Originally Posted by
Tartan
Older skin is very fragile! I am sure this contributed to the 3rd degree burns. I have found that all fast food hot beverage cups are very fragile once you remove the lid.
Yes, so correct about the older skin. I watched the video. I never had an opinion on the story as did not have a television at the time. Maybe it is because I do not have any judgment history on this that I see some things that scream out, to me at least, that McDonald's was the victim. 81 year old skin is paper-tissue thin. 81 year olds know they their muscles and limbs shake and are not as easy to control. 81 year olds know it is not gonna work putting a cup of anything between your legs to balance without getting some spilled over the top. At the beginning of the story it was mentioned the vehicle only had curved surfaces so the cup was put between the legs. Her reasoning for putting the coffee between the paper-thin skinned thighs was because the car was not made to accommodate drinks on the go. So, did the coffee burn because it was too hot or because there were only curved surfaces in the vehicle? Blaming the auto mfgr is about as silly as blaming McDonalds. Out of the seven hundred burns mentioned, how many were the result of removing the entire lid to put cream and sugar in, instead of just through the drink/sip opening? Were they burned because they treated a travel beverage as a table-top beverage? Most 81 year olds would be too shaky to pour cream through just the sip hole and many were/are in the habit of asking it be added before they get the drink or request a few ice cubes to be put in. This woman chose to compensate for her age by opening the entire lid and no, she was not driving, but was the car in motion all the same? The fact is she would not have gotten burned if she would have acted her age. She would not have gotten burned if she had kept the lid on; or asked for ice to be put in, etc.. If her skin burned that severely at 190 degrees, she still would have had substantial burning at 170-180 degrees because.......her skin was so fragile. Thank goodness the coffee was at the higher temperature or we would be getting our coffee at all restaurants and gas stations at the not-so-hot temp of 160 degrees! (Yes, it is sad she was so badly burned, but this video has me wondering how in the heck she was awarded anything.