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The Cincinnati Beacon

Dayton Daily News Exposes Heimlich's Bizarre Drowning Quackeries
Sunday, September 03, 2006

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

As we've been reporting for years, Dr. Henry Heimlich's claim that abdominal
thrusts can rescue drowning victims is a crock. Every expert says doing the
Heimlich maneuver on drowning victims is not only useless, it can be deadly.
Nevertheless, on Memorial Day weekend, the Enquirer promoted Heimlich's
dangerous advice by publishing a near full-page graphic on how to do the
maneuver on drowning victims. This generated urgent letters to the editor
from medical experts and Commissioner Todd Portune explaining that Heimlich's
drowning claims had been throroughly discredited for years and that someone
following the Enquirer's instructions might kill somebody. Despite these
concerns, the Enquirer then reprinted Heimlich's dangerous advice in a
rearranged graphic. As for the letters, editor Dave Wells didn't print a
single one. We reported the story and printed the letters and former
Enquirer reporter Ben Kaufman wrote it up in a thorough CityBeat column.

Now the Dayton Daily News has run an extensively researched five-part
feature by medical reporter Kevin Lamb entitled, Is The Heimlich Maneuver
Safe for Drowning Victims? The articles include interviews with authorities
in emergency medicine, drowning, lifesaving, health fraud, Dr. Heimlich, and
Heimlich's son, Peter. Despite being confronted by overwhelming evidence
that disproves his theories and questions his undocumented offers of proof,
Dr. Heimlich continues to assert that he's right and everyone else is wrong
in a field in which he has no demonstrated expertise. Here are the five
articles:

Heimlich Claims His 'Maneuver' Can Save People from Drowning:

Dr. Henry Heimlich is under increasing fire for his decades-long campaign to
make the Heimlich maneuver the first step in drowning rescue. The American
Heart Association takes the rare step of singling it out as "unnecessary and
potentially dangerous" in new guidelines for this year. Despite Heimlich's
nearly 30-year campaign, every other authority to evaluate the Heimlich
maneuver for drowning has recommended against using it before mouth-to-mouth
breathing, if at all.

Drowning Experts Question Use of Heimlich Maneuver:

Other drowning researchers have repeatedly asked Dr. Henry Heimlich for
medical reports and witness names from the examples he gives of successful
drowning rescues using the Heimlich maneuver. In one exchange of letters,
Heimlich asked how anyone could be expected to remember names from so long
ago. "They're pretty shaky," said Dr. Robert Baratz, president of the
National Council Against Health Fraud....Dr. James Orlowski has collected
about 30 cases of Heimlich maneuvers leading to bad results in drowning
rescues, usually because of vomiting. Orlowski, a prolific researcher,
directs pediatric intensive care, pediatrics and medical ethics at
University Community Hospital in Tampa and teaches at the University of
South Florida.

Heimlich Says He Has Proof 'maneuver' Works:

The biggest use of the Heimlich maneuver for drowning rescues was when Jeff
Ellis & Associates' lifeguards throughout the country tried it before CPR in
1995-99...The research notes themselves are "just a bunch of scribbles on a
grid sheet," said B. Chris Brewster, lifesaving commissioner of the
International Life Saving Federation..."Any respectable scientist - when
somebody says, 'Can I please look at your data and reanalyze it?' - would
say, 'Sure, here are my notebooks and data books,'" (Dr.) Baratz said. Why,
then, hasn't Heimlich done that?"

Heimlich Maneuver Could Prevent Drownings, But Not Being Used:

People are dying because rescuers don't use the Heimlich maneuver on
drowning victims, Dr. Henry Heimlich says repeatedly. He can't understand
why the world's authorities on drowning rescue can't see what is so obvious
to him...Heimlich's assertions are "not the opinion of a maverick," (Dr. )
Baratz said. "He talks as if, 'You've got to believe me because I'm
different and I was right before.' His advocacy of the maneuver for drowning
is, in fact, quackery."

Heimlich's Son Questions Use of Maneuver on Drowning Victims:

"As his son, I felt responsible to do what I could to put a stop to it. I
don't want anyone else to get hurt."