Food poisoning during end of first trimester.

[Yavanna]

What is the name of your state? Florida

My husband and I went on a cruise during my 13th week of pregnancy. The last evening of the cruise we had sushi from a sushi bar that was set up on deck (I only had cooked selections) towards the end of their serving time around 8pm. Sushi rice is made with a type of vinigar that causes the rice to start breaking down which causes it to stick together. Late that evening I developed sever vomiting which continued the next day. I even threw up while waiting to disembark which was quite public and very embarrassing.

I spoke with my Doctor concerning my condition once we arrived back home from Miami. I had been upable to keep anything down the entire drive (7 hours). I was told to immediately go to the hospital and was there at the emergency room for @14 hours. I was given medication (not sure what kind) and two bags of iv fluids and had tests run that showed pronounced dehydration and confirmed mild food poisoning. (I did not have to have my stomach pumped). I also had a sonogram to check on my baby.

My son at birth has branchial cleft cyst on both sides that have sinuses which drain (one constantly and the other only slightly). He is currently going to an ear, nose and throat specialist and will have to undergo anestesia for a cat scan followed by surgery to remove the cysts. He is not quite four months old and I have to be careful to not let him catch a cold/flu so that the cysts do not become infected. Branchial cleft cysts are caused by two ways: heridity or something occuring during pregnancy towards the end of the first trimester. Noone in my family or my husbands family has ever had this condition.

I am wondering if I have a case against the cruise line for allowing the rice to sit out too long which caused the food poisoning during the cruitial time in my pregnancy. Please respond with your opinions. Thank you.

-Yavanna

[rmet4nzkx]

Were you on a cruise ship with a documented food posioning or was this an isolated case? The cruise line is registered in what country?

Are you sure about the dating of your pregnancy, when you had the ultrasound at the ER was it your first US? Was it trans-a or trans-v ultrasound, what was the dating? or the length of the fetus? What have the doctors told you as the cause? Have they done any biopsies? What was the specific type of food posioning found?

Here is your problem, I can see that you have done some research and are relating the most obscure and rare cause for this defect, branchial cleft cyst, in hopes to sue the cruise lines for your child's birth defect. While you might have a case for food posioning I doubt you have any case to sue the cruise line for your child's birth defect, branchial cleft cyst, although the mild food posioning and dehydration may have caused other problems, you have made no other reference or attribution.

This defect generally occurs in families and results for a failure in embroynic development at about 7 weeks, this is the first things which you must overcome since the food posioning occured at about 13 weeks, that is why I'm asking quesitons about dating, so the fact that it occured in the end rather than the middle of the 1st trimester is significant and will be used as a defense if you bring a law suit.

The condition, bilateral branchial cleft cysts only occur in about 2-3% of all cases of branchial cleft cyst, it is also rare to be open and draining. There are other conditions that must be ruled out, so you will know more once your child has surgery.

While you may have no family history of branchial cleft cyst, they are often asymptomatic and not diagnosed until later in life so you could have a family history and not be aware of it.

Keep us updated as your child progresses through treatment and answers to the questions will help clarify some issues.

Here is a link re this condition complete with visuals explaining the surgery.

[url]http://www.ghorayeb.com/BranchialCleft.html[/url]

[Yavanna]

My husband who also had the sushi became sick, but not to the extent to require hospitalization. I have no way of knowing if any others on the cruise became sick. I never spoke with the cruise line after we disembarked and didn't really give it any thought as a possible cause (as I didn't know anything was wrong until after the birth) until the specialist asked if anything abnormal happened during my first trimester. I responded that I didn't think so because I was a bit overwhelmed with the information that I was getting so I've yet to bring it up with my son's Dr. I will at his next appointment. The dates on the ultrasound showed five days early from my due date, which would have put it in the 12th week from the date of last cycle. It was my first ultrasound. I would have to get my medical records to find out anything more indepth.

The ship's registry is the Bahamas. It was a five day cruise and happened on the last night before docking.

Personally, I am more worried about the surgery and any scarring (As I know how children tease and I don't want him to have a poor self image) and a positive outcome than any monitary gain. I have insurance to cover the medical bills. I know people like to assign blame, I am no exception, and after considering that maybe I was the cause yet knowing it wasn't my fault, I remembered what happened on the cruise. I've never sued anyone, never considered it before. I know our society is litigeous (spell?). I just want to know if that was the cause. It's like if someone breaks into your home and steals things, insurance can cover that: it's just objects but your sense of well-being and safety take a hit that can take a long time to recover.

-Yavanna

[rmet4nzkx]

If you were on a ship with a major food posioning episode you would have known. Ultrasounds can be +/- 5 days at that point so your pregnancy was not so far off that the food posioning could have caused it, you would have to look back to something prior to the 7th week or family members. Since you didn't make a report to the cruise line anyway it would be hard to make a case at his point for the birth defect, possibly for the ER visit and treatment. You might call the cruise company and make a cliam. By all means relay this information to your child's doctor, but look back farther re illness or to family members. Keep us updated.

[reviewphysician]

Forget the food poisoning- birth defect angle. It wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. Food poisoning cant be blamed for your child's problem.

Can you sue the cruise company for food poisoning? maybe you can. But wait a minute. remember that your diarrhea/ vomiting might not necessarily be caused by an infectious process. Unless the doctor that saw you in the ER cultured your stool which I seriously doubt because most diagnosis of food poisoning is essentially presumptive.

So the cruise guys might turn around and say "listen, your diarrhea was because your stomach didn’t tolerate the vinegar in the sushi" or "you were just sea-sick or you had motion sickness".How are you going to prove that it was infectious? .Even if you were able to prove that it was an infectious etiology they could say that you probably didn’t wash your hands after using the bathroom. Worse still, if you were the only one that was hospitalized. which I guess you were because you didn’t say your husband was admitted too.

I d say forget it and let it be in the past.

Dr Nwaizuzu ([url]www.reviewphysician.com[/url])