A 16-year-old aunt took to Reddit to get some advice after she mistakenly told her brother to use an EpiPen on her nephew. Her brother now wants her to repay him in full.
“Basically, my nephew has a pretty severe peanut allergy, to the point where they carry an EpiPen around all the time just in case,” the OP said. “From what I know, if he mistakenly eats a peanut or something, they have to use the EpiPen asap.”
The OP is just 16-years-old and still lives at home with her parents, and her brother occasionally stops by with his son regularly.
“My brother drops my nephew off at my parent’s house pretty randomly, most of the time he’ll call ahead but sometimes he comes without warning,” she shared, “but my parents are usually there and responsible. Of course when we know my nephew is coming, we put away all the peanut products.”
But what led her to post to Reddit happened earlier in the day when she ordered lunch for herself.
OP said she did not know her brother and nephew would be stopping by. She left her chicken nuggets on the table while she finished up a class for school “and when I walked out I saw my nephew eating one of my nuggets.”
She said, “I panicked because I knew that Chick Fil A uses peanut oil to fry their chicken.” And as she wanted to keep her nephew safe, she ran to tell her brother what he did.
“I ran and told my brother that my nephew ate a chicken nugget that was fried with peanut oil and he immediately used the EpiPen on my nephew,” she said.
And while it sounded like she did everything right, her sister-in-law was not pleased.
“When my brother’s wife found out, she was furious because apparently peanut oil is refined and therefore my nephew isn’t allergic to it, so they had just wasted an EpiPen,” she explained.
Now, the brother is “blaming” her and wants her to replace the EpiPen “since it’s my fault it was used,” she said. In addition, he said that can’t afford another EpiPen. “But I feel like, as his dad, he should’ve been aware of what his son was or wasn’t allergic to and stopped him from eating something if he wasn’t sure he was allergic to it.”
“I’m 16, so I do have a job, but it’s minimum wage, and I only have about $800 saved and it’s part of what I’m saving up for college. I can’t afford to spend $600 on an EpiPen,” she wrote and asked the Reddit community if she’s in the wrong.
“NTA – you were concerned for his safety and alerted his parent to the possible issue,” one person commented. “It’s always better to be safe than sorry – sure, in hindsight, it was a waste of an EpiPen, but better to waste it than not use it when it was actually needed.”
“NTA None of what happened was your fault,” another replied. “Nephew took the nugget without asking. You told dad about the peanut oil. He administered the shot. Mom apparently knew peanut oil was ok so why didn’t dad? That’s on him. His kid, his responsibility. To ask a 16-year-old who was only an unfortunate bystander to pay that bill is beyond ridiculous.”
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