Winnipeg woman suffered brain injury after drinking Tim Hortons tea with wrong milk in it, lawsuit alleges

A Winnipeg woman suing Tim Hortons says she nearly died and has become debilitated after dairy milk was put in her tea rather than the almond milk she ordered.

The 25-year-old woman seeks damages for pain and suffering, mental distress,past and future costs of care and income losses in the statement of claim filed at the Manitoba Court of King's Bench on Nov. 1. She's suing the restaurant franchise, one of its subsidiaries and the operator of the Tim Hortons at Kildonan Place in Winnipeg.

The allegations have not been tested in court and a statement of defence has not been filed.

The lawsuit says the woman used the Tim Hortons app which did not include an option to indicate her diagnosed milk protein allergy to order a tea with almond milk last June.

The woman picked up her tea from the Tim Hortons location at Kildonan Place before returning to work within the same mall, where she immediately started to suffer an allergic reaction after taking her first sip, the suit says. She called her mother, who helped her administer an EpiPen on herself.

A co-worker then drove the woman to Concordia Hospital, and she experienced lapses in consciousness on the way there, according to the suit. She was unresponsive and her heart was notbeating when she was taken into the hospital.

Medical personnel performed CPR on the woman for about eight minutes before her heart restarted, the suit says. She was then transferred to an intensive care unit at Health Sciences Centre, where she was intubated for the night.

Lack of oxygen led to injuries: suit

The woman experienced some confusion, restlessness and focal neurological deficits after she was extubated the next day, according to the suit. Over the following week, she was moved out of intensive care and developed headaches, vision loss, numbness and left-sided weakness.

"An MRI was consistent with delayed post-hypoxic leukoencephalopathy a condition that can arise after the brain has suffered a period of lack of oxygen," the suit says.

The woman's vision deteriorated, her left side became paralyzed and she had no antigravity movement on the right side of her body over the days that followed. The suit says she had also developed myoclonic seizures, which cause brief and abnormal jerking movements.

By the end of June, the woman's condition had improved enough for her to be moved to the Riverview Health Centre, where she spent four weeks in brain injury rehabilitation.

The woman's vision and mobility improved by the time she left, but her balance issues, fatigue, left-sided weakness and impaired left-hand dexterity remained, the suit says. Her recovery continues and she is awaiting referrals for an occupational therapist and a speech rehabilitation specialist.

"She has been prescribed a variety of medications and has had her licence suspended for six months since the date of her last seizure," which took place in mid-June, the suit says.

'Lost her independence'

Whether the woman will make a full recovery is still unknown.

She has "lost her independence" and has had to move back in with her mother for care, the lawsuitsays.

The suit says Tim Hortons breached a duty of care to the woman by failing to provide a section in its app for consumers to indicate allergies, and to ensure proper procedures for non-dairy beverage orders were established or followed and that employees were trained to follow them.

Tim Hortons also failed to warn the woman of the associated risks either with ordering a beverage through its app or of potential allergens, the suit says.

The woman and her mother have been unable to work since the incident, as she has required assistance with cooking, showering, driving, financial matters, walking and balance issues, according to the suit.

CBC News reached out to Tim Hortons and the woman's lawyers for comment but has not heard back.