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twitterLawsuit: McDonald’s on Strip sold hamburger with worker’s blood
Published Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 | 3:47 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 | 4:42 p.m.
Sun Coverage
McDonald's Corp. is being sued in Las Vegas by a man who says he was eating a hamburger when he noticed it was contaminated with the blood of a McDonald's employee.
Clark County residents Douglas and Melinda Henke filed suit Monday in Clark County District Court over the incident on Dec. 12, 2008, at a McDonald's on the Las Vegas Strip at 2896 Las Vegas Boulevard, near Convention Center Drive.
The suit, filed by Las Vegas attorney Patrick Driscoll, says Douglas Henke was eating with his wife when he noticed what appeared to be blood on his hamburger, its wrapper, his water bottle and his serving tray.
The suit says Henke talked to a manager and "upon inspection of the McDonald's employees, one of the employees that handled Douglas's meal was bleeding from an open wound on his hand."
The suit says McDonald's personnel took his tray and threw away the food, and that he contacted the Southern Nevada Health District.
By the time a health district official arrived, the employee who allegedly was bleeding had been sent home -- but the health inspector found a second employee working with an open wound, the suit says.
The suit seeks unspecified damages and asserts various claims including negligence, negligent hiring and training of employees and breach of the implied warranty of merchantability.
"Food intended for human consumption contaminated by human blood does not conform to an ordinary buyer's expectations," the suit charges.
McDonald's Rocky Mountain region marketing supervisor David Martinelli said in a statement that the company hasn't been notified of the lawsuit.
"Rest assured, we take matters regarding food safety and quality extremely seriously and investigate all claims, to gather the facts," according to the statement. "Beyond that, it would be inappropriate to further comment or speculate."
The Southern Nevada Health District had no immediate comment on its reported involvement in the incident.
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Recession isn't over. The public is still looking to get rich quick. Should have brought a big silver balloon to that bloody hamburger
An Attorney eating in a McDonalds?
Believe that and you'll believe anything.
I am very sorry to hear of this.
I don't know if any of the SUN commenters know this,
but
the AIDS virus lives outside of the human body for up to 6 hours in body fluids (including blood).
So, in this economy, if you house is broken into, (and I hope NOT) and there is blood on any broken glass or any other items from the people who done it, BE AWARE.
(The glass people know this already.)
Maybe this case will become famous like these well known lawsuits against McDonald's......
In 1992, Stella Liabeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, sued McDonald's after she suffered third-degree burns after she spilled hot coffee that she ordered at one of the company's drive-thrus. A jury awarded $2.9 million. The trial judge reduced the total award to $640,000, and the parties settled for a confidential amount before an appeal was decided.
Lawsuits were brought against the McDonald's Corporation for including beef in its french fries despite claims that those french fries were vegetarian (Block vs. McDonald's Corp., Sharma vs. McDonald's Corp., Bansal v. McDonald's Corp., Zimmerman v. McDonald's Corp.) was brought against McDonald's for claiming that its french fries were vegetarian in the early 1990s, when in fact beef flavoring was added to the fries during the production phase. The case revolved around a 1990 McDonald's press release stating that the company's french fries will be cooked in 100% vegetable oil and a 1993 letter to a customer that claims their french fries are vegetarian. The lawsuits ended in 2002 when McDonald's announced it would issue another apology and pay 10 million dollars to vegetarians and religious groups.
1st 2 comments must be McDonalds employees. Or maybe they should be!
Whatever happened to the old "there's a fly in my soup" routine of filing frivolous lawsuits?
WizardofOz,
It's better to be safe than sorry, so I don't ridicule your alarm. But the fact is, the HIV virus is an extremely weak virus, and the overwhelming majority of healthy people exposed to the virus, will not become infected. A dentist -who by nature of his daily work is extremely concerned with contracting AIDS- told me that he attended a medical conference on the likelihood of contracting or transmitting the disease. At the conference, he was told that if you are healthy, even if you cut your arm open in one hundred places, then submerge your arm with all it's bleeding wounds into a bucket of fresh, HIV-infected blood, odds are statistically that you will not contract AIDS.
We all went though this when Magic Johnson tried to come out of retirement. Physicians and researchers alike, were unanimous in saying that he posed no threat to other ball-players on the same court.
The reality is, HIV infection in the US has been, and has always been, essentially restricted to homosexual males (the ones that practice combined, high-risk behavior -not all homosexual males), and people who weaken their immune systems through chronic drug abuse. The rest of us, if normally healthy, have not been becoming HIV-infected, for close to 30 years, now.
I hope the McDonald's patron wins a tidy sum, though. My family has had TWO disgusting experiences at the Eastside Cannery's buffet, in the past half-year. Once, my son found a used band-aid in the chicken cashew. (I know: this just begs for some joke-cracking.) And then last month, my wife found a piece of plastic in her noodles. The first time, management comped our entire meal, plus comped our next one. We were satisfied. But the last time, we didn't even bother to report it -who'd believe us? It's gross, standards are slipping, and it's happening around the valley. Time for a wake up call.
Yes, I would like a Quarter Pounder with cheese, hold the pickels and blood please
REREAD THE ARTICLE.... IT DOESNT SAY THE ATTORNEY WAS EATING THERE, THE ATTORNEY FILED THE SUIT....
Special sauce, anyone?
LORDGLENMORE....I'm an attorney and I eat at McDonalds. Wanna make something of it?
Oh but it's totally OK to eat whole ground up cows...
Wow - if you can eat a whole ground up cow, you're a far, far bigger man than I am...
RIGHT OUTTA "SAN FRANCISCO AIDS FOUNDATION" (www.sfaf.org) :
"...HIV Survival Outside the Body
Generally, when people ask the question, "How long can HIV survive outside the body?" they have come into contact with some body fluid that they think might contain HIV, and are worried about transmission. Almost always these questions are about casual contact, and we know the virus is not transmitted except during unprotected sex, sharing needles, or through significant and direct exposure to infected blood.
The length of time HIV can survive outside the body depends on:
the amount of HIV present in the body fluid;
what conditions the fluid is subjected to
In a laboratory, HIV has been kept viable (able to infect) for up to 15 days, and even after the body fluid containing it had dried. However, these experiments involved an extremely high concentration of the virus which was kept at a stable temperature and humidity. These conditions are very unlikely to exist outside of a laboratory. HIV is very fragile, and many common substances, including hot water, soap, bleach and alcohol, will kill it.
The chances of becoming infected with HIV by handling a body fluid are extremely small, because that fluid will rarely have access to a person's bloodstream. However, anyone handling blood, semen or vaginal fluids should be careful to avoid touching them with broken skin or getting them into mucous membranes (such as those around the eye).
Spills of blood should be mopped up, cleaned with soap and water, and then cleaned with bleach. For maximum safety, the person cleaning the spill should also wear latex gloves, and should wash the hands thoroughly after the cleanup.
Air does not "kill" HIV, but exposure to air dries the fluid that contains the virus, and that will destroy or break up much of the virus very quickly. The CDC reports that drying HIV reduces viral amount by 90-99% within several hours.
It should be noted that HIV can survive for several days in the small amount of blood that remains in a needle after use, because the blood is trapped where air cannot dry it out. As a result, used needles are very risky for HIV transmission; they provide a direct path into the bloodstream. Ideally, used needles should never be reused, but if they are, they should always be cleaned with bleach or alcohol before re-use...."
I would like to highlight this line from the article:
"...However, anyone handling blood, semen or vaginal fluids should be careful to avoid touching them with broken skin or getting them into mucous membranes (such as those around the eye)...."
MEDICALLY, MOUTHS ARE THE SAME AS MUCOUS MEMBRANES.
Entire Article Here:
http://www.sfaf.org/aids101/transmission...
probably not a one sitting, but nice of you to say
Desert_Rat: what do you have against pickles?
Frankly, as a recovering lawyer, I was much more favorably inclined toward the scalding coffee in the lap cause of action.
What's next, the slot machine ate my money!
Having seen what is working behind those counters I'm not a bit surprised.
DTJ, let me get this right: your son found a used band-aid in his food and you guys actually ate there again? please tell me that after the second incident you were finished with that place.
the slot machine ate my money! classic.
His first mistake was eating at McDonalds...
bam1969,
"DTJ, let me get this right:your son found a used band-aid in his food and you guys actually ate there again?"
Yep :-)
We're not particularly squeamish. But after it happened again, we know the place is lax and probably won't be back for a while. :-) :-)
Next time I want a fast food burger, I'm going to In'n'Out..
davidcurtis...easier to eat the cow after it's been ground up don't you think?
Finding blood in your food is extremely gross. I don't care how much training an employee gets about food safety. People are people and there will always be a time where they become neglectful and let things slip.
The commercial food that you eat goes through many stages of processing before it goes into your mouth. In any of those stages, your food can become contaminated.
There's really no 100% method of keeping your food clean other than raising your own cow and growing your own veggies. Hell, a little contamination will keep your immune system working. Call it exercise for your insides.
Considering how disgusting McDonalds food is-the blood was probably the healthiest part of the meal.
Just gross!
The menu this guy ordered was the "Blade-Trinity" special blood-bath burger menu. He should have watched the translite better upon ordering. The blood menu is very famous over here, especially after sunset when the freaks come out.
Stop already. The Pu$$ification of America continues. Everyone calm the F down.
You know what they say....
Once they build a McDumbf**k's in your neighborhood or region, you know it's time to move.
That food is nasty anyways, even without the blood enhanced condiment.
Why would anyone eat at a place staffed by a bunch of virgin high schoolers that cant keep their own life in order ?
It's not just about the chance of contracting HIV people. You probably wouldn't die from someone taking a dump in your milkshake either, but they'd still deserve to be sued for it. Those comparing it to the hot coffee suit... yeah that 1 was frivolous ...coffee is supposed to be hot. Eating a burger is not supposed to make you a cannibal. (unless you're already a cow)
Should've gone to IN-N-OUT in the first place.
Having stopped at this place I would not be the least bit surprised of the employee's were illegal immigrants or Obama tokens and they'll claim they didn't know any better or devise some other excuse for not being sanitary.
If the above is the case then the consumer should win a few hundred grand each and McDonalds should pay punitive damages reach the millions if employee's were illegal.
Sending a financial message to employer's that hiring illegals will cost you dearly, they won't hire them. Sending the same message that you're accountable for your choices and no excuse will work, they'll eventually learn to stop blaming others for their choices.
Fellow Idiots - No more McDonald's for me including senior coffee - one violation like this kills the entire scheame period. I want to live disease free and especially free from eating blood from another human being.
It's much easier to eat a whole cow if you find one with no legs. You know..."Ground Beef". (an oldy but still a goody!)
Oh boy! I can just see the lawsuit coming out of this one.
Gave up fast food about 2 years ago. Probably the best thing I have ever done for myself and it wasn't that hard. I just stopped going to restaurants like that for anything. Not even coffee.
That food kills people. And the people and kids working in those places do not care about what they are serving you. Stories like this one are not uncommon in this country.
Eat Mor Chikin.
My reaction to seeing someone with an open wound would have been to ask them if they are okay!! I would have asked for new food after I asked if they were okay. I never would have thought of a lawsuit!
IT WAS KETCHUP!
if it was blood, then it was probably put in by the consumer. Fast money quick, McDonald's pays, you can live easy. Is that the plan? I think if there was really a guy who cut his finger while working and noticed that he was bleeding he wouldn't have wrapped the burger and informed his boss. Even in America. McDonald's didn't grow up to what it is right now by selling trash food or hiring people with zero brain. They have a pretty smart system but it's the consumer that decides whether or not to eat fast food. Nice trick to grind out 1 Million Dollars for this, but my money says this law-suit will be dropped.
Hey LORDGLENMORE, does the article say anything about an attorney eating in McDonald's? Nope, sure doesn't. Didn't do well in Reading Comprehension, did you? I'm sorry, is that word too big for you? All you have to do to see the truth in the fact that Nevada is one of the most un-educated states is read the comments people write under these articles.
The tort reformers and dittoheads are the first to sue.
My reaction to seeing someone with an open wound would have been to ask them if they are okay!! I would have asked for new food after I asked if they were okay. I never would have thought of a lawsuit!
You gotta be kidding me! If I saw an open wound WITH blood on a fast food worker that was handling food, including my own, I would bring it to the attention of the WHOLE restaurant first and THEN call the manager!! Then take my money and business elsewhere.
I suppose if you cut yourself preparing dinner or slicing the turkey on Thanksgiving and the blood got all over the turkey AND the plate and serving utentsils - would you expect people to then eat the turkey????? Would you expect people to actually then stay for dinner???? Might as well blow your nose and spit on the turkey, too!
Don't invite any of us over to your house to eat.
Hepatitis. Transmitted thru blood.
Oh my goodness...that poor, poor turkey...
mcdonalds. i'm lovin' it!
I thought McDonald's employees' working until they bled was standard fast-food practice. After all, what explains the vomit in my Big Mac? Oh, wait, that IS the Big Mac...
This is hilarious to read these comments. Have to say though, sucks for the guy it happened too cause that is pretty nasty. I definitley will not be visiting that McDonalds nor, probably any other ones. That's just down right disgusting and it shows you what kind of people they hire.
I bet Burger King was behind this
"Having stopped at this place I would not be the least bit surprised of the employee's were illegal immigrants or Obama tokens and they'll claim they didn't know any better or devise some other excuse for not being sanitary".
*******************************************************
WOW!! You don't care how hillbilly you sound, hunh?
I can eat 50 eggs!
These people are all working together.They showed the fifth Ace with the second employee with an open wound.
Det_Munch, You are so ridiculous!! My comment was apparently too normal and rational for you. Who doesn't ask someone if they are okay when they are bleeding? Why did you totally ignore the part of my message that I would ask for new food? I'm not stupid - I wouldn't eat food with someone's blood on it. You need to grow up instead of getting all excited and frivolous.
What happen to the good old days when you could still get fingers in your chile?
I know they require a TB test for a health card, but they should also require a hepatitis test and an HIV/AIDS test, as well.