Manslaughter: Killed while eating raw food at a sushi restaurant

The family of a 60-year-old man from the US state of Montana, who died last year after eating raw mushrooms at a sushi restaurant, has gone to court to seek justice against the establishment they accuse of unlawful killing.

“It's surreal to think that just going out to dinner would end up sending him to the ICU,” her husband John Ventura, his emotions still raw after a year of mourning, lamented in an interview with local TV station KBZK last Thursday.

Determined to achieve justice on behalf of his wife, Donna Ventura, who died in April 2023 after 12 days of suffering at a medical center in Bozeman, Montana, the man went to court to demand accountability from Dave's Sushi Restaurant.

On April 17, 2023, the couple chose the place to have dinner with friends. But in the next hour, the 64-year-old woman became so sick that her husband rushed her to hospital.

“I ate what was special for the day, which was a roll containing what we now know: raw morels […] In the hospital, she suffered a complete cardiac arrest. Her skin was tight, fluid was building up in her system, and she was in severe pain.

The woman reportedly fought for 12 days for her life while only being able to communicate using a pen and paper, before dying on April 29, 2023.

“I'm not sure I can keep going for a long time, how are we going to do it, I can't stand the pain,” the woman had written in red marker during her days of suffering, before saying goodbye to her final two matches. “‘I Love,’ dedicated to her husband and son,” John Ventura recounted, choked with emotion.

Last March, an investigation conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that raw morels consumed in the restaurant were the cause of 51 cases of food poisoning, including two deaths, between March and April 2023. According to the New York Post. .

“Eating raw morels was more strongly associated with disease than eating cooked or partially cooked morels […] The report states that morels should be cooked before consumption to mitigate potential toxic effects.

According to John Ventura, the dining establishment already has “multiple health code violations” with the Gallatin County Health Department, as well as two other restaurants owned by owner Aaron Parker, who he said has continued in the local channel.

“They have avoided any responsibility for the pain and suffering they have caused not only to me and my son, but to all those affected by their terrible behaviour,” the victim’s husband concluded to KBZK.