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Man Dies During Threesome, Family Wins $3M for Medical Malpractice

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on June 01, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Relatives of a Georgia man who died during a three-way sex tryst will get $3 million from the man's doctor in a medical-malpractice case.

The reason: The doctor failed to warn the man, who complained of chest pains, not to engage in physical activity prior to a medical test scheduled for the next day, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

William Martinez, 31, a married father of two from Lawrenceville, Ga., died in 2009 during a threesome with a friend and a woman who was not his wife, according to the paper. Though jurors found Martinez's doctor was liable for his death, they also partly blamed Martinez himself.

In a medical malpractice case alleging negligence, jurors can often reduce an award based on a party's comparative negligence.

In William Martinez's death during a threesome, jurors found he was 40% responsible for his own death -- perhaps because Martinez had a history of high blood pressure and was at high risk of having clogged arteries. That reduced the jury's initial $5 million award by 40%, to $3 million.

Lawyers for Martinez's estate argued his cardiologist, Dr. Sreenivasulu Gangasani, failed to warn Martinez to refrain from physical activity like sex. The doctor also failed to take a proper medical history when Martinez showed up for a medical appointment one week before he died, The Journal-Constitution reports.

A lawyer for Gangasani vowed to appeal the $3 million verdict for the man who died during a threesome. Though the award is set to go to William Martinez's estate, it's not clear if his widow or his two sons will have access to that money, according to The Journal-Constitution.

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