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Updated August 22, 2010

Website statement of purpose
Key subjects, news reports, and under-reported stories

 

(Peter Heimlich is now) writing a book about (his father), called Outmaneuvered. "I'm still turning up new information every day." (LA Weekly, 4/8/10) Do you have information to share on these or other Heimlich topics? Contact Peter or send him an anonymous e-mail via Anonymouse Henry J. Heimlich MD & family; Jane Heimlich & the Murrays; Edward A. Patrick MD PhD (deceased) & family; the Heimlich Institute at Xavier University & Deaconess Hospital; "malariotherapy"; Michele Ashby & the African gold mining companies; Victor Esch MD, drowning frauds; Ron Watson, Terry Watkins, Denise Schmidt RN, Billy Lindner, etc; the Jewish Hospital years (fainting, firing, bogus residency); the Heimlich Valve & other inventions named after my father; Gerson Carr MD; Milton Uhley MD, Paul Winchell (both deceased), Joanne Carson, other California associates; Dan Gavriliu, the Reversed Gastric Tube procedure (RGT); James M. Fattu MD, Harry Gibbons MD, Rustum Roy, and other associates; Isaac Piha & Irene Bogachus; Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF), Carol J. Spizzirri; Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), Neal Barnard MD; The Heimlich Group, the NY years; Joe Dehner, Stan Chesley, Cincinnati tales; Jason Zengerle (TNR); Robert Kraft, media scamming; narcotics abuse, sexual misconduct, etc.

 

Click the photo of Karen & Peter to read Thomas Francis's landmark Heimlich expose in Radar Magazine

 

Perhaps the most challenging question raised by my story is one that confronts most people in one form or another: When we become aware of wrongdoing commited by a family member, how do we choose to respond? - Peter

Please do not understand me too quickly - Andre Gide

Better not to begin. Once you begin, better to finish it. (source)

 

Outmaneuvered: How we busted the Heimlich medical frauds

by Peter M. Heimlich (bio)

In Spring 2002, my wife Karen and I began researching the career of my father, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich of Cincinnati, famous for the "Heimlich maneuver" choking rescue method. To our astonishment, we inadvertently uncovered a wide-ranging, unseen 50-year history of fraud. Our research revealed my father to be a spectacular con man and serial liar, undoubtedly one of history's most prolific - and destructive - medical humbugs.

For decades, he relentlessly promoted a string of crackpot medical treatments that resulted in serious injuries and deaths, including children. Most bizarre is "malariotherapy" - a quack cure that consists of infecting for AIDS, cancer, and Lyme Disease patients with malaria. My father also promotes the Heimlich maneuver as a cure-all for drowning, asthma, cystic fibrosis, even heart attacks.

All these treatments have been thoroughly discredited by medical experts and my father has no legitimate evidence to support his ideas. He just made them up.

Nevertheless, armed with considerable charm, an instinct for public relations, and fueled by a ravenous need for attention and adulation, my father used the media to pass himself off as a medical genius/inventor and humanitarian, eventually being crowned "America's most famous doctor" (The New Republic). Facts prove that contrary to his self-cultivated public image, he was an incompetent surgeon who appropriated ideas from other doctors and attached his name to them. The procedure known as "the Heimlich maneuver" is probably no exception. Facts indicate that the only thing my father ever invented was his own reputation.

At age 48 I came to realize that my father was a danger to others and to himself. Since then I've done what I could to bring the facts to public attention in order to expose the "poison ideas" circulated by my father and his cronies, a motley crew of hacks, quacks, and narco doctors.

Family ties aside, how Henry Heimlich maneuvered his way into medical history and made himself a household word is a fascinating and disturbing tale that inevitably leads to this puzzlebox question: Why do we believe what we believe? (continued)

 

What the experts say Peter Heimlich's relentless and successful effort to expose the truth has been an inspiration to lifesavers everywhere - B. Chris Brewster, President, US Lifesaving Association Your crusade is a major plus for medicine and for the American public. So, as a member of both communities, I thank you - Alan Steinman MD MPH, Rear Admiral (ret.) US Coast Guard, author, US Coast Guard water safety manual I've been investigating medical fraud and quackery for 25 years. Peter Heimlich and his wife Karen uncovered the biggest case I've ever seen - Robert S. Baratz MD PhD DDS, National Council Against Health Fraud  Peter Heimlich has worked tirelessly to uncover a fascinating, yet little known chapter of medical history, one with as much human intrigue as you would expect from a John LeCarre novel - Charles W. Guildner MD (ret), former consultant, American Heart Association I applaud your commitment to continuing to clear up these issues - Michelle Jantz, Manager, Operations and Program Administration, Preparedness and Health and Safety, American Red Cross, Washington DC Medical experts speak out against my father's history of misconduct

 

ABC News reports and other videos

Key subjects, TV & print reports, and related documents
A. "Malariotherapy"
B. The use of the Heimlich maneuver for near drowning - a 30-year medical atrocity
C. Heimlich maneuver for choking frauds
D. Heimlich maneuver for asthma fraud
E. False claim of inventing esophagus replacement operation
F. Henry and Phil Heimlich's relationships with narco doctors
G. Who was Dr. Edward A. Patrick?
H. Tall tales & fabrications
I. Supporters of my father's work

 

Under-reported news stories

Did you know that in Spring 2006, the American Red Cross stopped teaching the Heimlich maneuver as the first treatment response for choking? Click here for media reports.

"These so-called medical experts. Screw 'em" by Peter M. Heimlich. Why does a Houston-area company NASCO teach lifeguards to perform abdominal thrusts on drowning victims, a useless, discredited treatment associated with dozens of deaths and serious injuries?

Why did US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop manipulate national first aid guidelines as a "buddy favor" for my father & Dr. Edward A. Patrick? by Peter M. Heimlich

What's "innovative" about medical atrocities? PCRM's hypocritical 'Heimlich Award'  by Peter M. Heimlich      

The Smear Artist: Jason Zengerle's Heimlich article by Peter M. Heimlich. Why did the New Yorker kill Jason Zengerle's bogus article about my father and me? Why did The New Republic publish it two years later?

The Save-A-Life Foundation's failed lawsuit against me, ABC-TV, Chicago investigative reporter Chuck Goudie, Cincinnati blogger Jason Haap, and Dr. Robert Baratz of the National Council Against Health Fraud.

 

 

Incl. interviews with Anthony S. Fauci MD, Peter Rosen MD, Neal Barnard MD, Janet Heimlich, Phil Heimlich, and Peter Heimlich

 

The Maneuver Part II by Chuck Goudie
ABC7 Chicago, November 17, 2006 (text)
 

 

"The Heimlich Manoeuvre"
Audio documentary by Aviva Ziegler, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, July 27, 2009
Includes interviews with Peter, his father, Prof. Ian Jacobs, Charles Guildner MD (ret.), and James P. Orlowski MD

In the early 1970s a new procedure for treating choking victims burst on to the scene in the United States and soon it was famous around the world. The procedure was called the Heimlich manoeuvre, named after the man who created it - Dr Henry Heimlich. It has never been used in Australia. Despite the claims of the extremely charismatic Dr Heimlich, Australian resuscitation experts believe that there isn't enough scientific evidence to support its use. So how does a medical procedure become so widely adopted without any serious scientific evidence? Australian doctors are not alone in their criticism of Dr Heimlich's methods. The most surprising and vocal critic of all turns out to be Dr Heimlich's very own son, Peter Heimlich.

"My father has a famous name, he's a household word and people instinctively trust him. The US media doesn't seem willing to ask him the tough questions and ask questions of the corporation that sponsors the Heimlich Institute which is called Deaconess Associations in Cincinnati. It's a $250 million dollar a year health services corporation that owns a hospital, a number of medical corporations around the United States and they own the Heimlich Institute. They are directly responsible for all of the conduct that has been going on presumably including the malaria experiments (and recommending the Heimlich maneuver for drowning rescue, to stop asthma attacks, and to cure cystic fibrosis)."

For more about Deaconess, click here.

 

 

Interview with my father by Ben Felson MD and George Rievschl PhD (1984)

 

"The Real Me: Dr. Henry Heimlich" (1999) GoodLife TV 

This surreal 45min. infomercial-style tribute/biography to my father features my mother Jane Heimlich, my sisters Elisabeth & Janet Heimlich, my aunt Cele Rosenthal, US Navy historian Jan Herman, Stephanie G. Hagan and her daughter Hillary Hagan of Kaysville Utah tearfully promoting the Heimlich maneuver for treating asthma attacks, and more. Jason Zengerle of The New Republic told me this was "one of the most bizarre tv shows" he'd ever seen and that he thought my father suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

 

 

Copyright @ 2008 Peter M. Heimlich, all rights reserved. Click here to report broken links or to contact the author.