DC Child Accident & Safety Blog

Monster Beverage wants a pediatric nutritionist to back off her warnings about the dangers to children of consuming high-caffeine "energy" drinks, or else.

Monster threatened a defamation lawsuit against Connecticut nutritionist Deborah Kennedy. She responded by contacting her U.S. Senator, Richard Blumenthal, who got Monster to back down, a teeny bit. Imminent litigation is no longer threatened, but Monster issued a statement saying Ms. Kennedy's comments about its products are still defamatory.

Which caused her mind to reel, inasmuch as the newsletter she sent to schools who are her clients hadn't even mentioned Monster by name. Plus, her warnings about the dangers of these beverages are backed up by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which issued its own warnings about energy drinks and sports drinks two years ago.

The saber-rattling by Monster was reported by the New York Times' Barry Meier, who describes Monster's new strategy to insinuate its products into kids' lives, by rebranding them into "beverages," instead of "nutritional supplements" as they had been for years.

Not coincidentally, the beverage label gets the manufacturer off the legal hook of having to report to the Food and Drug Administration when consumers experience adverse reactions.

Bottom line is that high-caffeine energy drinks should not be consumed by children.

A jury recently awarded $19.2 million to a Florida couple whose premature infant daughter received a massive overdose of nutrients at a Fort Myers hospital, but the family may never see most of it due to a cap on liability. The little girl is in a wheelchair for life and nearly blind due to the negligence of the hospital staff.

The cap, which is based on the concept of “sovereign immunity,” applies to public institutions, including public healthcare systems. (HealthPark Medical Center, where the event occurred, is part of the Lee Memorial Health System, a public health care system created by a special act of the Florida Legislature.) Sovereign immunity means that an employee, officer, or agent of the state and local governments is not held personally liable for negligence committed during the scope of his or her employment or function, unless the employee acts in bad faith or with malicious purpose. Instead, the state takes the place of the employee and defends the claim.

In Florida, sovereign immunity also limits the amount of recovery in any claim against the state to $100,000 per person and $200,000 per incident. (Effective Oct. 1, 2011, the limits will rise to $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident.)

The verdict came after a two-week trial for medical negligence brought against the Lee Memorial Health System by the parents of Kiarra Summer Smith, who was born in 2007 weighing 1.5 pounds and 3 months premature. Kiarra was give a formula of neonatal nutrition including amino acids and carbohydrates as well as vitamins and trace minerals based upon her body weight. When she was 15 days old, the pharmacy misread an updated physician order sheet and calculated the dosage of trace elements as if it were for a person weighing about 160 pounds. As a result, Kiarra received a dose of trace elements, including zinc, copper, manganese and others, about 100 times larger than she should have.

The lawsuit states Kiarra’s body fluids became highly acidic and she went into cardiac arrest, requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation and transfusion of all the blood in her body. She also suffered a brain hemmorhage. The long-term result is Kiarra has permanent neurological damage, a type of cerebral palsy where all four extremities are spastic, and is nearly blind. She also is completely disabled and in a wheelchair.

Lee Memorial admitted negligence but denied the overdose caused damage. “Although Lee Memorial Health System accepts responsibility for this unfortunate event, we believe the verdict is excessive and against the greater weight of the evidence,” a Lee spokeswoman said after the trial. “We admitted error in administrating nutrition but we believe strongly that this was not the cause of the child’s condition.”

To overcome Lee Memorial’s sovereign immunity protection, a specific bill would have to be passed by the Florida Legislature, which could only happen after all appeals had been exhausted, which could take years.

Source: Fort Myers News-Press

A review of studies about the contents of energy beverages has raised serious questions about their efficacy and safety. The review, published in the November issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, noted that the drinks contain high levels of caffeine and could pose dangerous, even life-threatening effects on blood pressure, heart rate and brain function to some susceptible individuals.

The study found four documented cases of caffeine-associated death and five separate cases of seizures associated with consumption of energy/power drinks. Other reports included: (1) an otherwise healthy 28-year-old man who suffered a cardiac arrest after a day of motocross racing; (2) a healthy 18-year-old man who died playing basketball after drinking two cans of Red Bull; and (3) four cases of mania experienced by individuals known to have bipolar disorder.

Noting that teens and young adults are consuming energy drinks “at an alarming rate,” the study authors said it was important to determine whether long-term use of these beverages “will translate into deleterious effects later,” such as liver and cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and diabetes.

Currently, the drinks are labeled as “dietary supplements,” which exempts them from regulations governing sodas and juices and allows manufacturers to make “ “structure and function” claims, like “enhances athletic performance” and “increases caloric burn and mental sharpness.”

The American Beverage Association says most mainstream energy drink brands voluntarily put statements on their containers, including advisories about use by people sensitive to caffeine, and many also list the amount of caffeine on their product labels or have provided caffeine content information through their Web sites and consumer hot lines.

But the study authors worry that some athletes who exercise intensively are substituting energy drinks for sport drinks (which only contain sugar and electrolytes). They say the high doses of sugar in energy drinks can impair absorption of fluids and result in dehydration, noting that a 16-ounce can of an energy drink may contain 13 teaspoons of sugar and the amount of caffeine found in four or more colas.

Source: The New York Times

You can view an abstract of the study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings here.

In a recent news release, FDA warns parents and caregivers of the risk of overdosing infants with liquid vitamin D. The liquid supplement is administered with droppers that are sold with the supplement itself. However, some of the droppers hold more vitamin D than is appropriate for babies.

Vitamin D supplements are recommended for some children to promote growth of healthy and strong bones. However, if fed with excessive amount of vitamin D, infants experience a myriad of symptoms ranging from nausea to muscle weakness, and sometimes even kidney damage.

Here are the FDA’s recommendations for parents whose children receive vitamin D supplements:

* Ensure that your infant does not receive more than 400 international units (IUs) of vitamin D a day, which is the daily dose of vitamin D supplement that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends for breast-fed and partially breast-fed infants.
* Keep the vitamin D supplement product with its original package so that you and other caregivers can follow the instructions. Follow these instructions carefully so that you use the dropper correctly and give the right dose.
* Use only the dropper that comes with the product; it is manufactured specifically for that product. Do not use a dropper from another product.
* Ensure the dropper is marked so that the units of measure are clear and easy to understand. Also make sure that the units of measure correspond to those mentioned in the instructions.
* If you cannot clearly determine the dose of vitamin D delivered by the dropper, talk to a health care professional before giving the supplement to the infant.
* If your infant is being fully or partially fed with infant formula, check with your pediatrician or other health care professional before giving the child vitamin D supplements.