Family holds Taylor restaurant responsible for son's anaphylactic shock

TAYLOR, Mich. (WJBK) - A little boy's allergies send him into anaphylactic shock and now -- his family is pointing fingers at a Taylor restaurant.

They say they were assured that their son's meal was safe, but shortly after he ended up in the emergency room. The family says the Flamingo Family Restaurant in Taylor blamed them on social media, but the owner says the person who left that comment was in the wrong and is not an employee.

"I'm allergic to eggs, wheat and coconut," said little Jack Chapman.

Kelly Chapman: "What's the bad one?"

"Milk," he said.

And it was that last one that nearly did little Jack chapman in.  He and his family were eating at the Flamingo Family Restaurant earlier this month when Jack had an allergic reaction.

His mom Kelly says she told the waitress about Jack's allergies and that they normally get their 2-year-old a bun less hotdog and fries.

"They said everything is fine, hot dogs are safe, french fries are safe - they're just potatoes and basically vegetable oil, what they cook it in," Chapman said.

But the hot dog was not safe for jack--it has nonfat dry milk in it.

"He started to eat it and barely ate any of it," Chapman said. "By the end of the meal we were getting ready to get up and pay the check and he just started vomiting."

They didn't realize he was reacting to the food until they got home, his voice had become raspy.

"Within literally five minutes of us being home he went from that little bit of raspiness to drooling a lot," she said. "His nose was running a lot, he was itching his face a lot, his eyes were starting to swell and get puffy."

Jack was having an anaphylactic reaction and his parents say it could have been deadly had they not given him an EpiPen shot. Jack spent five hours in the hospital that night.

"It was terrifying, very scary," Chapman said.

Chapman left a negative review on the restaurant's Facebook page and says she was shocked when she read this response:

Someone posting with the restaurant's account said: "If you know you have problems then why don't you just eat at home where you know exactly what the ingredients are - instead of trying to go to a restaurant (and all restaurants) in the first place. What happened here could happen at any restaurant - thank you very much for your review!"

"We were made to feel, at least I personally felt, that we were a nuisance, that it was annoying, and that it was my fault that I even took him outside my house to eat," Chapman said. "They said those exact things to me that I shouldn't have let him eat outside the house."

The comments were later deleted. FOX 2 spoke with the owner of the restaurant and the waitress that served the Chapman family

They say the person who left that response does not work for the restaurant but had access to the Facebook page because he was the one who set it up.

The waitress says Kelly should have asked for an ingredient list before ordering and did not do so until after little Jack got sick. She also says Kelly did not specify what her son was allergic to.

"I'm insulted she would say I didn't ask because we know we asked," Chapman said. "We ask every time we go somewhere."

The owner says he's run the restaurant for 13 years and never had any of his customers come down with an allergic reaction from eating here. He also says workers always accommodate special requests and make sure people with allergies are well taken care of.

"What I would love to see happen is more education for the staff maybe a list of ingredients that could just bring out to the customers if it's asked for," Chapman said.

The owner of this restaurant told FOX 2 has no  problem doing that and said that the waitress who served the Chapman family just completed the food safety test with the Wayne County Health Department.