Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan died after dining at Raglan Road Irish Pub at the Disney Springs shopping and entertainment center (Pictures: Fives Funeral Home/Facebook)
A doctor died after eating at a restaurant at Disney World that allegedly guaranteed its food was allergen free.
Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan, a physician at NYU Langone in New York City, was having dinner at Raglan Road Irish Pub at the theme park’s Disney Springs with her husband and his mother and informed the waiter of her severe allergies to nuts and dairy.
Tangsuan asked if several items on the menu could be made allergen free, according to a lawsuit filed by her husband, Jeffrey Piccolo, on Thursday. The doctor inquired about the ‘Scallop Forest’ appetizer, the ‘Sure I’m Frittered’ broccoli and corn fritters, the ‘This Shepherd Went Vegan’ entree and onion rings.
‘The waiter unequivocally assured them that the food would be allergen free,’ states the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that a waiter at Raglan Road Irish Pub said the doctor’s order was allergen free (Picture: Google Maps)
When the waiter brought Tangsuan’s food to the table, some of the items did not have allergen free flags placed on them.
‘Jeffrey Piccolo once again questioned the waiter who, once again, guaranteed the food being delivered to Kanokporn Tangsuan was allergen free,’ the suit reads.
After dinner, Piccolo went to their hotel room while Tangsuan and her mother-in-law went shopping at the Disney Springs outdoor entertainment complex. They split off and Tangsuan entered Planet Hollywood and around 8.45pm began having an acute allergic reaction.
Tangsuan had trouble breathing and collapsed. She self-administered EpiPen and was rushed to a local hospital, where she died.
Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan’s (right) husband, Jeffrey Piccolo (left) is suing Disney and the restaurant (Picture: Facebook)
Her cause of death was ‘anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system’, states the suit.
The lawsuit claims that Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Inc, ‘failed to educate, train and/or instruct its employees’ to ‘make sure food indicated as allergen free or requested to be made allergen free, was in fact free of allergens’.
Piccolo is seeking $50,000 in damages from Disney and the restaurant under the Florida Wrongful Death Act.
Guests walk through the Walt Disney Co Disney Springs entertainment complex in Orlando, Florida (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Jeff really wants to make sure that this never happens to anyone else,’ Piccolo’s lawyer, Brian Denney, told Florida Politics.
‘It’s very important to him that people are aware that people with severe allergies like this should be taken seriously. And he doesn’t want this to happen to anybody else’s family.’
The lawsuit was filed about a week after a McDonald’s customer allergic to milk who sued the fast food chain claiming he was almost killed by an errant slice of cheese in his Big Mac, admitted he still eats there – but less frequently.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.