Woman drops dead at counter of McDonald's

[jnelsoninjax]

Staff at a McDonald's in Croatia allegedly carried on selling burgers despite the fact a customer had dropped dead in front of the counter.

After efforts to revive her failed, the woman was instead propped up in the corner of the restaurant and had a napkin placed over her head as workers continued to serve other customers, it has been claimed.

The woman, thought to have died of a suspected heart attack, had complained of feeling unwell just moments after going inside the fast food restaurant in the southern town of Sibenik.

She collapsed at the counter and, despite emergency services being called, doctors were unable to revive the Bosnian woman, who lived in Denmark but had been visiting the area.

Staff have been criticized after they carried on serving drive-through customers after she was declared dead.

Croatian media reported that the body was in the restaurant for an hour-and-a-half before a mortuary car arrived to remove it.

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[Nick H. Supervisor]

To be honest, I'm not sure I see a problem here. If people wanted to be served - whether they knew about the situation or not - then what is the problem? The human body may have started to decompose (since technically it starts from the moment you're no longer around) but not to a level of a health and safety risk.

However, if someone did know about the situation and still felt hungry afterwards...that's another story.

EDIT: Oh, and I do feel sorry for the old lady, obviously. Imagine your last breath being in a McDonalds...that's no way for anyone to go.

[Biohead]

Likewise Intrinsica.

Staff have been criticized after they carried on serving drive-through customers after she was declared dead.

So the restaurant area itself was closed - just the drive through open? Don't see the issue here. Plus I hardly see them leaving the body propped up in the kitchen... right next to the fries.

And so what if the body was around an hour and a half? What else are they to do until the mortician arrives to pick the body up? Throw it out in the bins?

[theyarecomingforyou]

As stated, the restaurant area was closed off and there was no legal obligation to close the store. Really the fault lies with emergency services for leaving the body there for such a long period of time. Most importantly, this isn't corporate policy - this was an individual decision by a store manager who wouldn't have received training to deal with such a situation.

[Calum Veteran]

They didn't show any disrespect to the deceased or to health and safety by continuing to serve. A business's profits shouldn't have to suffer due to unfortunate, tragic events, if they can continue to operate.

[The Laughing Man]

I see no wrongdoing in this what so ever.

[psionicinversion]

She was obviously dying for a macca's!

[Southern Patriot]

Only in America..... oh, wait.... oops

On another note, why didn't the emergency services people take her body with them? That would be standard practice here. They would attempt CPR on site, then load her into the ambulance and take her to the hospital to continue attempts to revive her. They certainly wouldn't have just left her sitting on the restaurant floor.

[Rudy]

She died....they tried to help her and called for the proper people to come pick her up. I really don't see the problem

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On another note, why didn't the emergency services people take her body with them? That would be standard practice here. They would attempt CPR on site, then load her into the ambulance and take her to the hospital to continue attempts to revive her. They certainly wouldn't have just left her sitting on the restaurant floor.

I think the article means that when she initially dropped employees attempted to revive her, then moved the body while they waited for the emergency services to arrive.

[WelshBluebird]

Surely they should have continued in the attempt to revive her until the ambulance arrived?

CPR generally doesn't revive someone, but what it does do is allow some oxygenated blood to be circulated through the body as kind of a stopgap until more qualified help can arrive. It buys you time. Giving up is essentially just leaving her to die.

Edit:

Apologies. I read the story as if the employees had tried to revive her while waiting for the ambulance but gave up before the ambulance arrived. Reading the story a bit more, looks like I'm wrong.

[daniel_rh]

This news must be sponsored by Subway or any other food chain :shiftyninja:

[ahhell]

WTF? You guys see nothing wrong them continuing to serve food with a dead body in the restaurant??

:|

[Southern Patriot]

I think the article means that when she initially dropped employees attempted to revive her, then moved the body while they waited for the emergency services to arrive.

Nope, it distinctly talks about two different events: emergency services being called and being unable to revive her, then the mortuary car coming by an hour and a half later to take her body away.

She collapsed at the counter and, despite emergency services being called, doctors were unable to revive the Bosnian woman, who lived in Denmark but had been visiting the area.

Staff have been criticized after they carried on serving drive-through customers after she was declared dead.

Croatian media reported that the body was in the restaurant for an hour-and-a-half before a mortuary car arrived to remove it.

WTF? You guys see nothing wrong them continuing to serve food with a dead body in the restaurant??

:|

The body was in an area completely removed from the food preparation area and where they were serving food (the drive-up window). It isn't as if she died of some infectious disease, she died of a heart attack. I see no problem here at all. Emotion vs. reason.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Nope, it distinctly talks about two different events: emergency services being called and being unable to revive her, then the mortuary car coming by an hour and a half later to take her body away.

Oh yeah, good point. Maybe the doctors didn't arrive by ambulance? I know here doctors have smaller, speedier cars to drive around in. You couldn't load a body in to the back of them without it looking disrespectful.

WTF? You guys see nothing wrong them continuing to serve food with a dead body in the restaurant?? :|

Nope, why should it? As I've already said, the body wasn't there long enough for it to be a health and safety issue, and if the customers at the drive-through were unaware of the fact that there was a dead body in the building and wanted to eat then what's the issue?

[Mystic Mungis]

If they had been passing food over her body then that would have been f***ed up but the body was in a separate area of the building, sure it was a shame but they couldn't just shut down the whole building and stop business especially when it took so long for the body to be removed

[Detection]

It's only a McDonalds, they could have asked people to wait outside until the paramedics took her away, it's hardly a business so important it just had to continue

If it was my mum I'd have gone back and smashed up

[Mystic Mungis]

The main restaurant was closed. The only staff left were in the kitchen and drive thru and no customers were in the store.

[Southern Patriot]

Oh yeah, good point. Maybe the doctors didn't arrive by ambulance? I know here doctors have smaller, speedier cars to drive around in.

Perhaps that is the case there. When I hear the term "emergency services" I generally think of an ambulance, since that is what would generally happen here.

[Detection]

When I hear the term "emergency services" I generally think of an ambulance

I generally think of handcuffs, small cold cells and hangovers :p

[Charisma Veteran]

WTF? You guys see nothing wrong them continuing to serve food with a dead body in the restaurant??

:|

It's McDonalds, the food already tastes like... eh, never mind.

You've seen the stories, though. If they had closed down operations, the news stories would be "Crazy mom smashes windows of McDonalds and assaults the manager after they refused to serve her due to someone having died on the premises".

[theyarecomingforyou]

It's only a McDonalds

So if it was a three-star Michelin restaurant it would have been okay? I honestly don't understand how you can make a distinction.

they could have asked people to wait outside until the paramedics took her away, it's hardly a business so important it just had to continue

If you had read the article you'd have seen that they did in fact do that, as they closed the restaurant area. However, there was no risk to customer service, health or dignity by continuing to serve food for drive-thru customers. Can you imagine shutting an entire supermarket or shopping centre simply because one person in an isolated area had suffered a heart attack? Where do you draw the line? You're talking about losing tens of thousands of kunas in business simply because somebody happened to die in a place of business. Staff provided medical assistance and did what they could. Thankfully businesses don't open and close dependent on how important you deem them to be!

If it was my mum I'd have gone back and smashed up

Do you really have so little self-control? People die... it happens. The members of staff did what they thought was best and clearly they considered her dignity by putting a napkin over her head, as covering the eyes is a typical sign of respect. Whereas by going there and kicking off you would be deliberately and calculatingly breaking the law to serve your base emotional needs. It is behaviour like that that society can do without.

[Hum]

Why didn't they put her to work ? She could have held the door open ...

[Growled Member]

WTF? You guys see nothing wrong them continuing to serve food with a dead body in the restaurant??

:|

I see a lot wrong with it. It's more than a bit creepy.

[Osiris]

I hear heaven has free upsizes, score.

Jokes side, difficult situation really, I imagine and hope they moved her to a seperate area while waiting for the mutuaries to collect her. To be honest though, seeing a stranger collapse of a heart attack wouldnt make my hunger disappear so for consumers was pretty handy they stayed open.