Got food poisoning

[Darknw]

So I know 3 people (indcluding myself) who felt sick after eating dinner at a disney restaurant on 2 different (but consecuative) days. The next morning I was vomiting and ended up in the hospital for a few days. The doctors told me it was most likely food poisoning. Anyway guest services told me to call disney claims. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and how it ended up for them. I'm left with hospital bills and additional flight costs since I missed my plane home while in the hospital

 

[Tiaramisu]

Sounds more like norovirus than food poisoning. I doubt you will see any kind of compensation from Disney since you can't prove they're responsible for your illness. I'm sorry you got sick, but write it off as an "unfortunate life expense."

 

[epcotcenter1982]

You should have travel insurance....you could claim on it

 

[smcabee]

From the CDC.
"Norovirus is a very contagious virus. You can get norovirus from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces. The virus causes your stomach or intestines or both to get inflamed (acute gastroenteritis). This leads you to have stomach pain, nausea, and diarrhea and to throw up.
You may hear norovirus illness called "food poisoning" or "stomach flu." Food poisoning can be caused by noroviruses. But, other germs and chemicals can also cause food poisoning.
Norovirus illness is not related to the flu (influenza), which is a respiratory illness caused by influenza virus.
Norovirus is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in the United States. Each year, it causes 19-21 million illnesses and contributes to 56,000-71,000 hospitalizations and 570-800 deaths. Norovirus is also the most common cause of foodborne-disease outbreaks in the United States."

 

[Nancyg56]

So I know 3 people (indcluding myself) who felt sick after eating dinner at a disney restaurant on 2 different (but consecuative) days. The next morning I was vomiting and ended up in the hospital for a few days. The doctors told me it was most likely food poisoning. Anyway guest services told me to call disney claims. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and how it ended up for them. I'm left with hospital bills and additional flight costs since I missed my plane home while in the hospital

There is no harm in calling, but I would be prepared for claims to fight this. I have no idea how to document food poisoning, but I do know it is a serious charge that restaurants take very seriously, so I believe that Disney will need some sort of "chain" to follow before you are compensated.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Might be food poisoning--might not. Has to be verified and a doctor saying he "thinks" it's food poisoning isn't enough. It's a serious Public health issue if true--but just saying it isn't enough.

If the doctors who treated you really believed it was genuine food poisoning they would certainly by now notified the Health Dept and an investigation would be in progress.

 

[Darknw]

I'm assuming it was the restaurant because my friend and I both felt a bit uneasy after the meal. Then the next day I woke up throwing up some of the food from the dinner. I also had a third person who ate there the next day and felt sick after it. From what I read a norovirus inflames your stomach and intestines and my medical records state mine weren't. I'm just going by what the doctors told me. I didn't think of calling disney claims. I let guest services know what happened because I didn't want others to get sick and then they told me to talk to claims about what happened. I was just curious what other people delt with when talking to claims about a similar issue

 

[Alice Sr.]

Two stories:
A couple of years ago I got super sick very quick, long story short the paramedics were called. They were pretty insistent that I had food poisoning. But I had the same symptoms that a coworker had just before I left for vacation and my GF and I had eaten the same food that day. They encouraged me to go to the hospital but I wanted to stick it out in the room to see how things went overnight. It was a bad night but after self-medicating to treat the symptoms (for comfort) and probiotics I was much improved the next day. Had I not been aware of my coworkers illness I would have definitely walked away believing I had food poisoning based on the conversation with the paramedics.

My neighbor had a similar situation as OP, I know she was not pleased with the outcome but whatever came of it was under a confidentiality clause, so I can't provide any details. I'm guessing she did not make any money off the deal but assume if there was an agreement (evidenced by the confidentiality clause) there was some compensation. I do know she thought it was from duck in France (not sure which but assume the upstairs restaurant, name escapes me).

 

[brinkley07]

We went to Jiko several years ago and had a really bad meal. It was one of our favorite locations and we always made a point of going. That night they were very short staffed with our wait for an ADR being over 1 hour beyond the ADR time, the tables surrounding us left uncleared during the majority of our meal after other parties had left, inability to get our servers attention when we needed her, and my husbands food coming out well undercooked(pork). He was very ill several hours later through the next few days, unfortunately he had eaten some of his pork before he realized how undercooked it was. It was certainly a disappointment and we haven't been back since. The next morning we did mention what happened to the front desk staff as we were staying at AKL, and we got a sorry. The only reason we mentioned it was if it was food poisoning we didn't want anyone else to suffer. We haven't been back and it's been around 5 years, but we go to other restaurants on property instead. No one we knew was sick, and although we shared an app and dessert we didn't share his entrée.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You need to have a lab test that verifies that you had food poisoning to get reimbursed from Disney. You must submit their forms with your medical proof. If the doctor in the hospital didn't run the lab test, you probably missed out on it.

 

[Uncleromulus]

If there were a confirmed case of anyone getting Food Poisoning from a Disney restaurant, it would be a headline front page story in the Sentinel--not to mention all the local TV stations.

 

[BigAlsGal]

...

 

[minnie mum]

Welcome to the Dis. Unfortunately GI upsets due to enteric bacteria and viruses are common to any Tourist site, and aren't just caused by food. These bugs could just as easily be picked up inside a crowded park or on a crowded plane - they are sometimes highly contagious and have a variable incubation period.

While it is possible that the source of your illness was the food you ate, the only way to know for sure is lab testing of both you and the restaurant. That is something that is done by the Public Health Department, and needed to be requested by the doctor you saw. You can submit a claim, including all of your medical docs, and see if they will compensate some of your expenses; but be prepared for a very prolonged process.

There was a well publicized case ( here on the Dis) a couple of years ago. Several people fell ill after ingesting the food and beverages provide on the wild Africa Trek tour. Since there were multiple people il, clustered around the same days, PH was called in. They did repeated sampling of the affected guests as well as intensive testing of every aspect of the food handling on that tour. The process was long- it was over a year before the investigation gave its results. I believe the guests in this case were compensated, and more importantly, Disney changed their food handling procedures in a timely manner in the process.

 

[Uncleromulus]

My hunch is that if the doctors who examined the OP believed it was food poisoning, the Health Dept would have been contacted immediately.

 

[JimmyV]

My hunch is that if the doctors who examined the OP believed it was food poisoning, the Health Dept would have been contacted immediately.

Absolutely. Given how Disney prepares and handles food (in mass quantities), any instance of food poisoning would likely impact dozens if not hundreds of people. And given how serious food poisoning can be on the very young and the elderly, immediate steps would be taken to find the cause and correct the situation. The demographics of Disney guests makes food poisoning a particularly serious issue. No doctor would simply send a patient on his/her way without additional folliw-up.

 

[bumbershoot]

The doctors told me it was most likely food poisoning.

But did they test samples to see what it was?

Then the next day I woke up throwing up some of the food from the dinner.

One of the huge things that noro does (I read an article about it recently, while figuring out what DS had, that almost read as a love letter about noro because it's pretty much the perfect virus) is it slows the digestive system down as the virii are reproducing, so that there is a LOT of matter that has the virus in it, and its chances of getting another host are higher. The fact that you still had dinner from 12 hours before in your *stomach* tells me that it was so very likely to be noro. Otherwise that food would have been out of the stomach.

my medical records state mine weren't.

Did they do endoscopies? That seems a bit intrusive while you were actively ill.

There was a well publicized case ( here on the Dis) a couple of years ago. Several people fell ill after ingesting the food and beverages provide on the wild Africa Trek tour. Since there were multiple people il, clustered around the same days, PH was called in. They did repeated sampling of the affected guests as well as intensive testing of every aspect of the food handling on that tour. The process was long- it was over a year before the investigation gave its results. I believe the guests in this case were compensated, and more importantly, Disney changed their food handling procedures in a timely manner in the process.

Yep. When there are actual, real, cases of food poisoning (not doctors being lazy and calling norovirus "food poisoning"), the hospitals follow up, the health department follows up, etc.


I'm not saying that noro isn't awful. It is. But it's not "food poisoning". My lesson from my family's recent bout? Wash our darned hands before eating and don't touch our mouths if we've touched things in the meantime.

 

[jmkjr72]

For it to be co sidereal a food born illness there needs to be three different un related people from. 3 diffrent households come down with the same symptoms
So if you are sharing a room with your friend that doesn't count as 2 cases

Secondly if the Dr even suspects a food born illness it will go through the local public health dpt and then disney will be notified that they suspect an issue

Also a food born illness issue will manifest very fast in most cases meaning right after you have ate not the next morning
More often then not it's some form of a stomach issue unrelated to food

There is no harm in trying to file a claim but it will be an extreme uphill battle if the Dr didn't put you in touch with the local health dept

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

Food poisoning is not a real diagnosis because it's too generic. Food poisoning has a number of causes. Blood and/or stool samples would have to be taken in order to determine the causative agent of food poisoning and these take several days to confirm in a laboratory. Did you have any of these done and if so what was the outcome? Salmonella? Listeria? E. coli? Something else? Without this information you will never get any claim looked at.

 

[Skullcrusher]

So I know 3 people (indcluding myself) who felt sick after eating dinner at a disney restaurant on 2 different (but consecuative) days. The next morning I was vomiting and ended up in the hospital for a few days. The doctors told me it was most likely food poisoning. Anyway guest services told me to call disney claims. Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else and how it ended up for them. I'm left with hospital bills and additional flight costs since I missed my plane home while in the hospital

So just to warn you that there are many Diz apologists on this board who will demand your doctor license and all the blood work tests if you claim to have gotten sick from Disney food. I haven't even read the replies so far but I can probably name many of the folks who have already donned their armor and shields to tell you that it is something else. But to answer your question, yes, my daughters and I did get food poisoning after eating at the pecos bill salad bar 4 years ago. Although ours only took a couple hours to make its presence known.

 

[maxiesmom]

So just to warn you that there are many Diz apologists on this board who will demand your doctor license and all the blood work tests if you claim to have gotten sick from Disney food. I haven't even read the replies so far but I can probably name many of the folks who have already donned their armor and shields to tell you that it is something else. But to answer your question, yes, my daughters and I did get food poisoning after eating at the pecos bill salad bar 4 years ago. Although ours only took a couple hours to make its presence known.

Here is the thing: It may have very well been food poisoning. However, there has to be a very specific test run to prove it. If that test wasn't done, then there is no proof and the OP (and anyone else) can only *think* it was food poisoning. Disney is very unlikely to offer compensation or repayment to anyone on their word only.

And as has been pointed out there are other illnesses that mimic food poisoning. And it could be as simple as someone else who was sick touched something that the OP then touched, and became ill. Sorry but unless there is medical proof, you really shouldn't claim you have had food poisoning.