Rocklin 6-Year-Old Infected With E. Coli From Romaine Lettuce, Family Suing
ROCKLIN (CBS13) - A Rocklin family is suing Papa Murphy's saying their child got sick after eating E. Coli contaminated romaine lettuce in on April 10.
The 6-year-old's mother, Taylor Fitzgerald, says a few days after eating the salad her son had bloody diarrhea, fever, and severe cramps. She took him to the emergency room and he was admitted to Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento on April 14. Doctors later diagnosed him with hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. E. Coli tests came back positive. Fitzgerald says her son ended up staying in the hospital for 16 days. He still needs to undergo periodic brain scans to determine if there is any long-term effect from the infection.
Fitzgerald says she was unaware of the E. Coli contamination outbreak linked to romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma, Arizona region.
The Centers for Disease Control did warn people on April 20 to not eat romaine lettuce and told restaurants and stores to not sell or serve romaine lettuce. However, those warnings came after Fitzgerald's son was sick.
Papa Murphy's declined to comment, but did send a statement: "The health and safety of our customers is our highest priority and we strive to take every precaution to ensure our products meet strict safety and quality standards. Immediately upon hearing the announcement by the CDC on April 13th, and out of an abundance of caution, we directed our system to remove product from our stores and inventory."
Fitzgerald is one of 86 people being represented by Seattle-based attorney William Marler.
READ THE FULL COMPLAINT [.pdf]
The CDC first reported the E. Coli outbreak on April 10.
The first cases in California weren't reported until April 19.
As of May 16- 39 people in California have gotten sick, and one person has died. Nationwide, 172 people in 32 states have been infected with E. Coli from romaine lettuce.
The last shipments of romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona region were harvested April 16 and should no longer be available in stores.
The Food and Drug Administration identified one farm, Harrison Farms, as the source of the whole-head romaine lettuce that sickened several people at a correctional facility in Alaska; however, the agency doesn't know where in the supply chain the contamination occurred. All of the lettuce was harvested from March 5-16 and is now past its 21-day shelf life.
Most of the illnesses in the outbreak are not linked to the romaine lettuce grown at that farm. Many of the other illnesses are linked to chopped romaine lettuce. The agency is still investigating dozens of other farms to find the source of that E. Coli outbreak.
