The mother of a teenager who died from cardiac arrhythmia last year is blaming his death on Monster Beverage Corp., alleging in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that his death was caused by habitually drinking the company's energy drink. Alex Morris, 19, went into cardiac arrest during the early morning hours of July 1 and was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court alleges Morris would not have died if he did not drink two cans of Monster's energy drink every day for the three years before his death, including the day he died. Morris' mother, Paula Morris, is listed as a plaintiff in the case. The lawsuit comes after the family of 14-year-old Anais Fournier, of Maryland, also sued the company last year after she consumed two 24-ounce cans of Monster and died. "Our allegations in the lawsuits are the same and that's the peoples deaths were caused by these energy drinks and, more specifically, the defendants failure to warn about the dangers," said Alexander Wheeler, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in both cases. Monster representatives did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The Corona-based company said previously in Fournier's case that no blood test was performed to confirm that the girl died of "caffeine toxicity" as the lawsuit claimed, saying she died of natural causes brought on by pre-existing conditions. Monster and other energy drinks have received increased scrutiny in recent months. The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of deaths linked to energy drinks, including five that cite Monster beverages, but the agency noted that the reports don't prove the drinks caused the deaths. San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera is also suing Monster Beverage for marketing its energy drinks to children, saying the products pose severe health risks.
I have started mixing blue mountain dew, redbull and a little nip of espresso. Delicious. Can't wait to sue starbucks/red bull and Pepsi at the same time.
Unfortunate death but I hate frivolous lawsuits where people are claiming damages for their own lack of common sense.
If my kid was drinking 2 cans of sugar drink every single day for 3 years, I'd have stopped him or tried to get him some help. I don't care if it's red bull or Arizona. That's just not healthy.
I've known 2 people under 28 and in good shape that have had heart attacks that their doctors' blamed energy drinks on. One guy drank about 2 a day, the other I'm not sure... I think it was a combo of energy drinks and workout supplements. They need warning labels on those things, people are stupid.
If the kid had been drinking 4 or 5 a day for years prior to this incident, I would probably say he should have known better, but I don't think people should automatically assume that drinking just two cans a day will eventually cause your heart to fail at the age of 19. If it really can be proven that just two cans a day was the cause of this, then there absolutely should be warnings on those cans because that is way below the level of consumption I would have assumed would be necessary to cause serious health issues.
To me, that should be on the FDA. Seems like there has to be some underlying condition for them to have an effect like that on someone young.
Monster energy drinks contain equivalent amounts of caffeine compared to coffees. http://www.cspinet.org/new/cafchart.htm If you blame energy drinks for caffeine toxicity, you'd have to apply the same restrictions/regulations on coffee as well. Nobody points the finger at coffee because of how widely accepted it is, but it's theoretically as dangerous as Monster energy drinks in regards to caffeine toxicity. Don't get me wrong, I do think that chronic caffeine intake is bad. If all the family wants is for Monster to put a warning on it, then fine. Settle and be done with it, keeping in mind you'd have to label EVERYTHING with caffeine on it. But I feel the parents are blaming Monster for this kid's death when the fault lies more with the family, kid included.
I've had coffee, I've had Monster - different sensations completely. It's not about the caffeine, there's much more at play.
wow. wake up call. ive been drinking heaps of these energy drinks too. specifically V (www.v.co.nz) Red Bull has awesome marketing but the taste it no good
My friend abused this in high school as a track star and just had heart surgery to fix his heart beats.
Sodium Cyanide exists too. Might as well sue Fischer for death by ingestion. Energy drinks = poison. Everyone should know that.
