EpiPen didn’t work for dancer who died from mislabeled cookies: attorney

The New York City professional dancer who died from an allergic reaction to incorrectly-labeled cookies suffered such extreme anaphylactic shock that her EpiPen was ineffective, her family’s lawyer said – as they vowed to seek “justice” from the supermarket that sold the treats.

Órla Baxendale, 25, was rehearsing at a dance studio in Connecticut on Jan. 11 when she suffered a severe allergic reaction to a Vanilla Florentine cookie from Stew Leonard’s, attorney Marijo D. Adminey said in a statement Thursday.

“Orla was very careful and hyper vigilant about everything she ate, and always thoroughly checked the ingredients on all packaging. In addition, she always carried an EpiPen with her and surrounded herself with people who know how to administer one,” the attorney added.

“In fact, when this tragic and preventable incident occurred and after she began to have an anaphylactic reaction, an EpiPen was used but due to the severity of her allergy, it was not effective,” the statement read.

Adminey also slammed Stew Leonard’s insistence that his eponymous chain was not informed by the cookie manufacturer that the ingredients now included peanuts – even though the Long Island-based bakery said it updated the company in July 2023.

“In what could only be described as deplorable conduct, Stew Leonard chose to post a video statement with his family alongside him attempting yet again to circumvent blame by stating that his Chief Products Officer was unaware of the change in ingredients,” the lawyer said.

“Instead of standing up and taking full responsibility as the public would have expected them to, as the family of Orla would have expected him to, Stew Leonard’s is engaging in a public relations media campaign and promoting their own self-interests,” she insisted.

Baxendale’s passing was a double tragedy, Adminey continued, not only because her life was “tragically stolen,” but because her cause of death was “100% unquestionably preventable and avoidable.”

In an email to The Post on Thursday, Adminey added that “we have every intention of instituting an action on behalf of her estate and getting justice for Orla.”

“Based upon the outrageous conduct of Stew Leonard in failing to list peanuts, which Orla was horribly allergic to, in the cookie ingredients we are certainly going to commence legal action!” co-counsel Howard S. Hershenhorn added.

Baxendale was originally from Manchester, and moved to New York City in 2018 to study on a scholarship at the Ailey School.

At the time of her death, she was a professional dancer with the Momix Dance Company.

“Órla was so careful and it wasn’t enough to keep her with us, she was taken far too soon by a severe allergic reaction to a food product,” Baxandale’s sister, Niamh, wrote in a heartbreaking Instagram tribute.

“Órla was radiant, a dreamer. I am so honoured to say that this girl is my sister, she was just so cherished by everyone,” her other sister, Ciara, wrote on her own page.

Neither Niamh nor Ciara returned The Post’s request for a comment.