Celebrity surgeon and daytime host Dr. Mehmet Oz is being sued by Frank Dietrl, a New Jersey man who claims that an insomnia cure promoted on "The Dr. Oz Show" resulted in third-degree burns on his feet,The New York Daily News reported.
Dietrl, in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, claims that Dr. Oz's "knapsack heated rice footside" has led to burns to his feet, which "confined [him] to his bed for weeks,"
The product was featured in an April 17 segment called "Dr. Oz's 24-Hour Energy Boost" where he encouraged his viewers to fill the toes of a pair of socks with uncooked riced, warm up the footwear in a microwave and put them on for about 20 minutes.
Dietl, however suffers from neuropathy, a numbness in his feet which is caused by diabetes. He did not realize how hot the socks were until getting up in the middle of the night to try and walk.
"There were no proper instructions or proper warning," his lawyer Dominick Gullo said. "There were no warnings to anybody with neuropathy to not try it."
Harpo Productions, the studio behind "The Dr. Oz Show" said they had not yet reviewed the lawsuit, adding "we stand by the content in our program as safe and educational for our viewers," spokesman Tim Sullivan said.
Dr. Oz is no stranger to criticism. In September 2011, Oz drew anger from the Food and Drug Administration for a show, which focused on the dangers of arsenic in apple juice. The FDA soon concluded there was "no evidence to suggest a public health risk."
Dr. Oz is also a spokesman and advisor the website RealAge.com, which The New York Times criticized for its pharmaceutical marketing practices. Dr. Oz, a Turkish-American, is also a best-selling author.
