Q & A with B & B: Food Poisoning from Casino in Vegas
Q: Contracted food poisoning while on business trip to Las Vegas. Was staying at The Palms Hotel, and hosting an event there. Was there with quite a few colleagues and two of us ate the same room service lunch, and several hours later were both violently ill – right before a very important business event. EMS was called and a report was filed. What steps do we need to take next. EMS said that our systems were indeed food poisoning. I also missed all my business meetings at the conference I flew out to Las Vegas for. What should next steps be? This happened this week.
A: Dear potential Client:
Food poisoning cases are very hard to prove unless evidence is collected. Typically, the food that is poisonous is obviously not around as it was consumed. Therefore, it is necessary that lab tests are obtained to show that it was indeed food poisoning. Most often, the stools must be tested, or some other blood test to show the foreign bacteria/virus/or parasite was present. It certainly helps that both of you were in fact suffering the same type of illness after consuming the same room service type of lunch. Did you in fact have the same food, or did you order the same entree?
The next consideration is whether your damages are worthwhile in pursuing. A mere case of a few hours of sickness may not be worthwhile pursuing (albeit it is most often very painful) due to the expense of the case. We normally only represent victims who have suffered hospitalization, or very severe cases of food poisoning as the expense of the case can offset the actual damages. I would not rely on an EMT diagnosis, even though you may have had classic symptoms of poisoning.
E. coli and salmonella (amongst hundreds of pathogens that could cause illness) are very common and dangerous. It is important to figure out what strain of pathogen and then relate it to the food, if possible, and put together a case. Food borne illness is an ever-present threat that can be prevented with proper care and handling of food products, and the casino industry has its fair share of liability due to this and other preventable actions.
There are million cases of food borne diarrhea disease occur each year in the United States, costing billions in medical care and lost productivity so you are not alone!
Truly yours,
Joe
I agree that this sort of thinking and extreme behaviour is unhealthy. ,