A Pennsylvania teenager is suing Panera Bread alleging that consuming one of its high-caffeine Charged Lemonade drinks caused him to go into cardiac arrest.
Luke Adams, 18, consumed the drink along with a chicken sandwich before going to the cinema with friends at around 7pm on March 9.
Just two and a half hours later, a friend Luke was with discovered he was making strange noises and discovered he was going into sudden cardiac arrest.
Luke Adams, 18, claims high-caffeine drink caused him to go into cardiac arrest
Luke appears alongside Dr. Tim Muchnok, an emergency room doctor who helped save Luke’s life after he went into cardiac arrest.
Fortunately, two nurses and a cardiologist were also in the operating room at the time and began performing CPR while they brought in an automated external defibrillator and shocked him.
Despite the irregular rhythm, Adams’ heart was beating again and he was rushed to the hospital.
Luke then had seizures while in the emergency room and was placed in intensive care, where he was intubated and put on a ventilator, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Philadelphia.
In Luke’s medical records, doctors specializing in cardiology and neurology noted a “high caffeine intake” as a possible trigger for cardiac arrest and subsequent seizures and specifically mentioned the drink Charged Lemonade.
No other possible structural abnormalities or genetic conditions were found, doctors said.
“Luke is not the first man to go into cardiac arrest from drinking this, but he is the luckiest as he survived and the other two did not,” his mother, Lisa Braverman Feyes, wrote in a Facebook post.
‘Our God is a wonderful God, no doubt… 2 nurses (Dawn Saula) and a cardiologist (Dr. Francis Ergina) happened to be at the movie theater to start CPR on my son.
“Luke’s best friends acted quickly yelling for help, knocking him to the ground and running towards the AED,” he explained.
Braverman and her husband are paramedics and heard their son’s call on the radio.
‘As most of you know, my husband Scott Feyes and I are long-time ER Paramedics and Registered Nurses…never in a million lives did I dream that what we have done so many times with strangers would be happening to my precious 18 year old daughter. son.
‘Being an EMS provider, our radio is always on in case there is a fire or EMS call that we need to continue. When we hear “an 18-year-old man in the movie theater who is unresponsive.” “My world stopped because in my heart I knew he was going to be my son,” he wrote.
‘Please share with everyone that Panera loaded lemonade can KILL YOU!’ It’s not any joke. How many lives must be lost before change occurs?
A regular size of Charged Lemonade, which is 20 ounces, has 260 milligrams of caffeine.
The lawsuit claims that Luke did not know that Charged Lemonade was a super energy drink with high amounts of caffeine, sugar and guarana.
It indicates that the drink contains 390 milligrams of caffeine without ice and 237 mg of caffeine with ice; The total daily limit recommended by the Food and Drug Administration is 400 mg.
For comparison, a 20-ounce large dark roast coffee at Panera has 268 mg of caffeine.
The lawsuit alleges that Luke’s cardiac arrest was caused by ventricular fibrillation, a type of cardiac arrhythmia that can be caused by caffeine.
“As a result of drinking Panera Charged Lemonade, Luke’s life has been affected physically, emotionally, socially, and financially,” the lawsuit says.
Luke had to have a defibrillator implanted to ensure he doesn’t go into cardiac arrest again, but the whole incident left him with PTSD and anxiety.
Luke Adams is now suing Panera Bread after consuming a loaded lemonade. The teen says he has PTSD and anxiety, while Panera has stopped drinking the drink.
“Panera Charged Lemonade is defective in design because it is a dangerous energy drink,” the lawsuit says.
Luke emphasizes in the lawsuit that he never had any health problems and always consumed a limited amount of caffeine.
Their lawsuit includes claims for negligence, liability and misrepresentation alleging how Panera failed to identify Charged Lemonade as an energy drink that contained stimulants, but was instead sold as “naturally flavored” and “plant-based.”
Earlier this month, Panera announced it was discontinuing Charged Lemonade drinks, which have been around for two years.
The company’s ‘Charged Sips,’ which include three different flavored drinks, come in a 64-fluid-ounce container containing between 1,615 milligrams (mg) and 2,155 mg of caffeine, according to the company’s website.
The company also said it plans to introduce new beverages with low-sugar and low-caffeine options.
The beverage line has been the subject of multiple lawsuits in recent months from people who have said the drinks caused health problems.
So far, they have been linked to two wrongful death lawsuits.
A lawsuit was filed by the family of Sarah Katz, a 21-year-old Ivy League student with a heart condition, who died in September 2022.
Sarah Katz (pictured) died on September 10, 2022, just hours after consuming a large, loaded lemonade from a Panera Bread branch in Philadelphia.
Katz had been diagnosed with long QT syndrome, a heart rhythm condition, as a child, causing her heart to beat irregularly (arrhythmia).
She had controlled her condition by taking medication and limiting caffeine consumption, according to legal documents.
The second was from the family of a 46-year-old Florida man, David Brown, who died in October.
Brown went into cardiac arrest and died on October 9 after drinking three loaded lemonades at his local Panera.
He was found unconscious on the sidewalk and pronounced dead at the scene on Fleming Island.
Brown’s family said Brown had high blood pressure and did not drink energy drinks, but believed Charged Sips were safe because they were not advertised as energy drinks.
David Brown, 46, went into cardiac arrest and died on October 9 after drinking three loaded lemonades at his local Panera believing they were regular lemonades.
Brown had a habit of ordering three drinks in a row, according to the lawyer representing the family, and had drunk three lemonades with dinner on the day he died.
The lawsuit details how Brown had ordered at least seven lemonades over a two-week period before he died.
Lauren Skerritt, a 28-year-old woman from Rhode Island, filed a third lawsuit in January, claiming the drink had caused “permanent” heart damage.
After news of the first lawsuit broke, Panera posted more detailed information at all of its restaurants and on its website warning customers to consume the drinks in moderation.
The chain also stated that they were not recommended for children, pregnant women, nursing mothers or people sensitive to caffeine.
Panera has not said whether the drinks will be discontinued due to lawsuits or health concerns.
