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

Salamendacious@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 659 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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260mg is in the 20oz version, but I'm pretty sure you can get whatever giant sized drink you want. The article said she had a 30oz drink which has 390mg of caffeine. Also, even just 260mg of caffeine is WAY more caffeine than anyone needs in one drink, even if its considered "safe". There's literally no reason for it. Something that's self serve and has that much caffeine should have a giant warning on the front and require a waiver to be signed first. I looked up the picture of the machine where the drink is served, and it says at the very bottom how much caffeine is in it, but if someone is on their way to work or class then they probably aren't stopping to read the literature on what they thought was just plain lemonade

Also, even just 260mg of caffeine is WAY more caffeine than anyone needs in one drink, even if its considered “safe”.

That's the caffeine content in a large hot coffee from Dunkin Donuts, one of the most popular orders in the my region of the world. Putting it proportion, this lemonade is about 2/3 of the caffeine, oz for oz, of black coffee. Have you seen a 30oz drink? They're fairly massive.

I looked up the picture of the machine where the drink is served, and it says at the very bottom how much caffeine is in it, but if someone is on their way to work or class then they probably aren’t stopping to read the literature on what they thought was just plain lemonade

I've accidentally ordered food I was allergic to, so I get it. There's absolutely nothing a company can do to be 100% sure nobody will ever order food that will harm them.

A waiver for a 260mg drink? A large monster can is close to that. A Bang Energy is 300mg.

Should they be that strong? Up to you to decide. But saying you need a waiver for something that's already widely available is nonsense.

My googling says 160mg for a 500ml monster. I wouldn't call that close.

The larger Monster is 24oz/700ml - the one with a screw top - and it has 240mg.

I've never seen a 700ml energi drink. Must be a regional thing.

All of those should require a waiver. Better yet, they shouldn't exist at all at that strength. Just because they are widely available doesn't mean they are safe. There is literally no reason anyone ever needs to consume 260mg of caffeine in one sitting. If someone can't wake up with less than 300mg of caffeine in their system then they need to seek immediate medical attention because they are into full on addiction at that point.