I wrote a post about food poisoning personal injury cases not too long ago. That was before Americans everywhere started dropping like flies from a whole variety of very recent food poisoning cases and subsequent food recalls when the problem is revealed.
Wow. A simple internet search shows that there have been very recent recalls for ground beef, potato salad, bags of broccoli salad, iceberg lettuce, barbeque beans, ham, chicken, cilantro and even dog “jerky” treats. Now they’re even poisoning our pets.
What’s going on? This recent rash of rash of food poisoning cases could be just a figment of collective media hysteria or it could be a culmination of food-related coincidences.
Another thought: Personal injury lawyers and consumer experts know that there is unprecedented pressure on food producers to keep prices low for discount box stores and sometimes quality suffers especially if they end up purchasing food across our national border to the south where food inspections and quality control are a rare event.
As an injury attorney, the tricky thing about food poisoning is proving you had food poisoning. When what you ate was so toxic that your body wants to expel it as far as possible in every direction, there is a legal causation problem with “evidence preservation”.
If you feel yourself getting sick after eating something – especially if it tasted “suspicious” while eating that vile concoction – make sure that if that food comes back up for a visit, it is saved. The easiest way to diagnose food poisoning is with a sample of uneaten food or food partially digested.
Typically, people with food poisoning are so sick all the evidence is flushed away and when the patient is now an empty vessel, ready to see a physician, all that can be determined is the patient is dehydrated. There’s no evidence in residence left.
Because true food poisoning cases can be public health issues, your County wants to be involved to prevent other people from being poisoned from other restaurants or supermarkets. Go to the ER with your sample (and someone to keep you vertical) and insist the County Epidemiologist inspect the sample. If it tests positive, word will get out to protect the public from what you just experienced.
You’ll be doing the public a service.