A 42-year-old woman died after dining at a Disney restaurant in Orlando, and the case generated an impact in the United States.
Kanokporn Tangsuan worked at a New York hospital and traveled to Florida with her husband Jeffrey Piccolo and her mother to visit the iconic parks.
The woman,
who suffered from a severe allergy to dairy and nuts,
had dinner with her relatives at the Raglan Road Irish pub, in the well-known Disney Springs complex, and died 45 minutes after finishing the meal.
Local justice, thanks to a lawsuit that was filed on February 22, determined that the woman died due to a severe allergy to the food she was given at the premises.
Before dinner, the woman had warned of her pathology several times. And she received guarantees from the establishment that the food did not contain allergenic products.
"Anaphylaxis due to high levels of dairy and nuts in your body,"
according to the official report.
According to the court case, after dinner, Tangsuan went to walk alone through the nearby businesses and collapsed at the door of Planet Hollywood.
She was rushed to hospital and died on October 5.
According to the investigation, the couple asked the waiter several times about various menu items, according to the lawsuit.
The waiter then asked the chef
"if certain foods could be prepared without allergens,"
before returning to the table and confirming that they could.
The deceased doctor and her husband, who has now filed a lawsuit.
The couple told the waiter several more times to be absolutely sure the food would be allergen-free before Tangsuan ordered
a fritter, scallops and onion rings, according to the lawsuit.
When the food arrived, some items did not contain “allergen-free flags,” prompting the doctor and her husband to ask the waiter if the items were nut- and dairy-free.
The waiter "guaranteed" the food was allergen-free, according to the lawsuit.
Around 8 p.m., after finishing dinner, the doctor and her mother-in-law went shopping separately at Disney Springs, while Piccolo returned to his room with the leftover food, according to the lawsuit.
The Irish bar where the food poisoning happened.
Approximately 45 minutes later, Tangsuan had difficulty breathing as she entered Planet Hollywood and collapsed to the floor.
The lawsuit said she had self-administered an epi-pen (epinephrine) while she was suffering from the allergic reaction.
Her mother-in-law called her to meet with her, but the calls went unanswered, according to the lawsuit.
The mother-in-law returned to the hotel and called Tangsuan's phone again.
This time someone answered and said that Tangsuan had been taken to a hospital.
According to the lawsuit, the doctor died at the hospital.
A medical examiner's investigation determined that she died as a result of “anaphylaxis due to
elevated levels of dairy and nuts in her system,”
according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the Raglan Road restaurant failed to educate, train and/or instruct its employees to ensure that food was free of allergens.
Walt Disney World and Great Irish Pubs Florida did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit.
"Jeff really wants to make sure this never happens to anyone else," Piccolo's attorney, Brian Denney, told Florida Politics.
“For him it is very important that people are aware that people with severe allergies like this should be taken seriously.
And he doesn't want this to happen to anyone else's family.”