Kamberlyn Bowler, Grand Junction, Colorado teen forced on to dialysis after suffering life threatening kidney failure after contracting E. Coli after eating McDonald’s quarter pounder as she now joins mass lawsuit against fast food vendor.
An active and healthy teenager has been left with life-threatening kidney failure after eating a contaminated McDonald’s Quarter Pounder.
Kamberlyn Bowler, a softball player in Grand Junction, Colorado, ate a Quarter Pounder with cheese and extra pickles several times between late September and early October only to find herself becoming sickened from an E.coli outbreak nationally linked to the fast food chain in recent weeks.
Her deteriorating health and subsequent 3 week stay at a local hospital (and counting) has now led to her family joining a lawsuit against the fast food giant.
Possible long lasting kidney failure
The lawsuit, filed in Chicago, where the McDonald’s Corporation is based, has 33 named plaintiffs. Of the 75 people around the country sickened from the E. coli outbreak, about one-third reside in Colorado, CBS News reports.
One Mesa County man has died as a result of E. coli, according to local health officials in the western Colorado community.
The kidney infection has led to Bowler developing gastrointestinal illness, including bleeding and intense abdomen and kidney pain along with several rounds of dialysis, where machines filter the blood according to Houston-based law firm, Ron Simon & Associates, who are now representing the teen.
‘The longer a young person is on dialysis, the more difficult their medical future will likely be. We are working with Kamberlyn’s family to make sure she receives the very best medical treatment and advice,’ attorney Ron Simon said in a statement Monday. ‘This sort of illness is as preventable as it is tragic. Our team will continue to seek justice for those who have suffered from this outbreak. We can and will find out how this happened so that we can prevent it from happening again.’
Bowler’s mother, Brittany Randall, said her daughter’s kidneys now show signs of recovery, amid hope that the teen’s next dialysis session will be her last. Nevertheless it still remains unclear when the 15 year old will be discharged from hospital, the parent told 9News.
McDonald’s promises to ‘make it right’
Responding to the rash of illnesses, McDonald’s U.S. division president Joe Erlinger released a statement saying, ‘I also want to address customers who ate at McDonald’s and are feeling any number of things: ill, scared, or uncertain. I know that our relationship is built on trust. You trust us to serve you safe food every time. On behalf of the McDonald’s system, I want you to hear from me: we are sorry. For those customers affected, you have my commitment that, led by our values: we will make this right.’
The fast food vendor did not specify how it would ‘make things right.’ To date, McDonald’s has declined to comment on the lawsuit itself.
Over the weekend McDonald’s announced that Quarter Pounders will again be on its menu at hundreds of its restaurants after testing ruled out beef patties as the source of the outbreak of E. coli poisoning tied to the popular burgers that killed one person and sickened at least 75 others across 13 states.
‘While the specific source of contamination is still under investigation, early information from the Food and Drug Administration indicates the onions on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders may be a source of this outbreak,’ Mesa County Public Health wrote in a news release. ‘Fresh-slivered onions are primarily used on Quarter Pounder hamburgers and not other menu items.’
E. Colli fall-out continues
Other fast food giants including Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut have all stopped using onions, which they say is a ‘proactive’ measure while investigation seek to determine the exact source of the outbreak.
People may become infected from contaminated water or food, especially raw vegetables or undercooked beef.
Healthy adults usually recover from an E. coli infection within a week, but young children and older adults have a greater risk of developing a life-threatening form of kidney failure like HUS because their immune systems are weaker.
About 265,000 people are sickened with E. coli in the US every year, while about 100 people die from the disease.