PA Teen Intubated After Drinking Panera Charged Lemonade: Report

MONROEVILLE, PA — A Pennsylvania teen went into cardiac arrest and spent time in the ICU in March after drinking a large "charged lemonade" from Panera in Monroeville, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.

Luke Adams, 18, bought the highly caffeinated drink with his lunch on March 9, and then headed to the Monroe Mall to see "Dune 2," the outlet reported.

Before long, fellow audience members were performing CPR after Adams fell unresponsive at the movie theater, and was confirmed to have been experiencing an irregular heartbeat after being rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with ventricular fibrillation.

Over the next six days in the hospital, Adams had a seizure and spent two days intubated, the Post-Gazette reported, adding that he now has a potentially permanent defibrillator implanted in his chest to ensure his heart continues to work as it should.

Doctors can't say for sure what caused Adams' heart to malfunction, but his family told the outlet that they believe it had to do with his lunchtime drink, which has been linked to deaths including that of a UPenn student last year. The young's woman family has since sued the restaurant over claims that the drink was not properly labeled.

A 28-year-old Rhode Island woman also filed a lawsuit against Panera Bread, claiming her life was permanently altered when she drank two and a half of the chain's charged lemonade drinks last year.

The woman "continues to experience supraventricular tachycardia with associated shortness of breath, palpitations, brain fog, difficulty thinking and concentrating, body shakes, and weakness," the lawsuit reads.

According to an archived version of Panera's digital menu on its website, in early 2023 the description of the Charged Lemonade drinks simply stated their ingredients and that they had as much caffeine as the restaurant's dark roast coffee.

However, the website now adds a block of warning text, which reads: "Use in moderation. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR children, people sensitive to caffeine, pregnant or nursing women. *Contains Allulose: adds a negligible amount of sugar."

Read more: Panera Adds Warning To Charged Lemonade After NJ Native’s Death

According to UC Davis Health, it is typically safe for even those with mild heart conditions to consume small amounts of caffeine. However, larger amounts can increase heart rate and blood pressure in some people, possibly leading to palpitations, extra heartbeats, or atrial fibrillation, which is when the normal beating in the upper chambers of the heart is irregular and blood doesn’t flow as well as it should from the atria to the lower chambers of the heart.