The family of a 56-year old woman who died after drinking toxic tea has sued the store in San Francisco Chinatown where she bought it, reports ABC7.
Yu-Ping Xie became ill just one hour after drinking the tea purchased from Sun Wing Wo Trading Company.
At one point the family had told her doctors would need to amputate her leg to save her life.
“We told her, that, ‘Mom, they’re going to have to cut off your leg because it’s making you very very sick and the only chance to save your life is to do this,’ and she understood,” said her son Jim Deng.
The trading company being sued has not commented on the poisonings which also made one other person who purchased the tea separately seriously ill. The man in his 30’s has since recovered.
“We have been cooperating with the health department and we are waiting for the results of their investigation,” said a woman from the store who declined to give SF Gate her name.
Xie’s family said she worked multiple jobs and would do anything “unconditionally” to help the family.
The health department found traces of aconite in both her urine and in the tea she drank. Aconite is known to have healing qualities, but is also dangerous if not processed properly. The aconite scare is so far limited to one store, but there have been other cases in the past.
ABC7 reports a study in Hong Kong found 52 cases of aconite poisonings between 2004 and 2009.
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. You can show your support by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/asamnews, following us on Twitter, sharing our stories, interning or joining our staff.
