Boneless chicken wings can contain bones, Ohio supreme court rules

Court rejects claims from restaurant patron who suffered medical complications from getting bone stuck in throat

Consumers cannot expect boneless chicken wings to actually be free of bones, a divided Ohio state supreme court ruled Thursday, rejecting claims by a restaurant patron who suffered serious medical complications from getting a bone stuck in his throat.

Michael Berkheimer was dining with his wife and friends at a wing joint in Hamilton, Ohio, and had ordered the usual – boneless wings with parmesan garlic sauce – when he felt a bite-sized piece of meat go down the wrong way. Three days later, feverish and unable to keep food down, Berkeimer went to the emergency room, where a doctor discovered a long, thin bone that had torn his esophagus and caused an infection.