‘friend’ Lied To Me That A Beverage Was Caffeine Free And I Ended Up In The Hospital

Location: New York

I don’t consume caffeine because it interacts with a medication I’m on and can cause heart issues.

My girlfriend and I were visiting a friend of her’s apartment, and the friend served me caffeinated tea knowing I don’t drink caffeine. This spiked my blood pressure to 200/130 and I had to go to the hospital. I now have a $4000 bill from the ER and ambulance.

She (the friend) is aware that I don’t drink caffeine, but does not know the reason why. She has ridiculed me for not consuming caffeine in the past to the point where I would almost call it bullying. She has pressed many times asking me why I don’t drink it and I have told her off that it is none of her business, or that I don’t like the feeling.

This morning, we sat down at her apartment for tea with our group of friends. She served everyone else first. Then she got another tea kettle from her kitchen, and said ‘and here is some DECAF for (my name)’ in a sarcastic voice. A couple other girls at the table snickered at this. I rolled my eyes and drank the tea.

About 10 minutes later my chest starts to feel funny but I chose to ignore it. 10 minutes after that and I can’t ignore the feeling anymore, and I announce that I don’t feel good and need to lie down. I ask my girlfriend to run to our car and grab my blood pressure monitor.

At this point everyone is freaking out. My blood pressure reads 200/130 and I can feel my left arm start to go numb (although this was probably just anxiety)

My girlfriend calls an ambulance. At this point the friend speak up and admits that she served me regular caffeinated tea because she thought I was ‘just being a wuss’ about it and she wanted to prove a point that I would be fine. She was in tears as she admitted this - she knew she screwed up.

I was taken to the ER and put on medication to lower my blood pressure. I never actually entered cardiac arrest - but the doctors said I most likely would have if I did not get to the ER In time. I consumed a large black tea - based on the bloodwork they estimate around ~90mg of caffeine - which is not a lot for healthy person.

My questions:

do I have a case to persue her in civil court for the medical costs? Do I have a case to pursue her in civil court for emotional damages for the embarrassment, and prolonged bullying before the incident? Do I have a case to press criminal charges? The way I see it, I was drugged.

My girlfriend does not want me to pursue this in court. But I could care less about our relationship at this point given her reluctance to stand up to this friend for me in the past.