About a month or two ago, I bought an egg salad sandwich from a Sunoco Gas Station here in Michigan. About two days later, I became violently ill feeling as if I was going to die. I experience stomach cramps, sweats, chills, and watery diarrhea. After the diarrhea, I felt better and felt I didn’t need emergency medical attention, given that, I don’t have health care. That day I had eaten two cloves of garlic when I usually eat only one and thought my illness came from the garlic. However, two weeks ago, I went to Meijers and bought a fried chicken breast and while eating it, I discovered pink flesh and pink juices. I immediately went back to the store and showed the manager who offered a refund. However, Meijers did not throw out the rest of the chicken and continue to sell it. A couple of days later, I began having dizzy spells and had a bloody stool two days later. I went online to search Salmonella symptoms and discovered it was the egg salad sandwich that got me ill the first time, therefore, I called Sunoco and the manager said I was too late to make a claim. I told him had I known that it was the egg sandwich instead of the garlic that got me ill, I would have immediately contacted him. I know medical expenses incurred from being sick are one component of how much I could recover. My pain, suffering, and illness are another component.
In the absence of a stool culture to prove the salmonella, you will have a difficult time proving your case. It is more likely than not that you did have salmonella but in the absence of proof, you have a tough way to go. I would still advise the defendant of your claim. It is a three year statute of limitations. It is not too late.
You need to be able to prove that you had food poisoning, rather than any of the other things that can cause an upset stomach, and specifically that a specific food product caused it.
You could make a claim, however, due to the lack of medical documentation and transitory nature of the problem, your claim would not be meritorious to pursue by my office.
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