Panera Bread was sued after the death of a University of Pennsylvania student.
The heart-sick student had reportedly drank one of the chain’s “loaded sodas” before his death.
- HEAR: University of Pennsylvania accused of discriminating against ex-professor because of his whiteness | Today in Pa.
NBC News reports how the lawsuit was filed Monday in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on behalf of the parents of 21-year-old Sarah Katz.
According to the lawsuit, Katz was diagnosed at age five with long QT syndrome (LQTS) type 1, a disease described by Stanford Medicine as “a rare disorder of the heart’s electrical system that causes dangerous heart rhythms, fainting, and sudden cardiac arrest.”
The same NBC News report explains that due to the condition, Katz avoided energy drinks with high concentrations of caffeine at the recommendation of her doctors and was “very, very vigilant about what she had to do,” according to her close friend Victoria Rose Conroy. to protect yourself.”
However, The Patch states that Panera’s “loaded lemonade” is incredibly caffeinated and even contains a level of the ingredient that exceeds that of popular energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster combined. This is despite the fact that the soda was “offered alongside all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated beverages,” the lawsuit states.
According to NBC News, Katz suffered cardiac arrest hours after drinking the soda and died of a second heart attack on the way to the hospital. The cause of death was determined to be a cardiac arrhythmia based on the LQTS.
The lawsuit accuses Panera of “negligent, reckless, willful fraudulent, reckless and/or outrageous misconduct.” The specific purpose of the lawsuit was not disclosed.