if (defined $status)	{
	$statement = $dbh->prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM name WHERE status = "' . "$status" . '"') or die DBI->errstr;
	} else 	{
	$statement = $dbh->prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM name WHERE age = "4"') or die DBI->errstr;
	$status = 'OPEN';
 	}
	$sth = $dbh->prepare($statement) or die print "Couldn't prepare statement: $DBI::errstr; stopped";
	$sth->execute() or die print "Couldn't execute statement: $DBI::errstr; stopped";
	my $count = $sth->fetchrow_array();
	$sth->finish;

##</code><code>##

Couldn't execute statement: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'DBI::st=HASH(0x8298e60)' at line 1;