Heimlich-affiliated doctor loses election, Consumer Health Digest #08-49, 12/2/08
Victoria Wulsin, M.D., has
lost her second attempt at election to the United States Congress.
One of the campaign issues was related to unethical human experiments
in which malaria infection was used to treat HIV infection. These
experiments which were conducted in Africa, were either conceived,
coordinated, devised, supervised, funded, or otherwise managed
by Henry Heimlich, M.D, (popularizer of the "Heimlich Maneuver"
for treating choking) and/or the Heimlich Institute in Cincinnati.
In 2004, Wulsin was hired to review Heimlich's work on "malariotherapy"
and write a business plan for promoting it. Wulsin concluded
that "the preponderance of evidence indicates that neither
malaria nor immunotherapy will cure HIV/AIDS" and that the
Heimlich Institute had been too secretive about its work. During
the election campaign, critics charged that Wulsin should have
reporting wrongdoing to the proper authorities. [Baratz RS. Victoria Wulsin
linked to unethical "malariotherapy" experiments.
Quackwatch, Nov 29, 2008] Wulsin lost the election by a vote
of 45% to 37%.
Democratic
Congressional Candidate's Ties to Bizarre AIDS Research, 7/3/08, ABC News
Schmidt ad raises questions about medical
research
by Ben Fischer, Cincinnati Enquirer, 11/01/08
The ad: "Not Exactly
the Good Doctor," a 30-second television spot jointly
paid for by U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt's campaign and the National
Republican Congressional Committee.
...Critics
of the research and Wulsin's political opponents have cast aspersions
on her and the work's chief backer, Dr. Henry Heimlich, but this
advertisement is modest in its claims. It sticks to previously
reported facts, which the Wulsin campaign has not disputed since
the ad first ran Wednesday....In 2004, Wulsin, a physician, wrote
a review of malariotherapy experiments and studies titled "Immunotherapy
and Beyond" for the Heimlich Institute. Barbara Lohr*, director of corporate marketing and
communications for the institute's parent, Deaconess Associations,
confirmed that Wulsin worked for the institute in 2004. At the
end of the review, Wulsin proposed changing the name of the experimentation
to Immunotherapy and securing additional funding. The ad neglects
to mention that Wulsin wrote that her suggestions were for discussion
only. The ad also does not mention two key conclusions reached
by her review: "The preponderance of evidence indicates
that neither malaria nor Immunotherapy will cure HIV/AIDS."
Heimlich's original experimentation led to inconclusive results,
according to Wulsin's review. On the other hand, Wulsin did not reject
the experimentation altogether: "Nevertheless, the potential
for success of Immunotherapy in making a substantial (both statistically
and biologically significant) improvement in the lives of HIV-positive
patients, based on the East Africa trials, warrants verification
and elaboration." In February 2003, Paul Bronston, then
the national chairman of the Ethics and Professional Policy Committee
for the American College of Medical Quality, told The Enquirer
the experiments were "very dangerous," and another
doctor called human experimentation "outrageous" two
weeks later in the New York Times. "Why did she even take
their money in the first place given the bad publicity these
types of experiments have received?" Schmidt spokesman Bruce
Pfaff said. "You're a physician, you should know better."
*To my knowledge, no documentation exists to verify Lohr's
claim that Dr. Wulsin was employed by the Heimlich Institute.
Other documentation contradicts Lohr's statement. Contact
me for
details.
The Enquirer
article also does not identify Lohr as corporate secretary of
the Heimlich Institute per this
2006 IRS 990.
The 990 also states that the Heimlich Institute is engaged in
"AIDS research and education."
The Enquirer
article also did not identify my brother, former Cincinnati city
councilman and Hamilton County Commissioner Phil Heimlich, as
the longtime vice president of the Heimlich Institute. To my
knowledge, no news outlet has ever interviewed Phil about his
knowledge of the Heimlich "malariotherapy" atrocity
experiments or to comment on my
allegation that the experiments were funded by $9 million from
African mining companies, monies not declared to the Internal Revenue Service.
Lots of Questions, Few Answers - Ohio
2nd District Race Remains Wide Open by Kevin Osborne, Cincinnati CityBeat, 10/15/08
Another major party candidate
- the Democratic challenger - is a physician who’s given
conflicting accounts about her involvement with dubious medical
experiments in Africa that saw HIV patients deliberately injected
with malaria as a possible AIDS cure, a procedure that would
be illegal in the United States...(Dr. Victoria) Wulsin has given
several interviews to CityBeat in the past, but her campaign
manager, Kevin Franck, was angered by some questions given in
writing to the campaign and blocked access to the candidate.
In a telephone call, Franck called CityBeat “irresponsible”
for asking the questions and abruptly hung up the phone in mid-conversation....Wulsin’s
campaign has said her malariotherapy work was limited to a quick
review. Wulsin “was given a single page of data from an
experiment taking place in Africa,” the campaign said previously.
“Dr. Wulsin’s contract with the Heimlich Institute
was terminated the day after her draft report was submitted for
review by the Institute’s board and the board of the parent,
Deaconess Foundation.” The account, however, isn’t
consistent with other comments. Although Wulsin’s report
is dated December 2004, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported
in January 2005 that, “Last February, (Wulsin) was hired
by the Heimlich Institute to do a four-month literature review
of malariotherapy.” Franck told CityBeat that further clarification
wasn’t necessary. The questions “have been asked and
answered as fully as either campaign is prepared,” he wrote.
“How is the public interest served by waisting (sic) column
inches discussing three-year-old paperwork?”
US House Race Bitter, Personal by Ben Fischer, Cincinnati Enquirer,
10/20/08
Earlier this year, Schmidt
wrote a fundraising appeal reminding voters of Wulsin's connections
to controversial experiments in which AIDS patients were injected
with the malaria virus. Wulsin vehemently disputes both charges....(Schmidt's)
campaign is reminding voters of Wulsin's role in reviewing research
for the Heimlich Institute, which experimented with the malaria
virus as a possible cure for AIDS. Wulsin's campaign says Schmidt
is wrong to say Wulsin "participated" in the experiments,
saying she did a literature review and never injected anyone.
Schmidt for Congress press release, 9/19/08
Wulsin has
not, according to her discloser (sic) documents, held a job since
2004 when she left the Heimlich Institute; a claim she has also
made in the media and on her resume, yet her financial disclosure
filings list no income. “If Ms. Wulsin did work for the
Heimlich Institute as she claims, how much did she make and who
paid her? It’s the only job she has had in four years—surely
she hasn’t forgotten,” (Schmidt campaign spokesman
Bruce) Pfaff questioned.
Election 2008 preview: U.S. Congress
2nd District
by Jessica Wehrman,
Dayton
Daily News: 9/7/08,
The hottest
congressional race in southwest Ohio is in the 2nd District,
where Republican Rob Portman used to win comfortably. But it's
been a different story for Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, who
replaced Portman in 2005. Schmidt beat Democrat Victoria Wulsin
by just 50-49 in 2006. The same two candidates are at it again
this year, and the contest is anything but sleepy...The biggest
blast in the campaign, however, was a fundraising letter by Schmidt
accusing Wulsin of taking part in a "grotesque" human
experiment that involved injecting malaria into AIDS victims.
Schmidt
Hammers Wulsin Over AIDS Research For Heimlich by Patrick Crowley, Congress Daily, 6/27/08,
Rx for Wulsin: Blow the Whistle on Heimlich’s
Ongoing Experiments (VIDEO), Cincinnati Beacon, 7/7/08
Chabot, Schmidt appear to stretch truth
in letters - Both stand by charges by Malia Rulon, Cincinnati Enquirer,
6/15/08
Complaint against
OH medical license of Dr. Wulsin filed by National Council Against
Health Fraud, 11/3/06
OH medical board
letters to Victoria Wells (Wulsin), 4/1/08 + 4/28/08
Copyright @ 2008
Peter M. Heimlich, all rights reserved. Click
here to report broken links or to contact the author.