Tennessee family recovering from E. coli
Marti Davis of the Knoxville News Sentinel spoke with the McDonald family, whose two children became ill with E. coli infections last fall after eating Cargill ground beef patties. Davis noted that only John McDonald, the children's father, has eaten ground beef since his children's illness. The rest of the family has not reintroduced ground beef into their diet since September. She wrote:
That's when preschoolers John and Michaela McDonald shared a burger that led to a prolonged stay in intensive care and cost 4-year-old John part of his bowel and colon. Jim and Georgia McDonald, parents of four, purchased the frozen hamburgers at Sam's Club near their West Knoxville home a few days before the patties were recalled.
Surgery to bypass John's digestive tract was reversed in December, and both children are well for now, Jim McDonald said, but no members of his family, other than himself, have eaten ground beef since the illness.
His children were hospitalized a few days after the family prepared the beef at a cookout, unaware of the recall. They were among victims nationwide who became ill from tainted burgers prepared by the Cargill Co., an international agribusiness giant based in Minnesota.
Davis is following claims brought by the McDonald family, who is represented by Marler Clark. The family filed a lawsuit against Cargill last year, but has withdrawn the lawsuit in the hopes that Cargill will compensate the children for injuries they sustained through mediation instead of a jury trial.
