California toddler left quadriplegic after especially sticky candy shut off her airway

PHILADELPHIA, PENN., USA, January 4, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A California toddler was left quadriplegic after choking on exceptionally sticky candy that blocked her airway so severely that even ER doctors had difficulty removing it, according to a Dec. 28 lawsuit.

The child’s parents are now warning others against consuming Candy Land Gummy Dot candies produced by the Philadelphia-based company and toy company Hasbro.

The pastel-colored, plug-shaped sweets are sold in six-ounce plastic tubs that do not contain warnings about the potential choking hazard, safety warnings, or suggested ages for consuming the product, the lawsuit states.

“These candies were a ticking time bomb. We will pursue justice for this innocent little girl who was once a vibrant and thriving child, but is now permanently disabled, unable to speak, unable to swallow, and unable to move, for the rest of her life,” said attorney Thomas Bosworth, of Philadelphia-based Bosworth Law, who represents the girl and her family. “It is shocking that this level of brain damage caused by just one single piece of this dangerous gel candy.”

Due to the extended period without oxygen, Amelie Paredes Sotelo, of La Quinta, Calif., suffered permanent brain damage with spastic quadriplegia, unable to control most of her bodily functions, and must be fed through a permanent gastronomy tube. A once vibrant, playful toddler, she now requires lifelong medical care.

Ring video of the Dec. 13, 2022, incident shows Amelie’s father, Francisco Paredes Rivera, rushing to his daughter as she starts to choke. Her mother Maria Aylin Sotelo Camacho is right behind him, and together the couple use various techniques to try dislodging the candy, without success. They immediately rushed her to the hospital.

Doctors tried to suction and remove the candy lodged in the girl’s oropharynx at the back of her throat, which “was extremely difficult due to excessive stickiness of the product and its extraordinary lack of pliability,” the lawsuit states.

They eventually succeeded, but not before Amelie suffered profound hypoxia due to a prolonged lack of oxygen.

Defendants Frankford Candy & Chocolate Co., Inc., Frankford Candy LLC, both of Philadelphia, and Rhode Island-based toy maker Hasbro, Inc., are accused of product liability, failure to warn, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and more.

Hasbro produces the Candy Land board game the candy was branded for. Hasbro is well aware of potential choking hazards when it comes to toys, Bosworth said, so it should have been able to prevent the candy it branded from presenting a danger to children and warned parents about this danger.

Instead, Candy Land Gummy Dots were “designed, manufactured, and created by defendants… in a manner and mixture that makes them unreasonably dangerous due to their extreme stickiness and inability to adequately break down from introduction of human saliva,” the lawsuit states.

“We will not stop until these candies are either removed from shelves or changed to contain a clear, thorough, and accurate warning about all of the true dangers of the product, including its choking hazard and a safe age range for consumption,” Bosworth said. “Fortunately, California consumer protection law gives this family the opportunity to ask Frankford Candy and Hasbro to do the right thing and remove Candy Land Gummy Dots from shelves or immediately place thorough and complete warnings on the product label. Maria and Francisco intend to exercise that right. I would hope the companies will do the right thing, but we will see.”

The companies were negligent in “designing the product in a manner that results in inordinate propensity to adhere to the tissue of the palate, oropharynx, throat, hypopharynx, trachea, and/or esophagus,” according to the lawsuit.

Camacho and Rivera v. Frankford Candy & Chocolate Co., Inc., Frankford Candy LLC. and Hasbro, Inc. (Case ID: 231203020) was filed Dec. 28 in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, Philadelphia, Penn.

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Tom Bosworth of Bosworth Law focuses on representing catastrophic injury victims, representing those harmed by dangerous consumer products, dangerous medical devices, medical malpractice, and more. In 2022 he became the youngest attorney in Pennsylvania history to obtain a verdict greater than $10 million for a living patient in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Robert Frank
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