The husband of Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan, 42, filed a wrongful demise lawsuit in Orange County Circuit Court docket alleging that she died from an anaphylactic response at Disney Springs and accusing the resort and the restaurant of negligence in her demise.
The grievance states that Tangsuan, her husband Jeffrey Piccolo, and his mom selected to dine at Raglan Highway Irish Pub and Restaurant on October 5, 2023, as a result of Disney and the venue claimed that accommodating these with allergy symptoms is a high precedence and that clients may seek the advice of with employees members about their particular allergens of concern.
The couple warned their server that Tangsuan had extreme allergy symptoms to tree nuts and dairy, and the server responded that her dish may very well be made freed from her allergens. They inquired about allergens “a number of extra instances” and have been advised “unequivocally” their meals can be allergen-free, the grievance says.
After a number of the dishes arrived with out allergen-free flags, the couple once more inquired and have been assured by the server the meals was protected.
After dinner, Tangsuan and her mother-in-law every went to completely different outlets and Piccolo headed again to the lodge room.
About 45 minutes later, Tangsuan developed problem respiration and collapsed at a close-by restaurant “whereas affected by a extreme acute allergic response to the meals served at Raglan,” the grievance says.
She administered her epinephrine auto-injector whereas a bystander phoned emergency providers, and paramedics subsequently rushed her to a hospital.
Piccolo later referred to as her cellular phone, which was answered by a bystander who knowledgeable him of the incident. He rushed to the hospital and was knowledgeable his spouse had died.
The grievance states that an post-mortem revealed Tangsuan had elevated ranges of dairy and nuts in her system and that the way of demise was unintended. It additionally famous that the assessments have been carried out after her demise and that their validity and significance “haven’t been established.”
The grievance alleges a number of counts of negligence on the a part of the restaurant and Disney Parks and Resorts and seeks greater than $50,000 in damages.
“Disney advertises and represents to the public that meals allergy symptoms and/or the lodging of individuals with meals allergy symptoms is a high precedence at its parks and resorts, together with Disney Springs and that patrons/company could seek the advice of with a chef or particular diets skilled Solid Member earlier than inserting an order,” the lawsuit mentioned.
“Jeff actually needs to guarantee that this by no means occurs to anybody else,” lawyer Brian Denney mentioned Friday. “It’s essential to him that persons are conscious that folks with extreme allergy symptoms like this needs to be taken critically. And he doesn’t need this to occur to anyone else’s household.”
Tangsuan was a doctor with NYU Langone Well being, spokesperson Steve Ritea mentioned Monday by electronic mail to NBC Information.
“We’re saddened by Dr Tangsuan’s passing and our deepest condolences are together with her household,” he mentioned.
Tangsuan is survived by Piccolo. The couple hoped to have youngsters, mentioned the plaintiff’s investigator.
We ship our honest condolences to Mr Piccolo and Dr Tangsuan’s household and need them solace within the days to come back. We hope the eventual conclusion of this lawsuit brings them some measure of closure.
At this level, we normally talk about how the tragedy may need been prevented however by all accounts, Dr Tangsuan did the whole lot proper: she dined at a restaurant that presupposed to accommodate meals allergy symptoms safely, made certain to debate her allergy symptoms together with her server, and checked once more when the meals was served. When she skilled the indicators of anaphylaxis, she administered her epinephrine auto-injector whereas a bystander referred to as emergency providers.
The one factor we don’t know, is whether or not she waited some time frame earlier than administering the epinephrine and whether or not she had a second dose obtainable in case the primary was inadequate to reverse her signs.
We remind our readers which were prescribed epinephrine to at all times take two auto-injectors with them in all places, each time, to manage the drug as quickly as they think anaphylaxis, and if signs don’t resolve after a couple of minutes, administer the second.
