WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly a third of Americans who die are in the hospital at the time and their last treatments cost the United States economy $20 billion, according to a report released on Wednesday. The single biggest cause of hospital death was septicemia, an overwhelming infection of the blood, which killed 15 percent of patients, the team at the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found.

Eight percent died of respiratory failure, 6 percent died of stroke and 5 percent had fatal heart attacks in the hospital, according to the report. "In 2007, it is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control that 2,423,995 people died in the United States. Of these, we estimate that 765,651 died in the hospital," the agency's Yafu Zhao and William Encinosa wrote. "That is, 32 percent of all deaths in the US in 2007 occurred in the hospital."

Their analysis, using federal survey data, found that the average cost of a hospital stay that ended with the patient's death was $26,035, compared to $9,447 for patients discharged alive. Patients covered by Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for the elderly and disabled, accounted for 67 percent of in-hospital deaths and $12 billion in hospital costs. Private insurance covered 20 percent of patients who died at a cost of $4 billion.

Malaysian charged with killing wife in acid attack

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Prosecutors charged a Malaysian with killing his wife and blinding his teenage daughter by splashing acid on them while they were sleeping, a lawyer said Thursday.

Tan Teik Swee, a 52-year-old city hall worker in northern Penang state, was charged in two separate courts Wednesday with allegedly killing his wife and causing grievous hurt to his daughter, said his lawyer, R. Dev Chander.

Tan did not immediately enter a plea for the murder charge, which carries a penalty of death by hanging on conviction. He pleaded innocent to the charge of hurting his child, for which he could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison. The courts are scheduled to hear the cases next month.

Government prosecutors accuse Tan of pouring a bottle of acid over his wife and daughter, who were both sleeping in the same bed at their home on Oct. 24. The woman died several hours later, while their 17-year-old daughter suffered burns on her face and has reportedly lost her sight permanently.

Italy convicts 23 US agents in CIA kidnapping trial

MILAN (AFP) – An Italian judge Wednesday convicted 23 United States and two Italian secret agents for the CIA's kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003 under the covert "extraordinary rendition" program.

The CIA's Milan station chief at the time, Robert Seldon Lady, was sentenced to eight years in prison and the other Americans to five years, all in their absence in the landmark trial. The two Italians were given three-year prison terms following the first trial involving the transfer of a "war on terror" suspect by CIA operatives thought to have sent scores of people to countries known to practice torture.