At a Gold Coast restaurant in 2013, Amanda Merrifield thought she had been given a spoonful of vinegar to treat her hiccups. It was only after she swallowed the liquid she realised the chef and owner’s life-altering mistake.
“As soon as I drank it my knees buckled and the pain went straight to my chest and I literally thought my heart was going to explode,” the Queensland mum recalled to A Current Affair in Thursday night’s program.
Amanda later found out that in the kitchen, a chef had mistakenly poured oven cleaner from a similar-looking bottle into the spoon which The Point’s owner, Paul Jeynes, took to her. This was after he suggested the hiccup remedy, telling her “I have a cure for those hiccups and I swear you will never get them again,” the Courier Mail reports.
The industrial strength cleaner, made from poisonous and highly corrosive sodium hydroxide, immediately took effect, causing devasting internal injuries.
When the 44-year-old was rushed to hospital – allegedly after the owner’s debate over whether an ambulance should even be called – doctors feared she wouldn’t last “72 hours”.
Amanda survived that night, but as she told A Current Affair: "I'm not living, I'm existing".
She's since undergone 83 operations, which included the removal of her stomach and oesophagus, and spends much of her time in "agony", also suffering from anxiety and depression. For two years she wasn't even able to eat and was fed through a feeding tube.
Yet, despite the restaurant owner's clear admission of their mistake, Paul Jeynes has never been charged - or even fined - receiving only a letter of warning from the local council. Something Amanda told the news program that she found hard to take.
This statement from Paul, who has since sold the business, likely provided absolutely no comfort: "Accidents happen, as tragic as they are, they happen."
His insurance paid compensation to her four years ago, but Amanda and her lawyers are now seeking $5 million more as her medical costs continue.
Top Comments
“I have a cure for those hiccups and I swear you will never get them again,” & "allegedly after the owner’s debate over whether an ambulance should even be called" make it seem as though he did it on purpose.
Absolutely horrific thing to happen to this woman - the restaurant's insurance rightfully should compensate her. But why is it wrong that the owner has not been charged or fined? Charged with what - someone making a terrible mistake? I agree the insurers should be pursued for her costs, and her injuries and loss should be acknowledged, but assuming someone has to be personally charged or fined in order to apportion "blame" is just unnecessarily litigious.
Never storing chemicals in unlabelled containers is industrial safety 101. If the restaurant showed no signs of maintaining a safe place of work with systems in place to prevent such an elementary mistake (not enforcing the standard is the mistake, not the final result of concentrated NaOH being given to the lady), then it is arguable that they will be exposed to the relevant work OHS legislation.
To be fair, this article is prompting me to do a walkaround my department to check on compliance on this exact topic!.
People are charged for making terrible mistakes all the time. Do you also think that drivers who cause fatal crashes shouldn't be charged for their terrible mistakes? What about doctors who make terrible mistakes during surgery?
Both of those examples are mistakes but both are also negligent behaviour, just like what the chef did. Tragedy could have been avoided had the person taken more care before acting.
How do you know this wasn't a sadist who did it on purpose?