Man Dies Choking On Applebee’s Food, Family Sues Restaurant For Failing To Help Him

An Applebee’s restaurant is being sued after a man died after choking on his meal. The Recorder reports that John Kocak, 48, collapsed after he started choking on the food he was eating at the Greenfield, Massachusetts, Applebee’s back in 2011.

Three years later, his family is suing the restaurant chain, claiming that employees failed to remove the food that was blocking his airway as he lay unconscious on the floor.

The Recorder states that Kocak was with his father on December 5, 2011 when he started to choke on his food. He went to the restroom while choking and reportedly collapsed on the floor — his father found him unconscious a few minutes later. Kocak’s father immediately summoned an Applebee’s assistant manager to help him, but the only thing the restaurant did to help was to have an employee call 911.

“The employee called 911 did not inform the dispatcher Kocak did not have a pulse and wasn’t breathing.”

The lawsuit, filed in a Massachusetts court, states that the employees were “not properly trained for the possibility of choking” nor did they have a device on the premise that removes food from a choking person’s airway. The New York Daily News reports that choke training and the device are both required by state law in a restaurant that seats 25 people or more.

According to the Massachusetts Choke/Saver State Law, at least one employee on each shift must be trained to be able to perform “obstructed airway relief.” Wicked Local reports that training costs approximately $25 per person.

When paramedics arrived at the Greenfield Applebee’s restaurant, they were able to revive Kocak and remove the food that was blocking his airway, but the damage had already been done — the Record states that the man died a few days later due to a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen he suffered while unconscious at Applebee’s.

“Had the assistant manager adequately assessed John Kocak and relayed that information to the dispatcher, simple life saving emergency measures could have been relayed to the assistant manager.”

Kocak’s family is suing Applebee’s for almost $27,000 for hospital and ambulance bills and a number of other expenses, including loss of income for the man’s companion, funeral expenses, and “punitive damages as a result of the alleged gross negligence” as well as the “reckless misconduct of the restaurant and attorneys’ fees.”

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