KFC Found Guilty of Causing Brain Damage

Kentucky Fried Chicken was ordered to pay $8.3 million to the family of an 11 year old Australian girl by a New South Wales Court after they ruled that a KFC meal had given her brain damage.

The family of Monika Samaan said she contracted salmonella poisoning from eating a KFC Chicken Twister in 2005, was in a coma for six months and suffered severe brain damage. She is now confined to a wheelchair, cannot speak and will need lifetime care.

During a trial in 2010, Monika's father told the court that Monika, along with he and his wife and son shared the Chicken Twister, and all suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea.

The Samaan family lawyer said Monika’s disability had “exhausted the very limited resources of the family.” “KFC chose to put Monika and her family through a process that so far has taken seven years since she sustained her injuries,” he said.

Hospital experts said Monika and her family had a common strain of salmonella in their stools, Monika's case being very rare.