Heart Attack Victim's Family May Sue Jackson

Fresh legal action loomed against Michael Jackson yesterday when the family of a woman who died after she was moved in hospital, apparently to make way for the singer, announced plans to sue.

Manuela Gomez Ruiz, 74, was in the main trauma room at the Marian medical centre in Santa Maria, California, when the singer was taken ill with "flu-like symptoms" on his way to court last week for his child abuse trial.

Ms Gomez Ruiz, who had suffered a heart attack that day, was moved to a smaller room when the singer arrived, according to her family. She suffered two more heart attacks and died.

"He walked in," Ms Gomez Ruiz's daughter, Maria Elena Ortiz, told ABC news. "When I saw him, he was walking unassisted."

She said she protested to hospital staff that her mother should not be moved, but they had not answered her.

"Why does she have to be moved if he's coming in for a stomach flu?" she said. "I said, 'My mother just had a heart attack and I think it's more critical than a stomach flu.' They didn't say anything."

Jackson's hospital stay delayed jury selection in his trial on charges of child molestation and conspiracy involving extortion, kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Hospital records show that Jackson complained of severe abdominal pains. His body temperature was slightly below normal and he had tears in his eyes. Although the initial emergency room report said that he could go home at any time, he remained in hospital overnight. A doctor from the hospital assured Judge Rodney Melville that the singer was ill.

Ms Gomez Ruiz's family complain that once Jackson came in, staff became distracted. She was taken off a ventilator and, instead, her breathing was assisted manually with a hand pump. Some of the machinery that had been used to treat her would not fit into the smaller room and her relatives could see her only two at a time, they say. Furthermore, the family alleges, security restrictions imposed by Jackson's entourage and police meant they were unable to enter or exit the hospital.

The family, which also plans to sue the hospital, argues that its policy "needs to be changed".

Jackson's publicist, Raymone Bain, issued a statement expressing sympathy with the family, but attacking the ABC network, which recently ran leaks of grand jury testimony in the case.

"Michael Jackson sends his condolences to the family of the deceased," said the statement. "However, it is outrageous that Michael Jackson's name would be invoked into a situation of which he had no authority or control. It appears that ABC is deliberate in its attempt to circumvent Michael Jackson from receiving a fair trial."

With jury selection completed much quicker than expected, the trial will begin in earnest on Monday with opening statements from the prosecution and defence. After that, both sides will work their way through a list of names that resembles the line-up for an all-star gala rather than a witness list for a court case.

Elizabeth Taylor, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Macaulay Culkin, Diana Ross and David Blaine have all been included in witness lists submitted by the prosecution and the defence, although it is unlikely they will all appear.

The jury of 12, along with eight reserve members who will be on standby to replace anyone forced to drop out, also comprises an interesting mix.

There are no African-Americans on the panel, prompting one rejected juror to claim that Jackson was not being tried by a jury of his peers. Two jurors are Latino, one is Asian-American and the rest are white.

Two members have had relatives involved in sex crimes, while several have visited Neverland, Jackson's ranch. Although all said they were aware of the trial, none said they had followed it closely and most voiced distrust of the media.

The trial is expected to last for five months.