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Lawsuit pending for disgraced 'magic' diet therapist

By Qin Zhongwei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-17 10:41

A 75-year-old woman said she plans to sue Zhang Wuben, the controversial Chinese nutritionist, for allegedly charging an overly expensive registration fee and providing ineffective diet therapy.

This could become the first court case for Zhang since the media exposed him in mid-May for using phony qualifications to promote "magical" food cures, according to Beijing News on Tuesday.

The woman, surnamed Wang, from Huajiadi in Chaoyang district, claimed to have suffered from rheumatism for over 30 years. She went to Zhang's clinic on Dec 23 last year after seeing him on TV.

Wang said she did not get better after spending 1,200 yuan on a registration fee and a further 1,094 yuan on prescribed calcium powder. The report said she later learned from the media she had been the subject of an alleged scam.

Wang filed her lawsuit at Xicheng district court, blaming Zhang, his employer and the media company that promoted Zhang.

In her suit, Wang is seeking to get financial compensation of 4,588 yuan, double the cost of the registration fee and calcium powder.

The court said it would respond to her application within seven days with a decision on whether it would accept the case, according to the report.

Zhang, the once-popular Chinese diet therapist, became famous for prescribing mung beans, eggplants, yams and corn that, while it allegedly failed to cure patients, did cause price surges as citizens rushed to snap them up.

After his medical degrees were proven to be fake by the media, swarms of concerned people came forward to comment on the flaws in his approach.

Zhang's clinic, Wubentang, located at the Beijing Olympic Stadium Center, was demolished in early June for being an "unauthorized construction".

Patients who had paid fees for future consultations were returned their money, but others like Wang were not.

According to Yi Shenghua, a Beijing-based lawyer, although Zhang is alleged to have exaggerated the strength of his food therapy, it would be difficult to prove a crime has been committed since Zhang offered diet and nutritional advice, not a medical solution.

"But Zhang should be punished for any illegal medical practices since he does not have a license. His patients deserve compensation," Yi said.