A lawsuit has revealed that a “very vigilant” Ivy League student with a rare heart condition died after consuming a large “Charged Lemonade” from Panera Bread.
The parents of Sarah Katz, who was a 21-year-old student at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), filed the lawsuit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Monday according to NBC News. Katz passed away just hours after consuming the beverage last year.
Katz had a rare heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1. This disorder can cause heartbeats to become fast-paced and chaotic.
Due to her condition, doctors recommended that she avoid energy drinks, which are extremely high in caffeine.
Katz’s college roommate, Victoria Rose Conroe, told NBC News that Katz “was very, very vigilant about what she needed to do to keep herself safe.” She claimed her roommate would never have touched the drink if she had known how unhealthy it was.
I guarantee if Sarah had known how much caffeine this was, she never would have touched it with a 10-foot pole.
Katz’s family says Panera Bread engaged in false advertising. Their lawsuit claims the charged lemonade was “offered side-by-side with all of Panera’s non-caffeinated and/or less caffeinated drinks.”
In addition, they claim it was advertised as a “plant-based and clean” beverage that contained no more caffeine than the Panera Bread’s dark roast coffee.
The complaint goes on to allege that Katz, on September 20, 2022, “consumed the Panera Charged Lemonade, reasonably confident it was a traditional lemonade” or an “electrolyte sports drink containing a reasonable amount of caffeine safe for her to drink.”
On that same day, the complaint says she “suffered a cardiac arrest” while eating with friends at a restaurant in her apartment building.
The dark roast coffee from Panera Bread contains roughly 190 mg of caffeine per 16 fl oz. It also has zero grams of sugar.
A charged lemonade from Panera Bread, in contrast, contains 390 milligrams of caffeine, more than three times the amount of a Red Bull. Moreover, one large serving of charged lemonade contains a whopping 98 GRAMS of sugar.
Suffice it to say, a charged lemonade is absolutely the last thing someone like Katz should be consuming.
A Panera Bread spokesperson expressed their condolences to the Katz family and vowed to investigate the matter during an interview with the New York Post.
We were very saddened to learn this morning about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz, and our hearts go out to her family. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter.
