A California toddler lost function of all four limbs and suffered severe brain damage after choking on sticky candy, a Dec. 28 lawsuit alleges.
Amelie Paredes Sotelo, 3, allegedly became a quadriplegic after a Candy Land gummy dot obstructed her airway to the point where medical professionals struggled to remove the candy before she suffered brain damage, according to the lawsuit, Newswires reported.
California toddler left quadriplegic after choking on sticky “Candy Land” gummies, lawsuit alleges https://t.co/UIdso5p8IT
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“These candies were a ticking time bomb. We will pursue justice for this innocent little girl who was once a vibrant and thriving child, but is now permanently disabled, unable to speak, unable to swallow, and unable to move, for the rest of her life,” attorney Thomas Bosworth, who represents the child and her family, said. “It is shocking that this level of brain damage caused by just one single piece of this dangerous gel candy.”
Video captured by the family’s Ring doorbell camera on Dec. 13, 2022 shows the victim’s parents, Francisco Paredes Rivera and Maria Aylin Sotelo Camacho, attempt various methods to dislodge the candy from their daughter, according to the outlet. Sotelo reportedly now has spastic quadriplegia as a result of the brain damage she allegedly experienced while without oxygen. The young girl is reportedly incapable of controlling most bodily functions and must be fed through a permanent gastronomy tube.
The victim was rushed to the hospital where doctors eventually sucked the candy from her oropharynx at the back of her throat, which doctors say “was extremely difficult due to excessive stickiness of the product and its extraordinary lack of pliability,” according to the lawsuit. (RELATED: State Seizes $170,000 Worth OF Drug-Laced Candy, Snacks Ahead Of Halloween)
Philadelphia-based Frankford Candy & Chocolate Co., Inc. and Frankford Candy LLC, along with Rhode Island-based toy company Hasbro, were accused of product liability, failure to warn, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distressed, according to the outlet. The lawsuit claims the companies designed the candy “in a manner that results in inordinate propensity to adhere to the tissue of the palate, oropharynx, throat, hypopharynx, trachea, and/or esophagus.”