By Corey Bennett
21-year-old Sarah Katz passed away on September 10, 2022, after she consumed a large “Charged Lemonade” from a Panera Bread restaurant, located in Philadelphia.
Only hours after drinking what she thought was a ”traditional lemonade and/or electrolyte sports drink containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for her to drink,” Sarah went into cardiac arrest after she drank the lemonade. She also suffered from a heart condition known as Long QT syndrome, something that she had since she was five years old, which she actually had very well maintained with constant doctor visits.
Panera has recently been served a legal complaint on Monday, October 23rd, from the family. The complaint states that “Panera did not properly warn their customers of the ingredients in the energy drink.”
While a Panera spokesperson says, “We were very saddened to learn this morning about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz, and our hearts go out to her family. At Panera, we strongly believe in transparency around our ingredients. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter.” Their drink was labeled as being ‘plant-based and clean’, also saying that their drinks were ‘offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks’. These drinks were wrongly labeled, and in reality, this “Charged Lemonade” had over 390 milligrams of caffeine, which is more than a Red Bull and a Monster combined.
Katz, though, had well-maintained her disease with daily medication and not drinking caffeine. I had zero idea about what was actually in these drinks, with the lawsuit stating that “These unregulated beverages include no warning of any potentially dangerous effects, even the life-threatening effects on blood pressure, heart rate, and/or brain function.”
In the medical statement, though, it says that Katz died of cardiac arrhythmia due to her Long QT syndrome. So it did not say that it was the drink’s fault but noted that she had nothing else in her system besides the drugs that were given to her when she was resuscitated.
Though there has been little spoken about this lawsuit as the parents have declined to speak on the topic, I hope that this helps people think twice before they go ahead and order Panera’s “Charged Lemonade.”
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