Panera sued after scholar who drank caffeinated ‘Charged Lemonade’ dies

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A 21-year-old Ivy League scholar with a coronary heart situation died after consuming Panera’s caffeinated “Charged Lemonade,” in line with a wrongful dying lawsuit filed by her dad and mom.

In September 2022, Sarah Katz, a College of Pennsylvania scholar, suffered a cardiac arrest whereas eating along with her pals after ingesting the restaurant’s caffeinated beverage containing extra caffeine, 390 milligrams, than three cans of Pink Bull, the declare stated.

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The authorized grievance — filed within the Philadelphia Courtroom of Frequent Pleas — referred to as the beverage a “harmful power drink,” saying the restaurant chain didn’t warn shoppers about its elements, courtroom paperwork first obtained by NBC Information confirmed.

The younger scholar “consumed the Panera Charged Lemonade, fairly assured it was a conventional lemonade” or an “electrolyte sports activities drink containing an affordable quantity of caffeine protected for her to drink,” the grievance stated.

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Victoria Rose Conroy, her faculty roommate, instructed NBC that Katz “was very, very vigilant about what she wanted to do to maintain herself protected.”

“I assure if Sarah had recognized how a lot caffeine this was, she by no means would have touched it with a 10-foot pole,” Conroy added.

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The restaurant’s Charged Lemonade was “supplied side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or much less caffeinated drinks” and was marketed as a “plant-based and clear” drink with as a lot caffeine as its darkish roast espresso, in line with images of the menu and beverage dispensers.

Moreover, the lemonade accommodates one other stimulant, guarana extract, that has the equal of just about 30 teaspoons of sugar.

“I believe everybody thinks lemonade is protected. And actually, this isn’t lemonade in any respect. It’s an power drink that has lemon flavour,” Elizabeth Crawford, the lawyer representing Katz’s dad and mom, instructed NBC. “It ought to have an satisfactory warning.”

The lawyer desires to make sure that the power drink features a warning or is faraway from Panera’s menu.

“It’s a harmful power drink and it’s not marketed that method. We need to be sure that this doesn’t occur to another person,” she instructed CNN.

A Panera spokesperson stated they have been “very saddened to study in regards to the tragic passing of Sarah Katz,” and “strongly consider[s] in transparency round our elements.”

Katz was a Pink Cap ambassador with the American Coronary heart Affiliation (AHA), the place she taught CPR in excessive faculties and underserved communities, the Sudden Arrhythmia Dying Syndromes basis wrote in reminiscence of the coed.

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