The parents of a girl who died of heart failure after drinking Panera Bread's caffeinated Charged Lemonade, have spoken out about their devastation.
21-year-old Sarah Katz, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, passed away in September 2022. The young woman suffered two cardiac arrests shortly after consuming the beverage known as "Panera Charged Lemonade" at a local Panera Bread store.
Her parents filed a lawsuit against Panera Bread arguing that Katz, who had a pre-existing heart condition called Long QT Type 1 Syndrome, was unaware of the drink's high caffeine levels and Panera failed to adequately warn consumers about the potential dangers.
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Michael and Jill Katz lost their daughter, Sarah, to heart attack (ABC news)Sarah's mother, Jill Katz, told ABC News: "The pain is just so hard and so deep. It's not something you get better from. Some people say oh time is all healing. It's not. There's no healing. It's just acclimation."
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And her father, Michael Katz said: "It's so many mixed emotions. There are no more photos. There are no more memories. It's the memories that we have. And luckily, we're very fortunate. We've got so many wonderful, incredible memories."
Two more lawsuits against the company have since been filed over the drink, leading Panera to pull it from its stores. The company has denied wrongdoing in the deaths.
Sarah's parents allege that she wasn't aware of the dangers of the drink (ABC news)For all the latest news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to The Mirror US
Sarah's parents explained how they came to realise what might have caused their daughter's death. Michael Katz said: "We had to go pack up her apartment in Philadelphia. When we went there, her roommate told us that she had had a drink from Panera, a Charged Lemonade drink.
"The reason why the roommate brought it up to us was that she had known about some of the dangers in these excessively caffeinated energy drinks that have multiple other ingredients. And so she was the one to put the pieces together. And then the doctor said that is absolutely something that could have contributed."
'The pain is just so hard and so deep' (ABC news)Sarah was studying international relations and health and societies. She worked as a research assistant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and was actively involved with the American Heart Association, teaching CPR in high schools. Recently, she had been awarded a full-merit scholarship to study Mandarin at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
Sarah Katz with her mother - The young woman died after drinking Panera Bread's Charged Lemonade (ABC news)After her death, Panera Bread issued a statement expressing their condolences to the Katz family and pledged to "thoroughly investigate" the matter. The statement read: "We were very saddened to learn about the tragic passing of Sarah Katz, and our hearts go out to her family. At Panera we strongly believe in transparency around our ingredients. We will work quickly to thoroughly investigate this matter."
The Charged Lemonade, which at first was not labelled as an "energy drink," surpasses the combined caffeine content of popular energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster Energy Drink.
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