The parents of a one year old baby have sued Sanlu because he developed kidney stones after drinking infant formula contaminated by melamine.
The case is being represented by Ji Cheng . . . [who] said his clients sought legal help because they could no longer afford medical treatment for their child, the report said.
Even though China’s State Council, the Cabinet, has ordered hospitals to provide free health care for sick children, the facility where this child was being treated, Beijing Children’s Hospital, only offers free treatment to children diagnosed after September 12, when the scandal broke, the magazine said.
It said Ji’s clients have had to foot all medical expenses incurred since June, when the baby started showing symptoms.
Fonterra has a 43% stake in Sanlu which is one of 22 companies in China which used milk poisoned by melamine to produce baby formula.
Update: Macdoctor has more on this here.
I blogged about this, this morning. The interesting thing is that Chinese law allows you to claim expenses but not punitive damages. The government has cunningly offered to pay all medical expenses, essentially cutting the legs out from under all the lawyers.