Three Mistakes that Can Prove Fatal to Your Food Poisoning Case
Simply put, even if you exhibit all of the classic symptoms of food poisoning, without objective scientific data to support your claim (such as a stool sample), your experts will be hard-pressed to affirmatively prove that you sustained food poisoning, as opposed to a viral infection or other idiosyncratic reaction.
On the chance that you actually retained any remnant of the food you suspect caused your illness, KEEP IT AND HAVE IT TESTED! Not only will this help confirm the particular villain you are confronting (and, therefore, help in your obtaining proper treatment), it will help defeat the food purveyors’ defense that your illness was caused by some other tainted food product.
A common defense to food poisoning claims is that “No one else got sick from this food, so it must have been fine.” If you think you got food poisoning, don’t be shy; ask those who shared your meal if they also felt ill within 2-10 hours after the meal; if they experienced fever, diarrhea, chills, vomiting and the like. And don’t forget to ask them if they followed steps 1) or 2) listed above: it may save you a lot of time, effort and aggravation later on.
Tags: food poisoning, salmonella, shigella