Sibling relationships can often be complicated, especially when one is coping with a severe food allergy. But should those complications ever rise to the level of involving the police?
That brings us to this installment of our popular You Be the Judge series, where we present a food allergy-related scenario and ask you to weigh in and share your opinions with our readership.
This story comes from the reddit post entitled “AITAH for calling the cops on my sister after she snuck shellfish in my food?“ by redditor u/Rude-Disaster1658.
We’ve often referred to the “AITA” subreddit (i.e., group) where this story is posted. AITA is short for “Am I the A-Hole,” and it provides a medium for people to question their own behavior and ask readers to vote.
Here’s her story:
I’ve posted this in other subs but it keeps getting removed so I’ll try it one last time.
1(21 F) and my sister (23 F) have never had any issues until last week. She and her husband (23 M) had invited me over for a lunch, which is normal for us.
I have a severe shellfish allergy, even touching it makes me extremely itchy, my sister is completely aware of this and has been since we were children.
When I got to their house she said that food was already finished and in the fridge, she claimed that it was just a tuna pasta (yes, I can eat tuna, an many other fish, just nothing with a shell).
After she finished cleaning up we had a short conversation about what’s been happening in our lives since it had been a while since we’d seen each other. I got this strange feeling from her but just brushed it off as I was extremely tired that day.
She grabbed the food out of the fridge and served it for me, giving me a small bowl “in case I don’t like it”. I couldn’t smell much of it, and from what I could smell I just assumed it was fish, but when I took a bite l almost immediately felt my throat burning.
I was coughing and grabbing at my throat, and her husband kept asking me if I was choking. My sister turned to me panicking and saying “I thought you were exaggerating!!”
An ambulance was called and I was rushed to the hospital, I was thankfully okay but they had made me stay to be monitored for next two days.
My sister and BIL had tried to visit me but I told her to get out. She kept apologising and refusing to leave. I told her that l’ll be calling the police on her for what she’d done, as it’s literally attempted murder, and she lost it.
She kept screaming at me saying “I know you’re faking this, you always act like you’re allergic to shellfish so I wanted to test you!” Id been pressing the call button for the nurse but they heard her regardless and had asked me if I wanted them removed. I said yes.
I explained the whole situation to her and the hospital security and eventually decided that with the help of the nurse and security guards l’d file a report against her.
My mother is saying I’m overreacting and that I should have just cut contact, but I don’t know anymore.
Also: When I was a young child my sister had witnessed me have a severe reaction and went to the hospital where I underwent treatment. She was also there when I was informed I had a shellfish allergy.
You may be wondering why I never had an epipen on me, and that’s because I didn’t feel the need to as she was my sister
AITA?
EDIT: I’m not in America, my country has free healthcare so I can’t make her pay any medical bills for me.
As of this writing, the post has received over 3,700 votes with the vast number of comments commiserating with the author.
We’ll take a stab here and state the obvious: the sister must be suffering from a psychotic disorder to intentionally contaminate the author’s food to prove she has been faking it since childhood.
So now we turn to you, our readers, who’ve seen it all regarding food allergies, and ask you to be the judge. Should the author press charges against her maniacal sister, or is some other action warranted?
Let us know in the comments section below.
Important note: the author notes she did not have an epinephrine auto-injector with her because she “didn’t feel the need to as she was my sister.” Although this was an absurd situation, it does show that anaphylaxis can strike anywhere you least expect it. Always take two epinephrine auto-injectors along everywhere, every time, and administer the first when you first suspect anaphylaxis.
Yes yes yes press charges! At least for assault.
The sister thought OP was overreacting about the allergy. The mom thought OP was overreacting for pressing charges.
But NO! She knowingly put her life at risk, she knew and she wanted to « test it » even though in the past she witnessed anaphylaxis already.
If it wasn’t her sister, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to press charges. Just because it’s her sister doesn’t mean it has to be tolerated. If you witness a medical emergency and don’t help the person, you could get sued for not helping. So logically, if you PUT the person in this situation knowingly, you should absolutely get sued!
If the sister did that to anyone, and they’d die, she’d be charged. Thank god OP did survive this. I feel so sorry for them and would recommend go no contact with the sister AND the mom. It is absolutely shocking.
Yes, because it was intentional!
This story seems fake to me. Do you fact check? I don’t believe someone who witnessed her sister go through anaphylaxis as a child would do such a thing. My young daughter witnesses the struggles her younger brother has and an anaphylaxis episode that caused me to use his epipen. She is very helpful and concerned with her brother’s health condition.
This story was pulled from reddit, so fact check… no. Our “You Be the Judge” series is intended to foster conversation and provide a means for the food allergy community to sound off.
I love that your children clearly love each other. I hope that’s always the case. Unfortunately, this happens more often than you’d expect. As an example, my older sister has seen me covered in hives/vomit/all of that, and still attempted to poison me MORE THAN ONCE into adulthood. My husband has even witnessed it happening. So, now I just don’t see her in person for my own safety.
Yes, I would definitely take it further.
The sister knowingly gave food containing the allergen because she believed the victim was ‘faking it’ or exaggerating.
It should be treated as attempted murder.
It is because we allow these kind of events to go without a word that people don’t believe allergies are serious.