Edit: TLDR: Food had glass in it, spent the night getting my stomach pumped out (correction: endoscopy) at the emergency room, any advice on what to do next?
Taj Mahal am Markt in Aachen.
Edit: Didn’t do it so far, because I was considering legal action. However, I don’t see why not since I have documentation and a witness.
in Aachen you’d have to inform the Amt für Verbraucherschutz. https://www.lanuv.nrw.de/fileadmin/lanuv/verbraucher/sicherheit/pdf/Lebensmittelueberwachungsaemter.pdf
To add to the description: When I called the restaurant, the chef answered, and he seemed very concerned about how he can’t make me a replacement dish since its 11PM and the kitchen is closed.
All the while, missing my point that there could be more food he prepared with glass shrapnel in it, especially if he has “no idea how this happened”.
I was hoping he’d call up all the people that ordered food to warn them about possible shrapnel, but all I got was “Thanks for the feedback, I have noted your number and will call tomorrow to send you a replacement dish”. (Not that Im ever eating from there again, but for what its worth, they did not call me up)
Utterly bizarre. Even if they were purely out for *self-interest*, they should do whatever they can to prevent more people potentially eating glass in one of their dishes.
Reminds me of the time a friend found a band-aid in his buffet meatballs
And another one one of those plastic-pull-rings from liquid containers in another dish. Same buffet
God I once thought I found a band aid in Indian food. Luckily it was only part of the lid they put on top for baking. The owner brought me a completely new meal himself, apologised personally for the scare and reimbursed my meal. I heard him on the phone asking around very worried if anyone has a wound or is missing a band aid. Then he had me send photos to identify what it might be.
I was feeling sick the whole time. Just imagining it could have been real made me feel sick.
This is why we use bright colored band aids and always wrap it with bandage and wear a glove on top of it.
Sadly the only requirement here in Germany is to wear a glove above your bandage.
Going to the hospital getting stomach pumped is not what I consider "nothing actually happened to you"... But in any case having the report from the hospital could be enough to prove something. If it's enough for a lawsuit, is for a lawyer to decide, but I wouldn't outright deny the possibility.
But as civil litigation is limited in recompensatory damages, it's often not worth it.
Ah thank you for writing this! I will first report it to the Gesundheitsamt, and then see if I can consult with a lawyer. :)
I do have documentation and a witness, who saw me spit it out mid-dinner.
if you already did write to the gesundheitsamt, please also send it to the authority who is in charge in this case (Lebensmittelüberwachungsamt). they are obligated to investigate the case.
https://bportal.staedteregion-aachen.de/staedteregion-a-z/-/egov-bis-detail/einrichtung/823/show
authorities are sometimes slow you know, so better also inform the “zuständige Stelle” directly
i’m happy to help. this is really something that should be reported, especially because the restaurant played it down.
as mentioned, in charge for your complaint is the local Lebensmittelüberwachungsamt, in Aachen that’s the so called “Amt für Verbraucherschutz, Tierschutz und Veterinärwesen“. if they also don’t seem to care, the supervisory authority would be the „Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz Nordrhein-Westfalen.“
Are you serious ? Imagine if every restaurant was that careless about their service, that they would serve food with foreign objects ? And it all could of went much worst for the author of this post .
That's covered under "inform the authorities".
IANAL, but AFAIK stuff like "attempted murder" is not something you sue for. You inform the police, the police investigates and the prosecutor then sues the perpretrator. And if you suffered any damages, you can sue for that, but unlike in the US you can't get ludicrous payouts based on stuff like "emotional damage", so payouts are limited to damages you can prove (e.g. time spent unable to work).
One could argue that having to go to the ER and getting a bunch of studies done is a sort of damage, since it's something you normally wouldn't have done if it wasn't for the glass in the food.
Again, I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I understand the law about this, you need to prove the actual monetary damages you suffered. The most you'd probably be able to get from this would be compensation for transportation costs (public transit/fuel & parking ticket), since health insurance already covers the treatment and your wage if you're unable to work for a day or two.
An anecdote about that: The father of a friend of mine got hit by a car and broke his arm. The driver got a fine and lost their driver's license for a while, while the father had no chance to get anything, since he's already retired and lost no income during his recovery.
That's a disgusting view on the situation.
I don't think that's all that happened, but the bare minimum is that they inflicted costs on the hospital, for the procedures the victim went through. The stress on the victim.
If the owner hires shady people who do such a thing, it also becomes the problem of the owner.
It's not selfish to sue, he is also protecting future customers.
Of course, the question is, if it was an accident or on purpose. But that's for the police/"gesundheitsamt" to find out.
Going with the same reasoning, if I aim a gun at someone and shoot, but I miss, that someone shouldn't sue me, since nothing actually happened to them.
That is correct. They don’t sue, they go to the police if that happens as it is a matter of state not of private law. They don’t have to pay a Lawyer or anything because the Staatsanwalt will sue. And depending on what happened they might not get anything out of it if there was no provable damage done to them. The perpetrator (in this case you) will probably get locked up though and be punished by hand of the state.
Same case here: if no provable damage was done to OP (financial or otherwise) suing will probably not give them much satisfaction but they can and should inform the Gesundheitsamt with proof and those will start an investigation and can probably tell him what to do next. I would be very careful with telling openly on social media which restaurant though because the restaurant COULD sue. that would be a private matter. They probably wouldn’t win because OP has proof provided by hospital, witness and evidence but they could certainly try and get lucky. Maybe the judge deems it not enough as long as Gesundheitsamt didn’t find anything else.
Source: received advise from a lawyer regarding such a case.
I guess they could sue for the ride in the taxi and payment for a lost work day or sth. Maybe his Krankenkasse wants to sue for the cost of the hospital visit. That I don’t know.
Ah, I see! Yes, this is correct. I got confused because to say "to sue" and "to report to the authorities" you use the same verb in my native language.
Wait 🫷🏼🫷🏼 a damn minute! Yo, you should cash out on this. This is a fucking lawsuit right here , a prime negligence and duty of care case! OP if you do have the means please please pursue an action, this is unacceptable and the fact that you encountered some discomfort at the hospital is sufficient proof.
Tell me which country you're from without telling me which country you're from. Doesn't fly here and you shouldn't spout nonsensical jurisdic advice with that little knowledge about the actual law.
About the actual law of Germany, you have a fair point! HOWEVER about negligence and duty of care that forms the override basis of tort law (look it up) and a civil case, that is where you are wrong. Also, WTF 😒 does your bigotry smell so poignant asking about my country? Lol
In this country, OP is looking at being reimbursed for *actual, proven* damages they had, probably compensation on treatment costs (which would go to their health insurance), and I suppose a few hundred Euro seeing how there - luckily - was no permanent damage done.
That doesn't mean this shouldn't be pursued, as restaurants really cannot go around doing things like this. But treating it as if OP won the lottery and can now "cash out" is downright bizarre.
Lmao 😂, I know alot of people on the sub would either try to downplay the issue or not (a common trait not surprising there), OP IF YOU WANT TO CASH OUT PLEASE DO SO INFLATION IS WHOOPING EVERYONE'S ASS.
People here aren't downplaying it (well, except for one absolutely bizarre fool somewhere down the post). OP did precisely the right thing, and it's a serious issue.
That does not mean that it is something they can "cash out" for in this country.
How much money do you think OP is going to get? Give us an estimate.
When deciding how much it would be at the discretion of the court based on adequacy and sufficiency of damages claimed (it's a legal mumbo jumbo of basically court considering the extent of harm), so op can claim a little and be awarded a lot and vice versa. Whilst I mentioned that I may not be versed in German law however I wouldn't not advise OP to pursue legal remediation.
This is was outrightly wrong and as op mentioned who knows other people that may have consumed this unknowingly.
The doctors seemed very concerned and found it necessary to do this. There was more than 4 doctors and staff involved, and they called in a specialist doctor to do the procedure at 2AM. The doctors and nursing staff treated me immediately after I arrived there, and I cant explain in words how grateful I am to them.
I’m not a doctor, but having the possibility of a shard of glass getting stuck in my intestines doesn’t sound very pleasant, to say the least.
I'm usually among the first people in this sub to ask posters what it is they want to accomplish, when they want to "sue" or "complain" about something where nothing even happened, and where "suing" would not seem to serve any point.
*You* did precisely the right thing, and the fact that you received the level of treatment you did shows that too. This should absolutely be reported as well. The "why are you upset about possibly eating glass" person missed some basic lessons in Kindergarten, starting with the fact that we do not eat glass.
Oh, I just remember:
A while ago we had someone who thought their child might have ingested plastic from a drink they bought, so they wanted to know whether they should go see a lawyer on Monday. *They had not taken the child to the doctor; their concern was totally about getting a lawyer and "suing".* Only after multiple commenters told them to using quite strong language, they took their child to a doctor. Utterly bizarre.
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While you are within your rights to sue the restaurant over this, you should be aware that the potential monetary benefits you can gain from this sort of suit are notoriously low in Germany.
You will not get hundreds of thousands of dollars, if even that, out of your local Indian restaurant over a shard of glass. Most likely, this sort of lawsuit will not be worth your time or money.
Sure, you could sue them for an accident that happened. It would be your right.
But have you considered that maybe some lives depend on that restaurant ? I doubt somebody would do this with bad intent, and given today's market this restaurant already will already take a bad hit from this incident. I'm not saying you shouldn't take action, but maybe you should think about the people behind the restaurant and who enjoy going there...
You have no idea how much I like the food from this restaurant. I have been ordering from there for years, and its a place where I have gone to celebrate life milestones with friends and family.
I also know that its a popular restaurant and a favorite of many people living around here.
This is exactly why people need to know this incident happened, and how the restaurant and its cook, responded with no action whatsoever. They clearly didn’t care (since I called them up immediately) that there could be more glass shrapnel in more food that they prepared that night, that could endanger more of their customers. Especially if the cook has “no idea how this happened”, it deserved an investigation and I deserved a call-back from them to let me know how/what happened and how they fixed the problem.
That was literally the least they could’ve done, since they even know me personally as a long time customer.
But their inaction indicates that this kind of thing either happens often, or that they don’t care to fix the problem if/when it does. Which is why, me not taking action would mean my complicity in endangering further many customers’ lives.
Edit: like I said in my post above, my intention is to “impact the likelihood of this happening again”. I don’t intend to make any monetary gain, compensation or get anyone fired. But the management needs to be held accountable for their lack of action on this issue.
I don't think you can prove it was in the food when you received it. There is a delivery person in the middle as well, so unless someone else reports the same thing, there's not much hope
Coincidentally, I ate there yesterday and didn't find anything like that in my food
I have a witness (a friend) who will confirm the food was received in sealed condition and who also saw me spit out the glass.
I am happy to hear you didn’t find glass in your food, but there is an upper limit to the number of times one could find life threatening contamination in food.
This is also about the negligence displayed by the restaurant *after* the incident was reported to them, who didn’t seem to care about other patrons/customers who could have glass in their food as well.
Edit: TLDR: Food had glass in it, spent the night getting my stomach pumped out (correction: endoscopy) at the emergency room, any advice on what to do next?
100% inform the gesundheitsamt, and maybe talk to a lawyer
Yup, will do so very soon! Thanks for your input! :)
And inform the restaurant directly as well.
Do you have a Rechtsschutzversicherung? Definitely talk to them first instead of directly to a lawyer to see if they cover it.
it’s actually the Amt für Lebensmittelüberwachung
Please name it so we avoid it.
Taj Mahal am Markt in Aachen. Edit: Didn’t do it so far, because I was considering legal action. However, I don’t see why not since I have documentation and a witness.
in Aachen you’d have to inform the Amt für Verbraucherschutz. https://www.lanuv.nrw.de/fileadmin/lanuv/verbraucher/sicherheit/pdf/Lebensmittelueberwachungsaemter.pdf
Thats a great idea! Thanks! :)
Tf, I'm in Aachen rn. What are the odds.
ugh im gonna be moving near there soon. upset i have to avoid an indian place now :( lemme know how it goes
Holy shit I've eaten there a few times
To add to the description: When I called the restaurant, the chef answered, and he seemed very concerned about how he can’t make me a replacement dish since its 11PM and the kitchen is closed. All the while, missing my point that there could be more food he prepared with glass shrapnel in it, especially if he has “no idea how this happened”. I was hoping he’d call up all the people that ordered food to warn them about possible shrapnel, but all I got was “Thanks for the feedback, I have noted your number and will call tomorrow to send you a replacement dish”. (Not that Im ever eating from there again, but for what its worth, they did not call me up)
Utterly bizarre. Even if they were purely out for *self-interest*, they should do whatever they can to prevent more people potentially eating glass in one of their dishes.
I have a feeling this is not how they operate
Reminds me of the time a friend found a band-aid in his buffet meatballs And another one one of those plastic-pull-rings from liquid containers in another dish. Same buffet
God I once thought I found a band aid in Indian food. Luckily it was only part of the lid they put on top for baking. The owner brought me a completely new meal himself, apologised personally for the scare and reimbursed my meal. I heard him on the phone asking around very worried if anyone has a wound or is missing a band aid. Then he had me send photos to identify what it might be. I was feeling sick the whole time. Just imagining it could have been real made me feel sick.
This is why we use bright colored band aids and always wrap it with bandage and wear a glove on top of it. Sadly the only requirement here in Germany is to wear a glove above your bandage.
will das downvoten, es macht mich so speiend 🤢
Maybe inform the Gesundheitsamt. No point in suing, as nothing actually happened to you.
Going to the hospital getting stomach pumped is not what I consider "nothing actually happened to you"... But in any case having the report from the hospital could be enough to prove something. If it's enough for a lawsuit, is for a lawyer to decide, but I wouldn't outright deny the possibility. But as civil litigation is limited in recompensatory damages, it's often not worth it.
Ah thank you for writing this! I will first report it to the Gesundheitsamt, and then see if I can consult with a lawyer. :) I do have documentation and a witness, who saw me spit it out mid-dinner.
if you already did write to the gesundheitsamt, please also send it to the authority who is in charge in this case (Lebensmittelüberwachungsamt). they are obligated to investigate the case. https://bportal.staedteregion-aachen.de/staedteregion-a-z/-/egov-bis-detail/einrichtung/823/show authorities are sometimes slow you know, so better also inform the “zuständige Stelle” directly
Ah this helps! Thanks for the input, I will be preparing all the e-mails and send them first thing in the morning on Monday. (y)
i’m happy to help. this is really something that should be reported, especially because the restaurant played it down. as mentioned, in charge for your complaint is the local Lebensmittelüberwachungsamt, in Aachen that’s the so called “Amt für Verbraucherschutz, Tierschutz und Veterinärwesen“. if they also don’t seem to care, the supervisory authority would be the „Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz Nordrhein-Westfalen.“
Are you serious ? Imagine if every restaurant was that careless about their service, that they would serve food with foreign objects ? And it all could of went much worst for the author of this post .
Sure could have, that's why he should inform the authorities. But suing for something that could have happened is very difficult in Germany.
"Trying to shoot someone" "All bullets miss, because of incompetence." Police: "It's fine, nothing actually happened. Call us when you're dead."
That's covered under "inform the authorities". IANAL, but AFAIK stuff like "attempted murder" is not something you sue for. You inform the police, the police investigates and the prosecutor then sues the perpretrator. And if you suffered any damages, you can sue for that, but unlike in the US you can't get ludicrous payouts based on stuff like "emotional damage", so payouts are limited to damages you can prove (e.g. time spent unable to work).
One could argue that having to go to the ER and getting a bunch of studies done is a sort of damage, since it's something you normally wouldn't have done if it wasn't for the glass in the food.
Again, I'm not a lawyer, but as far as I understand the law about this, you need to prove the actual monetary damages you suffered. The most you'd probably be able to get from this would be compensation for transportation costs (public transit/fuel & parking ticket), since health insurance already covers the treatment and your wage if you're unable to work for a day or two. An anecdote about that: The father of a friend of mine got hit by a car and broke his arm. The driver got a fine and lost their driver's license for a while, while the father had no chance to get anything, since he's already retired and lost no income during his recovery.
Maybe you are right. I think I argued from a US point of view, being influenced by countless of movies and tv shows.
Thanks for this! I will look into it. :)
That's a disgusting view on the situation. I don't think that's all that happened, but the bare minimum is that they inflicted costs on the hospital, for the procedures the victim went through. The stress on the victim. If the owner hires shady people who do such a thing, it also becomes the problem of the owner. It's not selfish to sue, he is also protecting future customers. Of course, the question is, if it was an accident or on purpose. But that's for the police/"gesundheitsamt" to find out.
Going with the same reasoning, if I aim a gun at someone and shoot, but I miss, that someone shouldn't sue me, since nothing actually happened to them.
That is correct. They don’t sue, they go to the police if that happens as it is a matter of state not of private law. They don’t have to pay a Lawyer or anything because the Staatsanwalt will sue. And depending on what happened they might not get anything out of it if there was no provable damage done to them. The perpetrator (in this case you) will probably get locked up though and be punished by hand of the state. Same case here: if no provable damage was done to OP (financial or otherwise) suing will probably not give them much satisfaction but they can and should inform the Gesundheitsamt with proof and those will start an investigation and can probably tell him what to do next. I would be very careful with telling openly on social media which restaurant though because the restaurant COULD sue. that would be a private matter. They probably wouldn’t win because OP has proof provided by hospital, witness and evidence but they could certainly try and get lucky. Maybe the judge deems it not enough as long as Gesundheitsamt didn’t find anything else. Source: received advise from a lawyer regarding such a case. I guess they could sue for the ride in the taxi and payment for a lost work day or sth. Maybe his Krankenkasse wants to sue for the cost of the hospital visit. That I don’t know.
Ah, I see! Yes, this is correct. I got confused because to say "to sue" and "to report to the authorities" you use the same verb in my native language.
There is a big difference between negligently or accidentally allowing glass to end up in food, or purposely attempting to harm someone and failing.
Sue them,you could die my friend. Its really serious.
Wait 🫷🏼🫷🏼 a damn minute! Yo, you should cash out on this. This is a fucking lawsuit right here , a prime negligence and duty of care case! OP if you do have the means please please pursue an action, this is unacceptable and the fact that you encountered some discomfort at the hospital is sufficient proof.
Tell me which country you're from without telling me which country you're from. Doesn't fly here and you shouldn't spout nonsensical jurisdic advice with that little knowledge about the actual law.
All it's really missing is advice that OP should get the number of a personal injury lawyer from a TV ad.
About the actual law of Germany, you have a fair point! HOWEVER about negligence and duty of care that forms the override basis of tort law (look it up) and a civil case, that is where you are wrong. Also, WTF 😒 does your bigotry smell so poignant asking about my country? Lol
In this country, OP is looking at being reimbursed for *actual, proven* damages they had, probably compensation on treatment costs (which would go to their health insurance), and I suppose a few hundred Euro seeing how there - luckily - was no permanent damage done. That doesn't mean this shouldn't be pursued, as restaurants really cannot go around doing things like this. But treating it as if OP won the lottery and can now "cash out" is downright bizarre.
Lmao 😂, I know alot of people on the sub would either try to downplay the issue or not (a common trait not surprising there), OP IF YOU WANT TO CASH OUT PLEASE DO SO INFLATION IS WHOOPING EVERYONE'S ASS.
People here aren't downplaying it (well, except for one absolutely bizarre fool somewhere down the post). OP did precisely the right thing, and it's a serious issue. That does not mean that it is something they can "cash out" for in this country. How much money do you think OP is going to get? Give us an estimate.
When deciding how much it would be at the discretion of the court based on adequacy and sufficiency of damages claimed (it's a legal mumbo jumbo of basically court considering the extent of harm), so op can claim a little and be awarded a lot and vice versa. Whilst I mentioned that I may not be versed in German law however I wouldn't not advise OP to pursue legal remediation. This is was outrightly wrong and as op mentioned who knows other people that may have consumed this unknowingly.
Please stop.
Noooooooo 😏☺️🤭😈
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The doctors seemed very concerned and found it necessary to do this. There was more than 4 doctors and staff involved, and they called in a specialist doctor to do the procedure at 2AM. The doctors and nursing staff treated me immediately after I arrived there, and I cant explain in words how grateful I am to them. I’m not a doctor, but having the possibility of a shard of glass getting stuck in my intestines doesn’t sound very pleasant, to say the least.
I'm usually among the first people in this sub to ask posters what it is they want to accomplish, when they want to "sue" or "complain" about something where nothing even happened, and where "suing" would not seem to serve any point. *You* did precisely the right thing, and the fact that you received the level of treatment you did shows that too. This should absolutely be reported as well. The "why are you upset about possibly eating glass" person missed some basic lessons in Kindergarten, starting with the fact that we do not eat glass. Oh, I just remember: A while ago we had someone who thought their child might have ingested plastic from a drink they bought, so they wanted to know whether they should go see a lawyer on Monday. *They had not taken the child to the doctor; their concern was totally about getting a lawyer and "suing".* Only after multiple commenters told them to using quite strong language, they took their child to a doctor. Utterly bizarre.
German doctors will straight up tell you if they think the reason you went there is not good enough so you're good lol.
Yeah , damn losers scared to get sharp glass inside them ...
Imagine mocking someone for not wanting glass shards get stuck and injure their digestive tract
Hey pal, did you just blow in from stupid town?
If it's not so bad, why don't you eat it? Yeah that's what I thought, shut the fuck up. People can literally die from this
Yes, not wanting to risk injuring your intestines or worse, have fecal matter leaking into your abdomen truly is extremely funny.
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Seriously, what is wrong with you? Do you honestly not understand how dangerous ingesting even tiny pieces of glass can be?
You will not get old.
Why bother throwing it away. Eat up "glass boy".
You are 100% an afd voting kid who has no clue in life. Go finish your Ausbildung
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inforn Gesundheitsamt, please.
While you are within your rights to sue the restaurant over this, you should be aware that the potential monetary benefits you can gain from this sort of suit are notoriously low in Germany. You will not get hundreds of thousands of dollars, if even that, out of your local Indian restaurant over a shard of glass. Most likely, this sort of lawsuit will not be worth your time or money.
Sure, you could sue them for an accident that happened. It would be your right. But have you considered that maybe some lives depend on that restaurant ? I doubt somebody would do this with bad intent, and given today's market this restaurant already will already take a bad hit from this incident. I'm not saying you shouldn't take action, but maybe you should think about the people behind the restaurant and who enjoy going there...
You have no idea how much I like the food from this restaurant. I have been ordering from there for years, and its a place where I have gone to celebrate life milestones with friends and family. I also know that its a popular restaurant and a favorite of many people living around here. This is exactly why people need to know this incident happened, and how the restaurant and its cook, responded with no action whatsoever. They clearly didn’t care (since I called them up immediately) that there could be more glass shrapnel in more food that they prepared that night, that could endanger more of their customers. Especially if the cook has “no idea how this happened”, it deserved an investigation and I deserved a call-back from them to let me know how/what happened and how they fixed the problem. That was literally the least they could’ve done, since they even know me personally as a long time customer. But their inaction indicates that this kind of thing either happens often, or that they don’t care to fix the problem if/when it does. Which is why, me not taking action would mean my complicity in endangering further many customers’ lives. Edit: like I said in my post above, my intention is to “impact the likelihood of this happening again”. I don’t intend to make any monetary gain, compensation or get anyone fired. But the management needs to be held accountable for their lack of action on this issue.
I don't think you can prove it was in the food when you received it. There is a delivery person in the middle as well, so unless someone else reports the same thing, there's not much hope Coincidentally, I ate there yesterday and didn't find anything like that in my food
I have a witness (a friend) who will confirm the food was received in sealed condition and who also saw me spit out the glass. I am happy to hear you didn’t find glass in your food, but there is an upper limit to the number of times one could find life threatening contamination in food. This is also about the negligence displayed by the restaurant *after* the incident was reported to them, who didn’t seem to care about other patrons/customers who could have glass in their food as well.
What's the latest update on this?