Family files lawsuit against Panera Bread after college student who drank ‘charged lemonade’ dies

Salamendacious@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 658 points –
Family files lawsuit against Panera Bread after college student who drank ‘charged lemonade’ dies
nbcnews.com

Sarah Katz, 21, had a heart condition and was not aware of the drink’s caffeine content, which exceeded that of cans of Red Bull and Monster energy drinks combined, according to a legal filing

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8 months ago Food Theroy did agreat video on this. It's very appropriately titled given the unfortunate circumstances. To say this drink was caffeineted is a major understatement, it was basically four and a half monsters in one cup.

Franky, it was reckless for Panera to make and sell this drink and they absolutely earned this lawsuit. There was pently of forewarning that the abnormally high caffeine content in this was dangerous for certain groups. Hope the family wins big, nothing will bring back their loved one but this could've been avoided with more clear nutrientional warnings.

f u panera

Why is quadruple Monster even on the menu of a restaurant that is mostly famous for soup?

Because they feel the need to pivot and try to extract more money and bring in other types of people by offering more options for everything. To bad it's all garbage, and very overpriced.

Maybe I am wrong, but there is no way this place can sustain itself with the prices they charge and the drop in quality they now offer compared to early 2000's.

Agreed, I stopped eating there 5-6 years ago after another shrinkflation update to their menu ruined my favorite sandwich. Haven't missed the place.

There was one on campus at my university. I almost never ate there, but it was always pretty popular. This drink seems like it's designed for that. Get a cup of this stuff and drink it over the course of a long day/night and it'd be fine. Mistaking it for just lemonade, or even a regular caffienated drink, is a huge mistake that should never have been able to happen. There should be clear warnings and labels.

They did have quality in the early 2000s, remember my grandma taking us their for their awesome bread. Sad to see it enshittify

It's effectively the largest size of a coffee, which is comparable to what coffee shops sell.

The other thing is, these drinks are in the same dispensers, the same location, that used to have regular juices. Even assuming the signs were there, it’s set up for no one to pay attention

Also it's mixed on-site by employees, so consistency of caffeine between batches occasions is at risk.

Considering that a fatal dose of caffeine is between 10,000-15,000 mg, I don't think some variance in the mix is really a problem.

So are you saying "f u" to all coffee shops? Because I can (and often do) get a standard on-menu beverage with more caffeine than these larges without a single warning on it at Dunkin Donuts.

These lemonades are at least covered in "this has THIS much caffeine in it" advertising.

I don't understand how it's reckless to serve something that 99.99% of the population will never have any significant health problem with, even if they drank double or triple the amount this girl did.

Good lord. I drank like half a red bull once and felt like I was going to die... Why would anyone even want to consume that much...