i've had friends allergic to peanuts have that happen before. not die. but get a dish that has trace amounts of whatever and end up going into anaphylaxic shock.

guessing the waitress didn't get a tip due to the screw up. guessing the manager probably picked up the bill too. (probably.)

Wow, that's a bad end to the night. The real question is, how many people have died from the FILTH in Ruby's? The fresco/oscar mix-up is a one-time mistake, but from what I've seen of that restaraunt's level of cleanliness, you're lucky not to walk out of there with Ebola.

It's not very clear exactly how the screw up happened:
either the person didn't make it clear how important it was (unlikely); or kitchen staff was too lazy to do it right.
I know how busy it can get in a kitchen, but a rote "accidents happen" doesn't make it right.
Wrong foot amputated? Accidents happen. Wrong medication given? Accidents happen.
For crying out loud, take some responsibility! It's true, accidents happen. That's why people are trained- to prevent accidents. For all of these jobs, a monkey could be in there, flailing around. But a person is there to use his/her brain and do the job right.
Especially here- it's not rocket science!

I dare say that if I had a deadly allergy to just about anything, I'd avoid most restaurants altogether, especially those whose sole aim is to shovel as much food into as many mouths as possible over the shortest period of time.

Maybe that's just me. Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday. Who could put a name on you? Murderer. There, I just did it.

@Ash78: That's hindsight. By the time you find out yourself if a reaction is deadly, you're dead.

THis is why if you even SUSPECT you have a major food allergy, you should carry an Epi-Pen at all times.

@nytmare: So you mean he knew he was allergic, but just didn't know the severity of it?

I know a couple of people with peanut and bee-sting allergies, and they are VERY cautious when it comes to avoidance. And as far as I know, they've never had to die before (I don't think)...

Isn't there anything you can bring with you if you know you might go into shock from eating something? I remember I few years back hearing about a local girl that died at the mall from a peanut allergy. She asked the person serving the food if it contained peanuts and they said no, but it did. She didn't have some injection thingy she usually has, so nothing could be done in time to save her. Sad....

That is horrible. I agree about avoiding restaurants if you have food allergies, though. Not blaming the victim or anything, just saying...

@ncboxer: Yes, see the Epi-pen comment above. It's about the size of a magic marker and can shoot epinephrine (adrenaline) straight into your system to combat anaphylaxis.

Honestly, I'm not sure why the guy ate the chicken. The Chicken Fresco that he ordered should have been topped with fresh tomatoes. Chicken Oscar is topped with crabmeat, no tomatoes anywhere. How can you not notice something like that?

Darwin Awards, anyone?

I wish posters would stop making assumption after assumption every time a story is posted. Who said he didn't have an epi pen with him? He easily could have and been affected so quickly he couldn't use it. Also saying that he should not go to some restaurants is asinine. You should be able to go out to eat and actually get what you order. The guy was 35 years old, which could lead you to believe he has been eating out for quite some time without incident. I am really starting to despise these round-about ways to blame the OP or the person affected with EVERY story that gets posted.

I'm in no way blaming the consumer, as this is terribly tragic. But I would never place my life in the hands of anonymous strangers working a mimimum wage job. If you have a severe food allergy I think you ought to just stay out of restaurants. It sucks, but those are the cards life has dealt you.

Either way, this man wouldn't have died if Ruby Tuesday had brought him the correct dish. This isn't the victim's fault.

@BoomerFive: ITA. Blaming the victim is the wrong way to go here. Its Ruby Tuesday's fault, end of story.

@BoomerFive:

Yeah, so much for that new commenter code.

@BoomerFive: You should be able to go out to eat and actually get what you order

In a perfect world, yes. But do you trust your local restaurant staff with the same level of care as a surgical team or air traffic controllers? I sure hope not.

I feel so bad for the server who made that error. Wow, he or she made an honest mistake, and now has to live with that.

@Ash78: My guess, if he knew he was allergic, he would have known not to eat it. He must have gotten it, and decided to eat it anyway. I'm not sure how you confuse shellfish with chicken. Just a guess.

Perhaps it's time we start having epi-pens available in public locations for emergencies, the same way there are AEDs and fire extinguishers. Seems the marginal cost is very small to add an epi pen to a first aid kit (which surely restaurants have already?)

a guy I work with is allergic to shellfish. He ate a couple of bites of some pasta at work the other day that had some shrimp in the sauce and his throat started to swell up and and his lips started to tingle. I was amazed how quickly his body reacted. Thankfully, he's OK.

In addition to the friends and family of Mr. Hawkins my sympathy goes out to the workers who would never mean to do this and who must be devastated.

@ncboxer: Yes, it's called an Epi-Pen, it's an injection that contains epinepherin. They tend to be carried around by people who are allergic to bees and nuts most frequently. The trouble happens when someone has a severe reaction to something they've never had a reaction to before, or never had such a strong reaction to before. As said above, you don't know it's going to kill you until you're dead.

This poor guy probably knew he was allergic to shellfish because of a bad experience (maybe hives or mild anaphylaxis) as a child and avoided shellfish his entire life - only to experience a deadly reaction the one time he eats it 20 years later. No way to know.

I easily see a civil suit too against the restaurant even if no criminal charges go in. If the order went in right and came out of the kitchen wrong, also against the chef. If the order went in wrong, against the server.

@Bladefist: In other words, maybe he didn't know he was allergic

@BoomerFive: Yes, you should be able to go to any restaurant you want to regardless of your food allergy. But the reality is that you can't, unless you are willing to play waiter roulette. Ruby Tuesday is at fault here, to what degree I can't tell from the story. But why take the risk? Of course, it was Mr. Hawkins right to take that chance. I'm just saying I probably would not.

How long until some restaurant posts a sign saying "People with food allergies eat at their own risk."

Eh, server was not at fault, thats just basic human error right there. I really hope he/she does not blame themselves. Situations like this though, I don't think anyone is at fault.

@Ash78: I understand what you're saying, but I don't expect the same types of things from a minimum wage plate jockey that I do my surgeon do I?

I don't have food allergies, but if I did, one of the biggest assumptions I would make is never trust anyone with food items I didn't see made or made my self. Stick to the salad bar, don't go out to eat in strange places, etc..

@brainologist: They are pretty expensive and expire frequently from what I hear. Not that it wouldn't be worth it to save a life, but I just don't see corporations springing for them.

@Bladefist: I want to believe that, but unfortunately many servers can't be bothered to deal with allergy issues, partly because a lot of people have "imaginary" allergies and the servers get tired of coping with it. So they just blow off people's allergy requests.

(As for how you confuse shellfish and chicken, I wondered about that too, but I suppose it depends on how it's prepped -- had a veggie friend accidentally eat chicken that was put on instead of tofu and the chicken looked and tasted just like the tofu, particularly when smothered in sauce, I couldn't tell the difference either -- and on how familiar he is with shellfish. I, personally, have no idea what shrimp or lobster tastes like and probably wouldn't know if confronted with it.)

@NumberFiveIsAlive: People are held criminally responsible for human error all the time. This server shouldn't be exempt from that. Error or not, he or she still caused someone's death.

Even if he got the correct order, cross contamination could occur. My mom is allergic to clams and she has to be careful to avoid anything fried at places that serve clams because the clams and everything else are all fried in the same oil and she ends up sick even if she doesn't eat the clams.

I bet the server was trying to be cool and attempted to memorize his order only to put it into the computer a minute later as the wrong entry.

Food allergies suck, my wife is allergic to tree nuts so we are constantly doing it. She is also bad about carrying her epi-pen with her.

@BoomerFive: Boomer, please read the article. From the article:
Emergency personnel arrived at Ruby Tuesday around 9:45 p.m., and Hawkins was pronounced dead at Southern Regional Hospital less than 30 minutes later.

While not a medical expert, the hospital more than likely gave him epi, then went to work trying to save him seeing a chance at survival. If it was so bad he was DOS, I don't think they would have flailed on him for so long. It sounds like it was severe, but not an instant death severe, and no one got there soon enough to halt the progression until the paramedics arrived.

This is sad. Maybe now people will actually pay attention to what they're serving to each other. I ordered turf! Not surf!

@Git Em SteveDave has a new Lego set: Huh?

Obviously, the solution is to ban anything containing shellfish from public restaurants.

Don't laugh, a certain youth organization I know of banned all peanut-containing products from a recent week-long day camp event. Worked like a charm, the one child of over 1,500 who had nut allergies was completely unaffected.

On one hand, I'd like to be bitchy about one kid's problem affecting that many other kids. On the other hand...I think about going through life without peanut butter, and I just can't imagine how much that would suck, so bitchiness seems rather petty.

@Eyebrows McGee: You're right. I think people will say they're allergic to things so that they're not included in the dish. We went to lunch with someone who sent a salad back because she didn't like cilantro, but said she was allergic.

On the other hand, my son has a bad allergy to sesame seeds, which he was tested for after having a bad reaction, and we now carry an Epipen AND benadryl. You really need to have both since the Epipen gives you 15 minutes or so to get to a hospital. The benadryl will kick in during that 15 minutes.

Chicken Fresco (Pictured food item upper right)

A fresh, grilled chicken breast topped with seasonal vine-ripened tomatoes, lemon-butter sauce, and a splash of balsamic vinaigrette. Served with fresh, steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes.

[www.rubytuesday.com]

Chicken Oscar

Tender jumbo lump crab meat with asparagus tips and lemon-butter sauce atop a fresh grilled chicken breast. Served with fresh, steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes.

[www.flickr.com]

I'm not trying to flame the victim here, it certainly is a tragedy. But if he knew he was allergic to shell fish wouldn't he have questioned the lump crab meat on the top of the chicken? I would like to think that maybe he didn't know. But then how do you get to the ripe old age of 35 and not know?

@brainologist: AED's require basic training, and from what I remember from dealing with people who were allergic, they used different dosage epi-pens. Training a non-medical person to choose the right dosage as opposed to the pen a specific person is prescribed would probably be very hard. Also, AED's and fire extinguishers have very relaxed storage requirements in the way of temp and other things. Also, epi given to a person who is not in anaphlaxis can be deadly, while an AED will not shock if it detects a rhythm.

@Git Em SteveDave has a new Lego set: Dude, read my response. I never said he didn't get an epi. I was simply saying providing an alternative of what MIGHT have happened in response to another post.

@BoomerFive: I was responding to your comment where you said: Who said he didn't have an epi pen with him? He easily could have and been affected so quickly he couldn't use it

@Jubilance22: Definitely, this is a classic case of involuntary manslaughter, which generally is legally defined as "an improper use of reasonable care or skill while performing a legal act", i.e. serving the wrong dish to a patron who is deathly allergic to ingredients in the wrong dish. It's the same in principal as accidentally backing a forklift into oncoming traffic and flattening some guy's car... an unintentional but nonetheless deadly mistake.

@Hobz:
Well, maybe he thought it was chicken garnished with rich chickeny lumps of chicken.

Awful tragedy, but while the fault lies with Ruby Tuesday's, I think this has to be chalked up to "accidents happen." Happens at doctor's office and pharmacies too, to err is human.

Sad story, obviously. What I'd like to know is whether the restaurant is liable for cross contamination or if the small print on the menus (something along the lines of "might contain shellfish or peanut products") might in some way absolve them? What if the order had been correct (chicken), but had a small cross-contamination of shellfish from the prep area? Are restaurants required to isolate preparation of all potential food allergies? That seems impossible. Just curious if anyone speaks the legal language of this case.

Regardless, I would hope some sort of compensation would be offered and the family will be provided for in a way far beyond free meals at Ruby Tuesdays.

@Jubilance22: My brother has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, and carries an Epi-pen. I've also worked as a server before. I tried to be as consciensious as possible, but people make mistakes.

You can sue a server right into bankruptcy but they probably don't have much money to begin with and I'm not sure what that will accomplish. Ultimately, you can't trust anyone but your own instincts with these things.

The best way to approach it from a consumer standpoint, assuming you know ahead of time about the severity of the allergy -- is to make the server clear that if it's not done right you risk death. It gets their attention. Plus, if they don't know about ingredients, it's unlikely that they'd be willing to risk that.

But suing them? I guess you could. But restaurants get busy and people forget orders. It happens. If someone were to serve you regular coffee by mistake does that make him liable for a lawsuit too? Lord knows the coffee got mixed up more than anything else. I usually just served people decaf either way because that's all that was handy.

@mrmysterious: I was a waitress for about a year. I always wrote everything down, not only for myself but for my customers' peace of mind- I can't be the only one who absolutely hates when waitstaff write nothing down. It's as though they're saying:

"What you want isn't all that important to me."

Furthermore, my best friend is severely lactose intolerant, and whenever we go out somewhere new, she asks if there is any cheese/milk/butter in the dish she has ordered and stresses that it's because she's severely allergic so that the waitstaff are sure to ask the kitchen and make sure her dish arrives without traces of milk. Just in case, though, she does always have a pill that will help calm her stomach and keep her from having a puking fit/breaking out into hives in the restaurant.

The story doesn't say whether or not the customer was aware of his allergy- maybe he didn't know. Regardless, he ordered one dish and was served another, which is the issue at hand.

This is a terrible accident. My heart goes out to the family & friends of the deceased. I'm also thinking some positive thoughts for the restaurant staff; you know they have to feel awful.

That said, I can't get behind requiring businesses to keep Epi-Pens on hand. You get into issues such as additional liability, where to keep the things, training staff in recognizing the need for one...seriously impractical.

There are many people who carry -Pens with them for just such occasions, as asthma patients carry (or should carry)inhalers. I'm not one to dictate personal behavior, but I see carrying such meds as fairly cheap life insurance.

I have the same allergy to shellfish. It is actually fairly common for someone to mess up an order like this. It can also happen if the two things are just cooked on the same surface without cleaning it first. Generally it doesn't end in someone dying thankfully. Only thing you can really do is be careful, and always take along an EpiPen (which everyone with any anaphylactic allergy should have)

They guy could have had what he thought was a moderate allergy by past experience, but this time due to varying factors had a severe reaction. Or it could have been severe and he didn't realize there was shellfish in his pasta until it was too late. Some of these dishes smothered in sauce really do look quite the same.

Even if he did have an epipen with him, they are not always enough to stop a bad reaction or slow it down long enough to get help.

I have a wheat allergy and I can tell you from experience that wait staff don't give a rip and don't understand food allergies. I don't make a big deal out of it, but asking about ingredients of an item is pointless. If you asked 10 wait staff people if fried shrimp have wheat in them, 9 will tell you no.

@Jubilance22: Not only that, but with a shellfish dish, which any server worth his or her salt knows should be treated with extra care and caution.