A man with a shellfish allergy died after eating at a Las Vegas Strip restaurant, according to a lawsuit courts

When Abraham Williams ordered spaghetti with pesto last April at Beauty & Essex, a restaurant at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, he told staff he was allergic to shellfish, according to a lawsuit filed last week.

But after taking a bite of the food, Williams became ill, the suit said, and went into anaphylactic shock. He died April 30, 2023, at Nathan Adelson Hospice, and his death certificate attributed the cause to anaphylaxis due to or as a result of a “food-related allergic reaction” to shrimp or tree nuts, court records show.

The complaint accuses Beauty & Essex, Cosmopolitan, the Clark County Fire Department and Community Ambulance of negligence and claims their conduct led to Williams’ death. The lawsuit claims the meal was “unsafe” and served with “known allergens” by Beauty & Essex.

The Cosmopolitan did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday. Clark County and Tao Group, which operates Beauty & Essex, declined to comment.

Community Ambulance said it had not been formally notified of the lawsuit. In a statement, Glen Simpson, senior director of specialist care, said: “While we cannot comment on ongoing legal matters, we extend our sincere sympathies to those affected.”

Attorneys Christian Morris and Jamie McInelly filed the lawsuit in Clark County District Court on behalf of Kenneth and Rochelle Williams, Williams’ father and mother, and Angela Gaboury, who is listed as administrator of Williams’ estate with his father.

Williams went to the bathroom when he felt sick, then friends pulled him out and someone called 911 because he couldn’t breathe, according to the suit.

The complaint alleges that employees at Cosmopolitan and Beauty & Essex were instructed to provide medical aid, but instead, employees at one or both businesses “watched (Williams) become breathless, gasping for air and did not provide no assistance whatsoever. ” They also “created a barricade around (Williams) and refused to let anyone through to perform life-saving techniques,” the lawsuit alleges.

Firefighters and Community Ambulance arrived and emergency workers began CPR and compressions, according to the suit, and inserted an “airway device.”

But the complaint said “Doe EMS and/or Community Ambulance EMS failed to administer oxygen in a timely manner,” failed to intubate him properly, allowing him to remove his intubation tube, and failed to perform an EKG, which meant that his cardiac arrest was not. “appropriately monitored”.

Once at the hospital, Williams went into respiratory and cardiac arrest, the suit says, and doctors were unable to reintubate him because of the swelling. He was eventually put on a ventilator and died two days after being taken off it, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs continue to “suffer pain and suffering” from the loss.

Contact Noble Brigham at [email protected]. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.