million to $3 million, WXIA-TV reports.

Gangasani's attorney says the doctor intends to appeal the verdict.

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'Tragedy' of maternal death

'Tragedy' of maternal death

Women in poor nations are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy complications than those in the developed world, Unicef warns.

The lifetime risk in a developing country was one in 8,000, compared with one in 24,000 in richer countries.

About 99% of the 500,000 maternal deaths in 2005 occurred outside industrialised nations, more than half of them in Africa, Unicef said.

Its head of health said there were an "unconscionable number of deaths".

In Niger, the country with the world's highest maternal mortality, a woman has a one in seven chance of dying, during pregnancy or childbirth.

Ireland - where the risk of death is one in 47,600 - is the safest place to have a baby.

'Falling short'

The United Nations Children's Fund says in its ' The State of the World's Children 2009' report that progress has been made in reducing deaths in under-fives.

The UN has called for a 75% reduction in the maternal mortality rate by 2015 as part of its Millennium Development Goals programme.

But Unicef says that nations, especially in the developing world, are falling far short of this mark.

It adds that girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s, the agency said.

In its report, Unicef said: "The divide between industrialised countries and developing regions - particularly the least developed countries - is perhaps greater on maternal mortality than on almost any other issue."

Dr Peter Salama, the Unicef chief of health, added: "It's really an unconscionable number of deaths. It's a human tragedy on a massive scale."

Education

The number of maternal deaths has remained largely unchanged over the past two decades and has made it more difficult to reduce child mortality.

A newborn baby has less chance of surviving if its mother dies during or shortly after childbirth. Those born in developing countries are almost 14 times more likely to die during the first month of life.

Liberia had the highest rate of neonatal mortality at 66 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Ann Veneman, Unicef's executive director, said: "Progress has been made in reducing child mortality, but much more must be done especially in addressing maternal and newborn health."

She added: "Saving the lives of mothers and their newborns requires more than just medical intervention.

"Educating girls is pivotal to improving maternal and neonatal health and also benefits families and societies."

Unicef said up to 80% of the deaths had access to basic health and obstetric care.

About four in 10 of all births worldwide are not attended by a doctor or other health professional.

Improved access to HIV drugs would also improve the chances of survival for new mothers and their babies, it added.

Egypt outlaws all female circumcision

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt on Thursday finally banned all female circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.

Officially the practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt and goes back to the time of the pharoahs, was banned in 1997 but doctors were allowed to operate "in exceptional cases".

On Thursday, Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali decided to ban every doctor and member of the medical profession, in public or private establishments, from carrying out a clitoridectomy, a ministry press official told AFP.

Any circumcision "will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished," said the official, adding that it was a "permanent ban".

A survey in 2000 said the practice was carried out on 97 percent of the country's women.

In the latest fatality, 12-year-old Bedur Ahmed Shaker was taken by her mother to a private clinic in Minya, a town on the Nile south of Cairo, for the operation. She died before she could be transferred to hospital.

Her mother accused the woman doctor of negligence, charging that her daughter's death was linked to the anaesthetic and not the removal of the clitoris, for which she had paid 50 pounds (nearly nine dollars). Police have arrested both women.