A man was left hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after he made a shocking discovery in his boneless chicken wings.
Michael Berkheimer had been eating out with his wife and their friends at Wings in Brookwood, Hamilton, back in 2016 where he ordered his "usual" choice from the menu. As he tucked into his boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce using a knife and fork he admitted feeling something in his throat.
Berkheimer attributed the feeling to the chicken "going down the wrong pipe" but three days later developed a fever and headed to the Emergency Room. It was there doctors made the horrific discovery that a piece of wishbone from one of his boneless wings was lodged in his throat and had punctured his esophagus.
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The injury meant that anything he ate was exiting through the hole into his chest cavity causing an infection. He told Fox 19: "I had bacteria buildup in my chest cavity the size of a softball laying on my heart."
Berkheimer subsequently had to be placed in an induced coma twice after suffering a heart attack and a collapsed lung. He is still feeling the effects from the ordeal and has had to see a psychiatrist to help him deal with the trauma.
He explained: "It just traumatized me. It's taken joy from my family,' he said. 'Thank God for the Lord and my wife, or else I wouldn't have been here." Following on from the experience which almost killed him Berkheimer decided to sue Wings and their suppliers for negligence.
The case was originally dismissed by the judge, but after Berkheimer's attorney Rob Stokar appealed and the case was taken to The Ohio State Supreme Court. However, in a shock decision, they ruled on Thursday 4-3 that "boneless wings" solely refers to the "cooking style" and should not be taken seriously.
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Justice Joseph T. Deters wrote for the majority: "A diner reading 'boneless wings' on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were made from chicken wings, just as a person eating 'chicken fingers' would know that he had not been served fingers."
However, other justices disagreed with the ruling with one labelling the majority opinion as "utter jabberwocky." Justice Michael P Donnelly wrote: "The question must be asked: Does anyone really believe that the parents in this country who feed their young children boneless wings or chicken tenders or chicken nuggets or chicken fingers expect bones to be in the chicken? Of course they don't.
"When they read the word 'boneless' they think it means 'without bones' as do all sensible people." The opposition meanwhile argued that a jury should have made the decision. The owners of Wings welcomed the outcome as they admitted being relieved that the case was over and that they hoped the decision would help to protect other small businesses from "frivolous lawsuits."
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