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E. coli O157 victim sues over outbreak at Vietnamese restaurant in Colorado

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The Denver Post reports the family of a 14-year-old Denver boy hospitalized weeks ago after ingesting E.coli-tainted food filed suit Thursday in Arapahoe County against the Vietnamese restaurant where he ate, alleging a pattern of recklessness in how food is prepared and handled.

noah.thompson.pho_.75-1The restaurant, Pho 75 on South Havana Street in Aurora, was allowed to re-open Wednesday, five days after it was shuttered by Tri-County Health Department officials who determined four people — all of them under 18 — were infected with the same strain of E. coli-O157:H7 after eating there sometime between May 24 and June 10.

Officials said the restaurant Tuesday passed an inspection for cleanliness and that employees were trained in proper food handling practices.

The illnesses occurred just three months after health officials cited the restaurant for a number of foodborne safety risks during a routine inspection, then gave Pho 75 employees extensive training on safe-food handling, officials confirmed Thursday.

“Rather than just check the box, we really spent some time in there to teach them,” said Brian Hlavacek, director of environmental health at Tri-County. “We really did quite a bit of teaching and education on the trends we were seeing and we spent the extra time with them.”

But because Colorado is like Canberra, mere mortals who spent their money on a meal at Pho 75 wouldn’t know the restaurant had a history of sucking at safety, because the governor got rid of restaurant inspection disclosure at the door.

Noah Thompson ate there on May 24 with his parents, who also were sickened though not to the extent Thompson suffered, the lawsuit alleges.

Thompson remains hospitalized with complications from hemolytic uremic syndrome, a sometimes-lethal affliction that comes from ingesting E. coli-tainted food. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to HUS, for which there is no cure.

Thompson’s father, Marc Thompson, told The Denver Post his son nearly needed a blood transfusion and is finally improving. He said the experience “really scared us and made us think twice about what we’re eating.”

Attorneys for the family said vegetables were the common ingredient in the foods they ate at Pho 75, and that each ordered a different item. Thompson had eaten a noodle bowl, attorneys said.

“From what I see from the (inspection) reports, it’s no surprise there was an outbreak,” said Seattle attorney Bill Marler, who is representing Thompson. “Perhaps the question is why were they still open?”

Colorado restaurant closed, linked to E. coli O157 outbreak

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As the Colorado governor essentially got rid of restaurant inspection disclosure at the door, Kent Erdahl of Fox 31 Denver reports that 14-year-old Noah Thompson has spent the entire month of June in the ICU at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children.

noah.thompson.pho.75“This has been a real struggle for us as a family,” said Marc Thompson, Noah’s father.

That struggle began when Marc Thompson took his family to eat at Pho 75 on May 24. Within hours he and his wife felt stomach pain and had digestive problems, but a few days later Noah experienced much more severe symptoms.

“They immediately admitted him into the emergency room as he was going into kidney failure,” Marc Thompson said. “He had severe pancreatitis.”

The Colorado Department of Health and Environment tells the Problem Solvers that they are investigating an outbreak of E. coli O157 at Pho 75. Noah is the only person hospitalized, but there are three more confirmed cases and the potential for others that have gone unreported.

The Department of Health also indicated that the restaurant is working with the Tri-County Health Department to address the issue. The restaurant closed voluntarily Friday.

When the Problem Solvers visited Pho 75 on Saturday, it was closed but the sign on the door notified customers that it was simply for remodeling.

Though the doors were locked, there were three men eating at tables inside but none of them would come to the door to speak about the E. coli outbreak.

When the Problem Solvers visited the other Pho 75 location a few miles away, which shares the same owner, an employee inside had a different answer.

Employee: “(The owner) is on a vacation right now. They went back to Vietnam for a week.”

The restaurant is well known to health inspectors and the Problem Solvers, getting an ‘F’ on our Restaurant Report Card in 2014.

According to Tri-County Health inspection records, Pho 75 continues to rack up critical violations, specifically for “Food Borne Illness Risk”. The violations range from issues with the storage of raw meat to employee hygiene.