Many people attending the
weekend considered the experience to be almost mystical –
an experience never to be forgotten – the experience of
being in the presence of and listening to the inspiring words
of Dr. Henry Heimlich – the man who has saved more lives
than anyone else in human history...To preserve the memory of
this event, all interested participants had an opportunity to
have their pictures taken with Dr. Hemlich, performing the maneuver
on them. Report
on the Advanced Study Weekend with Dr. Heimlich, The McDougall Newsletter, February 2005
"A Caring World"?:
My father's history of collegial
abuse & intimidation
by Peter
M. Heimlich
From A
Caring World newsletter published by the Heimlich Institute/Deaconess
Associations, Cincinnati:
The Heimlich Institute established
the “A Caring World” program to foster peace and health
worldwide. Our goal is to establish A Caring World chapters in
cities across the United States and, eventually, in other parts
of the world. I hope you will support this project by helping
establish a chapter in your own community. Please write us to
find out how.
From personal correspondence:
I chaired the 1986 American
Heart Association CPR Guidelines Conference panel on near-drowning.
Dr. Heimlich was on the panel and was quite cordial until after
the meeting when, after ALL of the other panelists felt that
there was insufficient evidence to recommend his maneuver first
ahead of MTM ventilation. (It was added for cases where particulate
matter was suspected to be in the airway or if MTM failed). At
that point, he viciously attacked ME (even though I was totally
neutral and just interested in the data). He got really angry
when I pressed him to produce references for studies he was citing
that, despite a great deal of library work on my part, could
simply not be found.
He wrote to my University
president, dean, and about a dozen others accusing me of everything
under the sun. As a brand new, junior faculty member, that created
a major problem which, fortunately, once reviewed locally, went
away as my superiors realized that I had done nothing wrong.
I believe that Dr. Heimlich
may have tried the same tactics with Dr. Linda Quan, Dr. Richard
Melker, Dr. Jerome Modell, and even Dr. Roger White. There was
clearly a pattern to his behavior.
Joseph P. Ornato, MD, FACP, FACC, FACEP
Professor & Chairman, Dept of Emergency Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System
Richmond, VA
From Doctors
Choke on Other Use for Heimlich Maneuver by Natalie Gagliordi,
The Oracle, October 1, 2007:
"Most people don't know
that my father cultivated a reputation in the medical profession
as someone who would relentlessly attack other doctors,"
Peter (Heimlich) said. "He'd write letters to people's bosses
demanding they be fired and would hint at pending lawsuits. After
writing directly to Dr. Heimlich and publishing his article in
JAMA, (Dr. James) Orlowski witnessed the wrath first hand. "He
began accusing me of all kinds of unethical behavior," Orlowski
said. "Basically he tried to make my life as miserable as
possible."
From The
Heimlich Manoeuvre by Aviva Ziegler, Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, July 27, 2009:
In response to the article
I wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association Dr
Heimlich, rather than replying in a letter to the editor, which
is the way most scientists would do it, instead tried to attack
me personally, tried to actually get me fired from my institution
- James Orlowski MD
From Off
the Deep End by Curt Guyette, Detroit Metro Times, 12/8/04:
“Heimlich went nuts,”
Ornato says. Among other things, Heimlich wrote to officials
at the Medical College of Virginia, where Ornato had just joined
the faculty. “He almost got me fired,” Ornato says.
“The things he was saying about me were really slanderous.”
Linda Quan MD: “(Dr. Heimlich) went to my university
and accused me of scientific misconduct. Basically he said I
hadn’t used good science. They did an investigation and
cleared me of any wrongdoing."
From an April
19, 2006 public letter by Charles
W. Guildner MD:
When I first learned of Dr.
Heimlich’s proposal of the maneuver for relieving choking
sometime around 1973 or 1974, I was a consultant to the American
Heart Association’s (AHA) Emergency Cardiac Care (ECC) Committee
and active in research in the area of emergency airway management.
I am an Anesthesiologist and was, at the time, in practice in
Everett, Washington. Having been interested in resuscitation
for many years, I was excited about Dr. Heimlich’s proposal.
Creating an “artificial cough” made a lot of sense
to me.
Because Dr. Heimlich used
dogs for his experiments and since the dog has a much different
anatomical configuration compared with the human, I proposed
to the ECC my idea of a study on human volunteers and was encouraged
to proceed. I think there was an overall excitement over the
“Heimlich” concept.
I contacted Dr. Heimlich to
review with him, the exact procedure as he conceived it. He was
excited about my study and was, at first, very cooperative and
encouraging. He asked that I let him know of the results of this
study as soon as possible as he had a lecture to give in the
near future, wanting to know of results of my study. While designing
the protocol for this study, I decided to make a comparison between
applying the “thrust” to the upper abdomen (Heimlich)
and applying the “thrust” to the mid chest. We measured
peak pressures and volumes created by the different maneuvers
in six anesthetized human volunteers.
What became evident was that
greater peak pressures, flows and volumes of air moved resulted
with the “Chest Thrust” than with the “Abdominal
Thrust” (Heimlich). I reported this to Dr. Heimlich. He
went ballistic, nasty. His personality changed completely. I
was shocked and amazed. My amazement and shock was only beginning.
He immediately filed unethical medical practices against me with
the American Medical Association, American Society of Anesthesiologists,
Washington State Medical Association, my local hospitals, the
American Heart Association and there may have been others. Dr.
Heimlich made my life a wreck for two years while all of the
investigations and name calling continued....I was completely
exonerated.
From Heimlich
Maneuver by Patricia Murphy, KUOW Public Radio, December
7, 2007:
It's so repugnant to me the
way Dr. Heimlich has bullied..He's a bully and he has bullied
people into submission -
Charles W. Guildner MD
From Heimlich
Takes on Foes of His Maneuver, Cleveland Plain Dealer,
January 23, 1994:
(Dr. Henry Heimlich) has accused
the prestigious (National Academy of Sciences) of collaborating
with the Red Cross and falsifying a report on the treatment of
drowning victims.
From Rebel
With a Cause: Saving Lives by Henry J. Heimlich MD, Encyclopedia
Britannica Medical Annual 1998:
Caring can spread more rapidly
than any cancer. A Caring World encourages the media to publicize
the magnanimous acts of those who do not usually make headlines,
just as it does the philanthropic gestures of athletes. entertainers,
and politicians. The Heimlich Institute is establishing Caring
World programs in cities across the United States and hopes eventually
to do so abroad. Through this program I hope to teach others
what I have learned so well: that true happiness comes from truly
giving of oneself. Just as anyone can perform the Heimlich maneuver,
everyone can learn to care. Of that I am utterly convinced!
Copyright, all
rights reserved @ Peter M. Heimlich, all rights reserved. Click here to report broken links
or to contact the author.
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