Whose Maneuver?
Edward A. Patrick MD PhD + Henry
J. Heimlich MD - A career timeline
by Peter M. Heimlich
1972 - Patrick claims to have
developed "a model of the lungs and airway utilizing electomechanical
energy conversion."
1973 - Dr. Patrick regularly
visits with Dr. Heimlich at Heimlich's home in Cincinnati.
1974 - Dr. Patrick does choking
studies at Purdue University in affiliation with Heimlich
1975-1977 - With Dr. Heimlich,
Dr. Patrick presents papers on airway obstruction to American
Red Cross and National Research Council national conferences
and other conferences.
1975-1978 - Dr. Patrick claims
to do have done three years of a "Specially-Arranged Residency
in Emergency Medicine" at two Cincinnati hospitals under
the supervision of Dr. Heimlich. Documents confirm that Dr. Patrick
was a full time employee with the rank of professor in the Department
of Electrical Engineering at Purdue University.
1976 - Dr. Patrick is a member
of a short-lived Cincinnati four-man think-tank called HARP.
organized by Heimlich, which also includes astronaut Neil Armstrong,
and chemist George Rieveschl, who invented Benedryl.
1979 - After expert reviewers
at the National Academy of Sciences, the American Heart Association,
and the American Red Cross rejected his choking data on the Heimlich
maneuver, Dr. Patrick branded the experts' consensus a "cover
up" and called for a congressional investigation. In a letter
to the editor of the New York Times, Dr. Heimlich refers to Patrick's
demands.
1980 - "Choking: A questionnaire
to find the most effective treatment," by Dr. Patrick, is
published in "Emergency" magazine. This article solicits
case reports from EMTs for Patrick's statistical analysis of
choking at Purdue.
October 1981 - "Emergency"
magazine publishes an article written by Dr. Patrick in which
he claimed to have used the Heimlich maneuver to revive a two-year
old female who suffered near-drowning. He claims the case took
place at Lima Memorial Hospital (Lima, OH) emergency room on
June 22, 1980. He and Dr. Heimlich claim this case "scientifically
proves" that the Heimlich maneuver removes water from the
lungs of near-drowning victims.
July 1985 - Drs. Patrick &
Heimlich present the Lima case to a committee of the American
Heart Association conference. Shortly thereafter, committee chair
Joseph P. Ornato MD exchanged this remarkable series of combative
letters with Dr. Heimlich in 1985 over the issue. Ornato's letters
thoroughly dismiss the quality of Heimlich's evidence (including
Patrick's Lima case). Ornato also states Heimlich attempted to
intimidate him with threats:
Finally, I must comment on
the manner in which vou have related to me and the National Standards
process I recall that the night before the Special Situations
panel in Dallas you warned me that if the Standards were not
written to your satisfaction, you intended to "go to the
media". I remember responding to your statement by saying
that we each must do what our judgement and conscience dictates,
but that I wished for you to understand that I would not allow
such considerations to influence the fair and impartial manner
in which the panel would deal with the scientific issues. (Ornato-Heimlich, August 23, 1985)
Nevertheless, as a result
of the Ornato committee's recommendations, the Heimlich maneuver
was then incorporated into AHA drowning rescue guidelines as
a secondary procedure if CPR fails.
September 30, 1985 - US Surgeon
General C. Everett Koop issues a Public Health Statement urging
the American Heart Association and Red Cross to endorse the Heimlich
maneuver for choking over other choking rescue methods. According
to an October 2, 1985 Washington Post article:
Koop said in an interview
that he felt the need to act more quickly after receiving letters
from Heimlich and University of Cincinnati professor Edward A.
Patrick, as well as his knowledge of the value of the procedure.
"I felt that I couldn't stand around and wait." Patrick,
who has performed research showing that the back slap can drive
a foreign object downward, complained to Koop that the "lives
of many Americans are endangered as the result of Red Cross first
aid instruction" and said "it is urgent that you inform
the public through the media of the back slap danger."
1986 - AHA removes backblows
from choking rescue guidelines and endorses Heimlich maneuver
as the only accepted method of choking rescue for children and
adults.
1986 - Drs. Patrick &
Heimlich perform surgeries together, installing the Heimlich
Micro-Trach in hospitals around the country, four years before
FDA first approved the Micro-Trach for use on on November 7,
1989. (As early
as 1980, nine years before FDA approval, the Heimlich Micro-Trach
was surgically installed in hundreds of patients at Deaconess
Hospital, Cincinnati.)
1986 - Dr. Patrick criticizes
proposed University of Florida research study to test the Heimlich
maneuver for drowning.
1988 - Drs. Heimlich &
Patrick co-author "Using the Heimlich Maneuver to Save Near-Drowning
Victims" (Postgraduate Medicine, August 1988).
1990 - Drs. Patrick &
Heimlich hold a press conference in Watertown, New York, on Micro-Trach
and other Heimlich projects; Drs. Heimlich & Patrick co-author
"The Heimlich Maneuver, Best Technique for Saving Any Choking
Victim's Life" (Postgraduate Medicine, May 1, 1990)
1990s - Dr. Patrick is "Medical
Director" of the Heimlich Institute, according to a 1990
article, a 1995 CV, a 1991 journal article, and a 1992 Heimlich
Institute "malariotherapy" fundraising prospectus.
1993 - Accompanying Dr. Heimlich
and Heimlich Institute employee Eric Spletzer, Dr. Patrick makes
a presentation to special committee of Institute of Medicine,
arranged at the request of Dr. Heimlich, The Use of the Heimlich
Maneuver in Near Drowning. Dr. Patrick presents the Lima case,
but changes the gender of the victim from a girl to a boy. Dr.
Patrick also presents an unpublished study of the Heimlich maneuver
for drowning from the "Patrick Institute." Dr. Patrick
identifies his affiliation as president of the "Patrick
Institute," an organization which appears to be unregistered
in any state.
1995 - Patrick publishes an
article on the "Patrick-Heimlich Method" of drowning
rescue, “Resuscitation (Patrick-Heimlich Method and Other
Techniques): Pitfalls and Other Medicolegal/Forensic Scientific
Considerations” (Legal Medicine, 1995).
May 28, 2003 - Patrick issues
press release claiming to be the uncredited co-developer of what
came to be known as the "Heimlich maneuver":
Dr. Heimlich and I worked
together to develop what has become known as the Heimlich maneuver
just as the Wright brothers worked together to develop the first
flying machine.
June 2004 - In a letter to
the editor of the Cornell Alumni Magazine, Dr. Heimlich distances
himself from his longtime colleague and close personal friend:
Dr. Edward Patrick, who was
a resident at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati in 1975, where I
was Director of Surgery. I met Patrick a short time before, when
he came for his job interview.
August 11, 2004 - From Heimlich's
Maneuver by Thomas Francis, Cleveland Scene (cover story):
Asked to describe his role
in inventing the maneuver, Patrick gives technical descriptions
of two discoveries that were turning points, both of which he
claims as his own. He has difficulty remembering Heimlich's contribution.
November 10, 2005 - From
Outmaneuvered by Thomas Francis, Radar Magazine:
“I would like to get
proper credit for what I’ve done,” Patrick told me.
“But I’m not hyper about it.” Patrick’s ex-wife
Joy tells a different story: “Whenever my kids would say
‘Heimlich maneuver,’ he would correct them and say,
‘Patrick maneuver.’”
Home
Page
Copyright@2003, all rights
reserved; click here
to report broken links or to contact the author.