Source: Jail time at heart of collapse of plea talks in Edwards case

"I did not break the law. And I never, ever thought I was breaking the law," former Sen. John Edwards told reporters Friday.John Edwards insisted on "minimal" impact on his youngest kids, source saysJustice Department wanted six months' jail time, newspaper reportsEx-candidate indicted on charges of breaking campaign finance laws

Washington (CNN) -- The insistence that former Sen. John Edwards serve some jail time over allegations he broke campaign finance laws caused a collapse in plea negotiations between lawyers for the former presidential candidate and the Justice Department last week.

Edwards wanted to have as "minimal" impact on his two younger kids as possible, a source with knowledge of the talks confirmed to CNN Sunday. Edwards has a 10-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.

The Raleigh News and Observer, which first reported the story, said the Justice Department was insisting that Edwards serve six months in jail if he pleaded guilty.

After initially saying Edwards had to agree to plead guilty to a felony in earlier discussions, CNN is told prosecutors last week offered for him instead to plead guilty to some misdemeanors.

But the jail time was the breaking point.

"He did not want to have an extended period of time away from his kids," said the source, who would not speak on the record because the details of the plea discussions have not been made public.

After the breakdown in negotiations, a grand jury indicted Edwards, a former Democratic vice presidential nominee, on six felony counts.

In court on Friday, Edwards pleaded not guilty.

"I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I've caused to others. But I did not break the law. And I never, ever thought I was breaking the law," he told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The News and Observer also reported that Edwards' lawyers were not confident they would be allowed to urge a judge to consider alternatives for incarceration such as a halfway house, weekend passes or home arrest in order to give him more time with his children. After the death of his wife, Elizabeth, Edwards is the primary caregiver for the two younger children.

CNN

Report: Mubarak's wife has heart attack

Suzanne Mubarak, 70, was reportedly in good health before the uprising.Manager of the hospital in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh says she suffered a heart attackThe incident occurred shortly after she was ordered detained for 15 days in a corruption caseHosni Mubarak was also questioned about his finances

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Suzanne Mubarak, wife of toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, suffered a heart attack Friday after being questioned in a corruption investigation, the manager of the Sharm el-Sheikh Hospital said.

The manager, Mohamed Fatah Allah, said she had been taken to the intensive care unit.

The incident came shortly after Suzanne Mubarak was ordered detained for 15 days in a corruption case, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.

Assem al-Gohary, the assistant justice minister for the Illicit Gains Authority, ordered her detained for "obtaining illegal wealth using her husband's position and political authority."

A team of investigators from the authority, a separate investigative unit under the Ministry of Justice, had questioned the former president in the same hospital for three hours Thursday regarding "using his political position as president to acquire illegal wealth."

"Hosni Mubarak was also questioned about his luxury mansion in Sharm el-Sheikh," al-Gohary said.

Last month, the former president suffered a heart attack during questioning over possible corruption charges, Egyptian state television reported.

But the head doctor from a Ministry of Justice team assisting with the questioning said later that the former leader had heart palpitations and was able to walk with assistance.

He was deemed stable enough to allow prosecutors to resume questioning at the hospital, according to the state-owned Al Ahram newspaper.

Mubarak has said the inquiry is aimed at tarnishing his reputation and that of his family.

The former first lady had been scheduled for questioning Thursday, but investigators postponed the interrogation until Friday morning. She was asked about the origin of 20 million Egyptian pounds ($3.4 million) deposited in her name in a local bank account, al-Gohary said.

Both Mubaraks were questioned about accounts in Al Ahly Bank, containing $147 million under their authority, he said.

The Mubaraks signed affidavits allowing investigators to further inquire into their bank accounts and wealth inside and outside Egypt.

Suzanne Mubarak, 70, was treated successfully for leukemia 10 years ago, said Hanaa Gohar, the former first lady's former press contact.

"She was very healthy and very active" before the revolution, Gohar said.

The U.S. ally, a former military commander, resigned in February after nearly three decades in power amid massive demonstrations calling for him to step down.

Journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this story.

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Tennessee woman saved after heart stops at Lady Gaga concert

A Lady Gaga concert turned into a medical emergency for one Tennessee woman. STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: The woman's friend says she had another seizure Thursday, and was saved againNEW: Her cardiologist says the 33-year-old appears to have an enlarged heart EMTs restarted her heart after it had stopped for more than five minutesShe was flown to hospital, where her body temperature was cooled to curb damageRELATED TOPICSCardiovascular MedicineNashvilleLady Gaga (CNN) -- A long awaited night out at a Lady Gaga concert turned into a nightmare for a 33-year-old Tennessee woman, whose heart was restarted after stopping for five minutes when she went into cardiac arrest.

Crystal Thornton, from Lyles, Tennessee, was enjoying the concert's opening act at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville with her best friend Christina Tugman on Tuesday night when she had a seizure, according to information provided by Vanderbilt Medical Center.

"She stopped breathing, her eyes rolled back in her head, and her body started twitching," Tugman said. "I was asking if she was OK, and she wasn't responding."

Tugman ran to the lobby to get help. It took Jerry Jones, an EMT supervisor with Vanderbilt University's LifeFlight Event Medicine program, one minute more to reach her.

"The patient was unconscious with no heartbeat," Jones said.

Using a portable automated external defibrillator, Jones and other paramedics spent more than five minutes until they were finally able to get Thornton's heart beating again.

She was then airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center's emergency department, where doctors immediately used therapeutic hypothermia to cool Thornton's body temperature to between 93 and 86 degrees -- below the normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees.

Even though her heart was working again, doctors wanted to slow circulation in order to prevent the death of brain cells -- and, therefore, brain damage -- caused by prolonged lack of oxygen. Chilled water blankets were placed over Thornton's body and head, and medical personnel then used a machine to lower her body temperature for 48 hours.

"The patient received incredible care from the moment she experienced problems at the Bridgestone Arena," said Dr. Jared McKinney, medical director of LifeFlight Event Medicine. "It is only through a coordinated team effort that her successful outcome was possible."

After undergoing the two days of cooling therapy, Thornton's body temperature was slowly restored to normal. She regained consciousness and neurologically continues to improve, according to her doctors in Nashville.

On Friday afternoon, she was in stable condition, the Tennessee hospital said.

Her cardiologist, Dr. John McPherson, said that Thornton is undergoing a battery of tests to determine why she suffered the heart attack. He told CNN it appears she has an enlarged heart -- "a genetic condition that, unfortunately, has no warning symptoms and often results in an emergency situation like Thornton experienced."

Next week, she will have surgery to put an implantable cardioverter defibrillator in her chest. The device sends electrical shocks that will automatically kick in if her heart starts beating irregularly and restore it to normal, in hopes of preventing another heart attack.

Leigh Sims, an emergency medical technician and Vanderbilt's manager of event medicine, said the defibrillator saved the woman's life.

"Without an AED, this patient would not have survived," Sims said. "It restored her pulse."

While she's thankful, it's all a blur for Thornton. And she hasn't gotten over not being able to see Lady Gaga strut and sing on stage.

"I am so mad I missed the concert," she said, according to a statement released by the hospital.

Tugman said Friday that she's grateful to have her friend back -- including after another scare Thursday night, when "all of a sudden she stopped breathing, her eyes rolled back and all those machines started going off."

"They came in and shocked her, and she came right back," said Tugman.

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Kids' wrist size tied to heart health

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New heart valve holds promise and stroke risk

but as many as 30% of patients are too sick, or unwilling, to risk an operation than involves cracking open the breastbone, stopping the heart and putting patients on a heart-lung machine, said Ralph Brindis, president of the American College of Cardiology.

In the procedure, the new valve made of cow tissue encased in a springlike stent is guided into the heart and slipped into place in the heart by inflating a small balloon. The valve, made by the study's sponsor, Edwards Lifesciences, is awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

Half the patients in the new study got the experimental valve, and the rest underwent standard valve surgery, Smith reported at the annual scientific meeting of the American College of Cardiology here.

Death rates were similar, 24% for the new procedure and 27% for surgery, he said. Twenty patients who got the new valve suffered strokes, compared with 10 patients in the surgery group.

Some doctors said the stroke risk would deter many patients. "Some people say they'd rather be dead than live with a stroke," said Rita Redberg of the University of California-San Francisco.

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