Another Reason to Avoid Fast Food

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http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/12/tacobell.lawsuit.ap/index.html

 

Woman sues Taco Bell after possible exposure to hepatitis A

 

Friday, March 12, 2004 Posted: 9:27 AM EST (1427 GMT)

Evans said her family experienced symptoms of hepatitis A after getting

takeout from Taco Bell.

 

 

CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP) -- A woman whose family became ill after

possible exposure to hepatitis A at a Taco Bell sued the restaurant and

its parent company Thursday.

 

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, accuses the restaurant of

negligence and argues that it failed to take reasonable precautions to

prevent an infected worker from spreading the disease.

 

Thousands of people who ate at the Taco Bell in Derry between February 7

and February 21 were warned to watch for symptoms after a worker was

diagnosed with the disease. State health officials said the case appeared

to be isolated but offered injections of immune globulin as a precaution.

 

Nearly 2,500 people received the shots earlier this month, including the

plaintiff, Wendy Evans, her husband and three children. But the shots work

only within two weeks of exposure, and the family ate at the restaurant

February 7 and 21.

 

Evans said her family experienced symptoms of hepatitis A for several days

after getting takeout from Taco Bell on February 7, and after receiving

the inoculations.

 

" We're not ambulance chasers. This is about a mother's worry about her

family's health, " Evans, of Derry, said in a phone interview.

 

When she took her children to the doctor on Tuesday, Evans was told she'd

have to wait a week for blood tests to determine whether they were

infected.

 

Hepatitis A is a liver disease transmitted when someone eats food

contaminated with fecal matter. Poor hand-washing is often to blame.

 

Evans' lawsuit against Taco Bell Corp., its parent company, Yum Brands Inc.

; and the owner, employees and managers of the Derry restaurant seeks

unspecified damages.

 

She argues that Taco Bell workers should have been required to wear gloves

and should have been inoculated against hepatitis A.

 

Taco Bell said in a statement, " We take all claims very seriously and we

will handle this situation in the same manner.... We will continue to

enforce strict food handling procedures at all our restaurants. "

 

Taco Bell began requiring workers at the Derry restaurant to wear gloves

February 26, and now all its workers in New Hampshire wear them.

 

Symptoms of hepatitis A include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, nausea,

stomach pain, dark urine or yellowing of the skin and eyes. Most people

recover completely, although it can be severe for the elderly or those

with chronic liver disease.

 

 

 

" I do not seek. I find. "

-- Pablo Picasso