Create a flag. Loop through the file. Set the flag before testing a line, bail out if the regex matches, unset it at the end of the loop. Once you exit the loop, see if the flag is set, and skip processing if it is set.

An (untested) example: 

foreach my $fn ( @file ) {
    open $fh, $fn or die $!;
    my $dont_process = 0;
    while ( my $line = <$fh> ) {
        $dont_process = 1;
        # regex from OP
        last if ( $line =~ m/(sudden|unexpected)?\s+death|(deceased|pa
+ssed\s+away\s*|\s*died\s*|\s*dying)(?!death\s+benefits)/);
        $dont_process = 0;
    }
    close $fh;
    next if ($dont_process);
    # Process file here
}

[download]

Hope that helps.

Update: 2011-03-31

Updated text slightly for clarity. Added comment in code.

In reply to Re: Quick regex question by atcroft
in thread Quick regex question by eversuhoshin

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