Dr. Oz is being sued for giving insomnia advice on his popular T.V. show which unfortunately left a New Jersey man with third-degree burns on his feet.
Dr. Oz recommended filling the toes of socks with uncooked rice, heating them in the microwave and slipping them on for a low-cost, at-home insomnia cure. However, Dr. Oz did warn viewers to not overheat the rice, but Frank Dietl who has diabetes, is not be able to recognize too-hot temps due to numbness in their feet.
The advice was given during an April 17 episode of "The Dr. Oz Show," where the popular cardiothoracic surgeon touted a segment dubbed "Dr. Oz's 24-Hour Energy Boost."
"You do this and lie for about 20 minutes with those socks on in bed. The heat will divert blood to your feet," Oz explained on the show.
"When your feet get hot, guess what happens to your body? It gets cold. Your body will automatically adjust its core temperature and as it gets cooler, you're going to be able to sleep better because your body has to be cold in order to get sleepy," Dr. Oz said.
The only warning he offered was to not get the socks too hot in the microwave.
"There were no proper instructions or proper warnings," Dietl's attorney, Dominick Gullo, said, according to the New York Post. The lawsuit claims that Dr. Oz should be held responsible for Dietl's third degree burns because the TV host never issued a disclaimer saying that the sleep tip could be dangerous to people with neuropathy.
"What upset me was that Oz should have had a disclaimer for people with neuropathy,'' Dietl said.
