The New York City professional dancer who died from an allergic reaction to incorrectly labeled cookies suffered such extreme anaphylactic shock that her EpiPen was ineffective, her family’s lawyer said — as they vowed to seek “justice” from the supermarket that sold the treats.
Órla Baxendale, 25, was rehearsing at a dance studio in Connecticut on Jan. 11 when she suffered a severe allergic reaction to a Vanilla Florentine cookie from Stew Leonard’s, attorney Marijo C. Adimey said in a statement Thursday.
“Orla was very careful and hyper-vigilant about everything she ate, and always thoroughly checked the ingredients on all packaging. In addition, she always carried an EpiPen with her and surrounded herself with people who know how to administer one,” the attorney added.
“In fact, when this tragic and preventable incident occurred and after she began to have an anaphylactic reaction, an EpiPen was used but due to the severity of her allergy, it was not effective,” the statement read.