Dr. Oz Sued Over Insomnia Treatment; What Went Wrong?

Dr. Mehmet Oz is being sued by a South Jersey man who claims a home remedy mentioned on the surgeon's television show gave him third degree burns as he slept.

Frank Dietl, 76, of Southampton, N.J., filed suit in Manhattan, N.Y., alleging Oz's "knapsack heated rice footsie" insomnia treatment caused Dietl to receive massive burns on his feet. Dietl suffers from neuropathy that affects sensation in his feet, and claimed he could not feel the rice burning him. Oz's remedy called for rice to be microwaved inside a patient's socks and slipped on one's feet in order to fall asleep faster. Oz said on his program that the heat on the feet will cause blood to rush to those extremities, cooling the body's core temperature and allowing a person to doze sooner than otherwise.

Dr. Oz did warn viewers not to overheat the socks, and Dietl did not report how long the contraption was kept in his microwave.

"[Dietl] wound up with third degree burns on his feet and was confined to his bed for weeks," defense lawyer Dominick Gullo said.

Dietl said he was upset that the Dr. Oz program did not offer a disclaimer for those with neuropathy. Some of Dr. Oz's suggestions have met with opposition in the past. The Food & Drug Administration disagreed with Dr. Oz's 2011 claim of high levels of arsenic in apple juice, saying "there is no evidence to support a public health risk."

A spokesman for the parent company of the program, Tim Sullivan of Harpo Productions, told the press that the program the crew of the show stands "by the content in our program as safe and educational for our viewers."