A young woman was celebrating her 18th birthday last 2012 and got a special shot of a Nitro-Jagermeister, a cocktail laced with liquid nitrogen. She continued the celebration in the hospital after having her stomach removed. In turn, the bar has been fined more than £100,000.
As reported in BBC, Gaby Scanlon of Heysham Lancashire celebrated her 18th birthday at Oscar's Wine Bar in Lancaster and was served the Nitro-Jagermeister which nearly cost her life. The cocktail drink which normally costs $6 should have been left to completely vaporize before the drink is safe for consumption. She was forced to loosen her clothing after she became breathless and felt unbearable stomach pain. Smoke started to come out from her nose and mouth immediately after taking the cocktail.
Around 11 PM, she was taken to Lancaster Royal Infirmary where she had her stomach taken out after a large perforation was found on her CT scan. Surgeons performed an emergency operation to save Scanlon's life. After the surgery, her oesophagus is now directly connected to her small intestine. Until now, she is still suffering from episodes of agonising pain and is only allowed to eat certain types of food.
Scanlon, now 20, spent three weeks in the hospital to have her stomach removed. According to her solicitors, October 4 of year 2012 completely changed her life. She is still currently having episodes of unbearable pain and can no longer enjoy eating. This was Scanlon's account on what happened that night:
"I turned to the man and asked if it was OK to drink. He said 'yes'. Smoke was coming from my nose and mouth. Straight away I knew something was not right. My stomach expanded. The manager said nothing about waiting for it to die down."
In police investigations, it was said that Andrew Dunn, the firm's director, started serving the nitrogen infused cocktails after he saw similar drinks in Berkeley Hotel in London. It was said that he found them "alluring and intrigued by the dramatic effect." A senior health official has sent visited the bar months prior to the incident and left a letter with guidance on liquid nitrogen usage concerned with how the bar is serving the cocktail. This was not given any response.
Judge Pamela Badley regarded the bar on a very bad light saying that the bar's actions "fell very far short of standards". Oscar's Wine Bar and Bistro pleaded guilty to one count of failing in the duty of an employer to ensure safety admitting it had failed to ensure the nitrogen-infused drinks were safe for consumption. Kevin McLoughlin of Oscar's Wine Bar has apologized to Scanlon for their mistake and negligence. The bar was found guilty and was fined £100,000.
