Memorable Family Party—Foodborne Illness on the Menu

Oakdale, CA"My girlfriend and I decided to throw a party for our son's first birthday," says Ron. "My mom flew out and about 20 people attended, including my 83-year-old grandma who almost died from

food poisoning ; she was diagnosed with salmonella."

"My mom bought a sandwich platter and veggie tray with dip, including peas, broccoli, carrots, and the tray was lined with lettuce. You'll know why I'm mentioning this in a minute…

During the party my grandma felt unwell and the following day she didn't get out of bed (which is very unusual for her) and she felt nauseated. I felt lousy too. My mom came over and dropped off the rest of the veggie tray and leftover birthday cake. That afternoon I felt worse: both my girlfriend and I were in and out of the bathroom. Then our baby started projectile vomiting and couldn't hold down any formula—he had munched on a carrot from the veggie tray.

We were sick all night. The next day my mom called. They just got back from the hospital with grandma, she was really sick. My mum was puking too. The hospital ran some tests, including stool samples, and diagnosed my grandma with salmonella. It had never crossed my mind that we all had a foodborne illness…

We took our son to ER and they said we had to keep him hydrated with a mixture of Gatorade and water. We just thought he had the flu. It didn't dawn on us until later that he got food poisoning as well.

Our friend dropped by and rummaged around in our fridge. He ate a few pieces of broccoli and the following day he was sick too—he didn't go to our party so the food poisoning had to be from the veggie tray.

Ten of the 20 people at the party got sick, not including my friend. If this foodborne illness were more severe, it could have almost wiped out our entire family!

We had the party two weeks ago and my grandma is still sick. She's been in bed the entire time and can barely eat. I've been picking up her prescriptions and visiting her every day. And my mom had to cancel her flight home because she was so sick.

My mom and grandma live in a different town and they had to file a complaint with the state agency. My mom also filed a complaint against Safeway; she has all my grandma's medical reports.

I googled salmonella poisoning on the Internet and came across LawyersandSettlements. It didn't occur to me that I could file a lawsuit; now I understand the steps you have to go through to file a complaint. We didn't know there was anything we could do about it but now I'm taking action. Looking back, I should have acted sooner and all of us should have been tested. Unfortunately we tossed the veg tray, but we do have grandma's medical record and she should be compensated, at least."