Attorney Fred Pritzker Calls on Fairbank Farms to Pay Medical Expenses

• Press Release
• Source: Attorney Fred Pritzker
• On 9:28 am EST, Wednesday November 4, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Attorney Fred Pritzker, a national food safety lawyer, calls on Fairbank Farms, an Ashville, New York firm, to pay the medical expenses incurred by victims of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to recalled Fairbank Farms ground beef products.

“Eating a hamburger in the United States should not be a high-risk activity,” said Pritzker. “This outbreak was preventable. Fairbank Farms should take responsibility for the harm caused by their ground beef products and immediately pay the medical expenses of those sickened while legal cases are being resolved.”

State and federal authorities are in agreement that strong epidemiological evidence and advanced, secondary DNA testing of ground beef from an open package of Fairbank Farms ground beef taken from the home of one of the victims correlates Fairbank Farms to the same strains of E. coli O157:H7 that have been making people sick.

Illnesses have been reported in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and California.

E. coli O157:H7 emits a powerful Shiga toxin that attacks red blood cells in humans. Its effects can range from mild gastrointestinal discomfort to death and people who have weakened or underdeveloped immune systems — especially children under 5 and adults over 60 — are most vulnerable.

Two people have died in this outbreak, and 16 people have been hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, three developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS. This is a life-threatening complication of E. coli O157:H7 infection that kills more than 4 percent of its victims. Even when it’s not fatal, patients often suffer life-long health consequences. HUS is the leading cause of kidney failure in children in the United States.

Pritzker Olsen is one of the few law firms in the United States that practices extensively in the area of E. coli litigation. Attorney Fred Pritzker is listed in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. For more information, call Fred Pritzker at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or visit our website at http://www.pritzkerlaw.com. Pritzker Olsen has offices at Plaza VII, Suite 2950, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402

Pritzker Olsen
Attorney Fred Pritzker, 1-612-338-0202