What to Do if Your Child Gets Food Poisoning at Summer Camp

 Posted on July 31, 2016 in Food Poisoning

Every year, thousands of children and teens from around the country head off to summer camp to spend a week or longer away from their families, mastering new skills and building new friendships. Although some camps only last a few hours each day, known as day camps, others have campers sleep over in cabins or tents. These camps are known as sleep-away camps and while campers are there, the camps provide them with all their meals.

If a child is served unsafe food at camp, he or she can become ill. Examples of dangerous bacteria that can be found in food served at summer camp as well as food found elsewhere include Salmonella, Listeria, Norovirus, E.coli, and Staphylococcus. Food poisoning can be much more dangerous for children than it is for adults because children's immune systems are still developing. The younger the child, the more profoundly food poisoning can affect him or her. If your child becomes ill with food poisoning and requires medical care, you can seek compensation for any damages associated with the illness through a food poisoning claim.

The Camp Has the Duty to Keep Your Child Safe

A food poisoning claim is a personal injury claim, which means that if the claimant can prove that another party's negligence directly caused them to suffer specific damages, the claimant can receive monetary compensation for those damages from the negligent party's insurance provider. In a case where a child becomes ill after being served contaminated food at camp, the camp is the negligent party and thus liable for the child's damages.

Filing a Food Poisoning Claim

As with all types of personal injury claim, a successful food poisoning claim requires adequate evidence to demonstrate that the allegedly negligent party did, in fact, breach its duty to protect the victim and as a result, the victim suffered specific damages. Evidence you might use to support your child's food poisoning claim include his or her medical record, a record of the food served at camp and how it was stored and prepared, and any testimonies of other children becoming ill after consuming a particular food item. Food poisoning symptoms often appear fairly quickly after the dangerous bacteria is consumed. Ask your child's summer camp for copies of reported camper illnesses to support your claim.

Work with an Experienced Hoffman Estates Food Poisoning Attorney

If your child comes home from camp this summer suffering from food poisoning, consider filing a personal injury claim to recover damages on your child's behalf. To determine which damages you may recover and the best strategy for pursuing a claim, speak with one of the experienced food poisoning attorneys at Newland & Newland, L.L.P. Contact our firm today to set up your initial consultation. We serve clients in the North Chicago, Fox Lake, Zion, Winthrop Harbor, Waukegan areas from our office located in Chicago.

(photo courtesy of Hilda Tussin)