Man unwittingly ruptures his throat eating ‘boneless’ chicken wings – causing all the food he ate to leak into his chest
A MAN ruptured his food pipe and is suffering lifelong heart and lung problems after eating what he thought were boneless chicken wings.
Michael Berkheimer, 65, was at a restaurant with his wife Melissa and friends when he felt something lodged in his throat.
Initially, he assumed it was a piece of meat that had “gone down the wrong way”.
But days later, Michael, who had eaten there many times before, started to feel feverish.
He was rushed to hospital, where doctors discovered a piece of wishbone measuring between 1.3in and 2in had punctured his oesophagus, or food pipe, according to court documents.
This meant everything he ate after that point fell directly into his chest cavity, causing a buildup of bacteria and a nasty infection.
Michael then suffered a heart attack and a collapsed lung, and was twice put into a coma.
He remained in hospital for two months, and reportedly continues to battle lasting heart and lung damage, as well as psychological trauma.
Michael told Fox19: “I had bacteria buildup in my chest cavity the size of a softball laying on my heart. It just traumatised me.
“It’s taken joy from my family. Thank God for the Lord and my wife or else I wouldn’t have been here.”
Speaking to Cincinnati.com, the former hockey player and coach, who had ordered his usual of boneless chicken wings tossed in Parmesan garlic sauce, added: “I’ll never be the same again.”
Michael, who played the sport for more than 50 years and also worked as a manager at a local aeronautical company repairing plane parts, said he was forced to retire in 2019 after trying to work in a diminished capacity.
The ex-athlete, who ate the wings on April 1, 2016, tried to sue Wings on Brookwood in Hamilton, Ohio, its suppliers, and the farm where the chicken was processed for negligence.
Michael claims the restaurant failed to warn him that the wings could in fact contain bones.
His attorney Rob Stokar said the judge dismissed their first suit, but they appealed and it eventually made it to the Ohio Supreme Court.
It ruled 4-3 that the term “boneless wings” refers only to the “cooking style” and is not to be taken literally.
‘UTTER JABBERWOCKY’
Writing for the majority, Justice Joseph T Deters said: “A diner reading ‘boneless wings’ on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating ‘chicken fingers’ would know that he had not been served fingers.”
But other justices disagreed, with one calling the majority opinion “utter jabberwocky”.
Justice Michael P Donnelly wrote: “The question must be asked: Does anyone really believe that the parents in this country who feed their young children boneless wings or chicken tenders or chicken nuggets or chicken fingers expect bones to be in the chicken?
“Of course they don’t.
“When they read the word ‘boneless,’ they think that it means ‘without bones,’ as do all sensible people.”
I don’t know how any person with common sense can determine something that says ‘boneless’ can have a bone in it
Bill DeMora
The owners of Wings on Brookwood are said to have celebrated the ruling, saying they were glad the “frivolous lawsuit” was over, KBTX reports.
However, Ohio State Senator Bill DeMora said he plans to introduce legislation to ensure anyone in a similar situation can bring their case before a jury – as Michael and Melissa wanted.
“It was outrageous. It lacked all common sense,” the Democrat said of the ruling.
“I don’t know how any person with common sense or common knowledge or any kind of logic can determine something that says ‘boneless’ can have a bone in it.”
Melissa said: “We’ve just [got to] try to put the word out there for other people to be aware that this can happen to them and maybe save a life.”
What to do if someone is choking
Mild choking
If the airway is only partly blocked, the person will usually be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe, and may be able to clear the blockage themselves.
In adults:
- Encourage them to keep coughing
- Ask them to try to spit out the object
- Don’t put your fingers in their mouth
- If coughing doesn’t work, start back blows
In children:
- If you can see the object, try to remove it (but don’t poke blindly)
- Encouraging coughing
- Shout for help if coughing isn’t effective or the child is silent
- Use back blows if the child is still conscious but not coughing
Severe choking
In adults:
Where choking is severe, the person won’t be able to speak, cry, cough or breathe.
Without help, they’ll eventually become unconscious, so you should carry out back blows.
In children:
Back blows can be carried out on children under one year.
If this doesn’t work, chest thrusts can be started on kids up to 12 months old, and abdominal thrusts on those over one year.
Call 999 if the blockage doesn’t come out after trying back blows and either chest or abdominal thrusts.
Keep trying this cycle until help arrives.
Even if the object has come out, get medical help. Part of the object might have been left behind, or the patient might have been hurt by the procedure.
Source: NHS