A Colorado teen is battling kidney failure after consuming McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers in the weeks before the deadly E. coli outbreak, according to a new lawsuit.
What Happened to the Teen?
Kamberlyn Bowler of Grand Junction, Colorado, ate three Quarter Pounders with cheese, extra pickles and onions over a two-week span between September 27 and October 8. Shortly after, she began experiencing severe symptoms, including fever, vomiting and debilitating stomach cramps. Her condition quickly worsened, culminating in a diagnosis of acute kidney failure.
The 15-year old has since been hospitalized and undergoing dialysis for 10 days in an urgent effort to save her kidneys.
Federal health officials suspect slivered onions used in the burgers may be the outbreak’s source, which has sickened at least 75 people nationwide, with one fatality reported in Mesa County, where Bowler resides.
Brittany Randall, Bowler’s mother, has since announced plans to pursue legal action against McDonald’s, questioning the safety of ingredients consumers assume to be safe.
“It’s pretty scary to know that we put so much faith and trust that we’re going to be eating something that’s healthy and for it to be broken,” Randall shared, emphasizing the severity of her daughter’s ordeal and the looming medical bills she faces as a single mother.
In this photo illustration, a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburger meal is seen at a McDonald’s on October 23, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. A Colorado teen is battling kidney failure after consuming McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers in the weeks before the deadly E. coli outbreak, according to a lawsuit.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
What Does the Lawsuit Say?
The teen’s attorney, Ron Simon of the national food safety firm Ron Simon & Associates in Houston, now represents her and 32 other alleged McDonald’s E. coli victims, including 9 who were hospitalized and 2 others who have developed HUS or an Acute Kidney Injury (AKI).
His law firm has since filed both the first and second lawsuits in the nation in this outbreak against McDonald’s in Chicago, Illinois.
“HUS is a dangerous and life-threatening illness, and can lead to the need for life-long monitoring and treatment, including kidney transplants. The longer a young person is on dialysis, the more difficult their medical future will likely be. We are working with Kamberlyn’s family to make sure she receives the very best medical treatment and advice,” Simon said in a statement.
He added: “This sort of illness is as preventable as it is tragic. Our team will continue to seek justice for those who have suffered from this outbreak. We can and will find out how this happened so that we can prevent it from happening again.”
What We Know About the Outbreak
Since the outbreak was announced last Tuesday, 75 people in 13 states have gotten sick in relation to the outbreak, of whom 22 have been hospitalized and one man has died, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
E. coli (Escherichia coli) is a strain of bacteria in human and animal feces that can contaminate food, resulting in food poisoning symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, fever, abdominal pain and more.
Those who became ill with E. coli infections consistently reported eating McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers, so the item has been removed from the menus of locations in Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming and portions of eight other states.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated on its website that its investigators were “working to determine if the slivered onions or beef patties on Quarter Pounder burgers are the likely source of contamination.”
Cesar Piña, McDonald’s North America chief supply chain officer, in a message shared on the McDonald’s website on Sunday, said that the “issue appears to be contained to a particular ingredient and geography, and we remain very confident that any contaminated product related to this outbreak has been removed from our supply chain and is out of all McDonald’s restaurants.”
He added that the restaurant has “ruled out Quarter Pounder patties as the source” of the outbreak after “overlaying the CDC’s Epidemiological data with our Supply Chain traceback data.”
Quarter Pounders are expected to be available in all restaurants later this week, the statement confirmed, and sales of the hamburger will resume without slivered onions.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
