## Facts

- Eddie Drew and a friend went to a restaurant after several hours of drinking; Drew ordered food and began choking on a piece of meat.
- The friend sought help from restaurant employees, but assistance was delayed and confused.
- Other patrons placed Drew on the floor and attempted resuscitation; police and an ambulance were eventually called.
- A piece of meat was removed from Drew’s trachea at the hospital, but he suffered cardiorespiratory arrest and died the same day.
- The estate brought a wrongful death action alleging negligence for (1) failing to render reasonable first aid and (2) failing to summon emergency assistance within a reasonable time.

## Issues

1. Whether a restaurant owes a legal duty to render first aid (e.g., Heimlich maneuver or CPR) to a customer who is choking and in imminent need of medical attention.
2. Whether the trial court properly limited the jury instruction to a duty to summon medical assistance within a reasonable time and rejected a broader instruction based on Restatement (Second) of Torts § 314A.

## Decision

- The court affirmed partial summary judgment holding the restaurant had no duty to render first aid to the choking patron.
- The court held the restaurant’s duty, once it knows or has reason to know a patron is in imminent need, is to take reasonable steps to summon medical assistance within a reasonable time.
- The court affirmed the defense verdict and approved the instruction stating the restaurant had no duty to provide medical training to employees or medical rescue services to customers.
- The court treated the existence and scope of duty as a question of law for the court, not a fact question for the jury.
- A dissent would have recognized a broader duty more closely tracking § 314A’s reference to giving first aid.

## Legal Principles

- A business proprietor’s special relationship with patrons can create an affirmative duty to take reasonable steps to secure aid when the proprietor knows or should know the patron is in imminent need of medical attention.
- In Wyoming, for restaurants faced with a sudden medical emergency, that duty is generally satisfied by reasonably prompt summoning of professional medical assistance.
- The duty does not require the proprietor to provide medically trained staff, specialized rescue services, or to perform specific medical procedures as a matter of law.
- Courts determine whether a duty exists and its general scope; juries decide breach and causation within the duty defined by the court.

## Conclusion

The court held that a restaurant’s obligation to a choking customer is limited to exercising reasonable care to summon medical assistance within a reasonable time, and it is not legally required to provide first aid or medically trained rescue personnel; the judgment for the restaurant was affirmed.


Drew v. LeJay's Sportsmen's Café, Inc., 806 P.2d 301 (Wyo. 1991)