Panera Bread settles Charged Lemonade wrongful death suit involving UPenn coed

Panera Bread settled a wrongful decease lawsuit days earlier a scheduled proceedings pursuing the decease of an Ivy League pupil who drank a highly caffeinated beverage from the restaurant.

The household of 21-year aged University of Pennsylvania pupil Sarah Katz sued the institution successful 2023 pursuing the young woman’s 2022 decease aft she went into cardiac apprehension soon aft drinking a Charged Lemonade.

Katz, who had a bosom information called agelong QT syndrome benignant 1, had avoided consuming vigor drinks per a doctor’s orders.

“In LQT1, the potassium ion channels successful the bosom bash not enactment properly, disrupting the heart’s electrical activity,” which tin pb to “arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeat),” according to Stanford Medicine.

Katz’ household accused Panera Bread of not adequately informing customers astir the drink’s ingredients.

According to the lawsuit, the Charged Lemonade was advertised arsenic having arsenic overmuch caffein arsenic a acheronian roast coffee; it really had astir 390 mg of caffeine, 30 teaspoons of sweetener and guarana extract, a stimulant recovered successful vigor drinks that is unsafe successful ample amounts. The caffeine level was astir 4 times arsenic overmuch arsenic a cupful of java oregon Red Bull.

The edifice and beverages person been blamed for the decease of Dennis Brown, a 46-year-old Florida man, and for causing bosom injuries successful antecedently steadfast radical successful 3 different lawsuits. Those lawsuits are inactive pending.

Terms of the colony were not made public. Jury enactment had been scheduled for this week.

In effect to the lawsuits and wounded complaints, the institution vowed to investigate the substance and added warnings to the beverage’s cupful labels and much signage astir its caffein contented and nutritional information. At 1 point, it moved the Charged Lemonades down the antagonistic truthful customers could not service themselves.

Panera Bread removed the beverages from its paper successful May 2024 but said the determination was based connected a “recent paper transformation.”