The last thing that a restaurant patron thinks about in the seconds before taking a bite of a burger is of a shard of glass or rock embedded in the meat. Yet, millions of people each year chomp down on food only to be injured by a foreign object mistakenly mixed in with their burrito, salad, or pizza. There are legal actions that you can take to have the dental work or other injuries caused to you remedied. But you must be able to prove that your injury happened at the restaurant. Whereas, proving that a foreign object in packaged food that you bought from a store can be tricky.
What Are Your Injuries?
Seeking medical attention is necessary whenever you are injured and hope to hold another party accountable, as the medical records are vital to your case’s success. Food foreign object injuries typically involve one or more of the following:
- Chipped or broken tooth or crown;
- Laceration to the tongue or inside of the mouth;
- Choking incident causing a serious scare, hospitalization, or death.
- Intestinal or bowel injuries caused by swallowing the foreign object;
- Illness caused by the foreign object’s toxicity, bacteria, or virus.
If the life-saving Heimlich maneuver or CPR is performed, there is considerable risk of broken ribs, damaged cartilage, or soft tissue damage. Even gastric perforation (a rupture or tear in the intestinal tract) can occur from the Heimlich maneuver, according to the American Journal of Medicine.
Restaurant Liability
Restaurants can be held liable if you break a tooth or cut the inside of your mouth on a hard or sharp object. It is best to take immediate action by alerting the staff and manager, locating the foreign object, saving the object or photographing it with your food, and then going to the hospital or urgent care center.
Food Manufacturer Liability
Like restaurant owners, food manufacturers can certainly be held financially responsible for your medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other damages caused by the foreign object in your food. While there will obviously be no manager to immediately inform of your injuries, it is still important to take swift action, document the incident with photo evidence, save the packaging of the food and the receipt and contact an attorney.
Call Maryland Personal Injury Attorney Tara K. Frame
The cost of a mouth injury can be astronomically high, especially when there is damage to a tooth or crown. A new crown for a cracked tooth can easily cost thousands of dollars, while an implant can cost upwards of $6,000 per tooth, with multiple implants costing around $10,000, according to Authority Dental.A hospital stay can easily cost in excess of $100,000 or more. You should not have to bear these costs. An attorney will ensure that the appropriate party pays, and pays for your lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages as well. The time to take action is immediately after an injury. Contact Frame & Frame in Pasadena today at 410-255-0373 to discuss your options with a Pasadena personal injury attorney.
Resource:
amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(12)00178-7/fulltext