A Florida teenager tragically experienced cardiac arrest and passed away after consuming a well-known dessert at school, prompting his father to file a lawsuit.

The father of a Florida teenager has filed a lawsuit against the school district after his daughter suffered a fatal allergic reaction to a dessert at a school event.

17-year-old Kayleen Brown was a senior at Atlantic Coast High School when she attended a school meeting on campus in April 2023, according to the lawsuit. At the meeting she allegedly consumed a dessert known as baklava, which unbeknownst to her contained allergens including nuts.

The teenager quickly began experiencing symptoms related to her allergy and reportedly alerted staff at the school event that she had eaten nuts and needed treatment, according to the lawsuit. She left the event and went to a local pharmacy to get Benadryl to treat the symptoms. At the pharmacy she anaphylaxis and cardiac arrest, according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, employees at the pharmacy dialed 911, and Brown was subsequently transported to a nearby hospital, where she slipped into a coma and eventually passed away.

Currently, her father, Steven Brown, has initiated legal action against Duval County Public Schools, claiming that the school's staff were aware of her allergy., and when she inquired if the baklava had nuts in it a staff member at the school event told her no. The lawsuit also alleges that despite DCPS being aware of Brown's allergy she “was not taken to the school nurse. Emergency response was not notified. An emergency action plan was not initiated,” the lawsuit states.

“It’s hard to imagine sometimes that someone can die from something like this but they can and they do,” Attorney Ted Pina, the family attorney, told WJAX.

The legal complaint claims that DCPS implemented a Food Allergy Management and Prevention Plan aimed at creating a secure and healthy learning atmosphere for every student. This plan was intended to equip staff with the knowledge to identify allergic reaction symptoms and take appropriate action, including the administration of epinephrine and alerting emergency services. Additionally, the plan specified that students should not be permitted to go to the nurse alone or travel on the school bus without supervision.

The legal complaint claims that DCPS did not fulfill its duty to protect its students, including Brown. It argues that the school system failed "to guarantee that food labeled as allergen-free or specifically requested to be prepared without allergens was truly free of substances that could lead to death or significant harm for students with food allergies like Kayleen Brown," according to the lawsuit.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help support Kayleen's family during this difficult time and help pay for legal expenses.

"Kayleen aspired to be an anesthesiologist, and with her strong academic performance, her grandmother noted, she had the potential to achieve this goal and any other she set her sights on."