GUMMY CANDY LEAVES TODDLER PARALYSED FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE, FAMILY'S LAWSUIT SAYS

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

Gummy candy leaves toddler paralyzed for the rest of her life, family’s lawsuit says

BY JENNIFER RODRIGUEZ

JANUARY 08, 2024 4:48 PM

 

A 3-year-old California girl is now paralyzed after her family says she choked on a gummy candy that got stuck in her airway, according to a lawsuit filed by the girl’s parents.

 

Amelie Paredes was described as a vibrant and thriving child, until she ate a Candy Land Gummy Dot on Dec. 13, 2022, according to a Jan. 4 news release from the family’s attorney, Thomas Bosworth. Amelie choked on the candy, and it became lodged in her throat, blocking her airway, the lawsuit said.

 

Her parents rushed to help her and drove her to the hospital. Medical professionals tried to suction the candy out of her throat, but it was “extremely difficult due to the excessive stickiness of the product and its extraordinary lack of pliability,” the lawsuit said.

 

Eventually, doctors removed the candy from her airway. But by then, Amelie had “suffered profound hypoxia due to a prolonged lack of oxygen,” Bosworth said.

 

Amelie sustained irreversible brain damage and spastic quadriplegia as a result of her injuries from choking on the candy, the lawsuit said.

 

“These candies were a ticking time bomb.” Bosworth said. “(Amelie is) now permanently disabled, unable to speak, unable to swallow, and unable to move, for the rest of her life.”

 

The lawsuit says that once chewed, the Candy Land Gummy Dots become an “extremely sticky, gluelike mass that becomes almost impossible to extract.”  There are no safety or hazard warnings on the candy, according to the lawsuit.

 

The pastel-colored candy is made by Philadelphia-based Frankford Candy and toy giant Hasbro, the release said. McClatchy News reached out to both companies but did not immediately hear back.

 

“It is shocking that this level of brain damage caused by just one single piece of this dangerous gel candy,” Bosworth said.

 

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 28 in Philadelphia, is seeking more than $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.