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Selected media reports directly or indirectly based on the research into my father's career by me (Peter) and my wife Karen plus media reports about other subjects based on or tied to my research and/or my reporting. Click here for the most recent.

For a quick catch-up, Outmaneuvered Parts I & II by Thomas Francis, Radar Magazine, November 10-11, 2005 is the most thorough report about my father's unusual career and our efforts that exposed him as a dangerous charlatan.

Need guidance re: specific articles and/or subjects? Just ask.

For media reports about the Save A Life Foundation (SALF) scandal, click here. For media reports about the Annabel Melongo case, click here.


Researchers' possible link to malariotherapy scrutinized by Edward Chiao and Jeyling Chou, Daily Bruin (UCLA), November 21, 2002

Two UCLA researchers cleared in investigation, The Daily Bruin, January 7, 2003

New evidence leads to reopening of malariotherapy case by Jeyling Chou, The Daily Bruin, February 10, 2003

Scientists Linked to Heimlich Investigated by Robert Anglen, Cincinnati Enquirer (Sunday front page), February 16, 2003:

(Dr. Heimlich's) experiments - which seek to destroy HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, by inducing high malarial fevers- have been criticized by the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration and condemned by other health professionals and human rights advocates as a medical "atrocity.''

Letters may link scientists to controversy by Jeyling Chou, The Daily Bruin, February 17, 2003

UCLA Reopens Probe of Two Researchers - New information suggests they took part in experiments to inject AIDS patients with malaria-tainted blood, university says by Rebecca Trounson and Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2003

Therapy's value challenged by Jeyling Chou, The Daily Bruin, February 23, 2003

Heimlich Falsely Claims He Invented Procedure by Robert Anglen, Cincinnati Enquirer (Sunday front page), March 16, 2003:

For more than 40 years, Cincinnati icon Dr. Henry Heimlich has been taking credit for a world-famous operation that was actually developed first by a Romanian surgeon behind the Iron Curtain.

In interviews, biographies and promotional materials, Heimlich has told anyone who would listen that he performed the world's first total organ replacement.

But even before Heimlich wrote his first article about the "Heimlich Operation" on dogs in 1955, the procedure had been performed dozens of times on humans by Romanian surgeon Dr. Dan Gavriliu, an Enquirer investigation has found.

Gavriliu now calls Heimlich a "liar and a thief."

Malarial Treatment for Chinese AIDS Patients Prompts Inquiry in US by Donald G. McNeil Jr, New York Times, March 4, 2003

Heimlich Maneuvers into AIDS Therapy by Denna Beasley, Reuters via CNN.com, April 14, 2003:

"If Heimlich is really doing this, he should be put in jail," said Mark Harrington, executive director of Treatment Action Group, an AIDS research advocacy organization.

He and other AIDS experts question the ethics of subjecting already ill people to another deadly disease, possibly without the informed consent disclosures required in this country.


UCLA ties doctor to lab misconduct - Statement determines researcher's involvement in outlawed human testing Jeyling Chou, Daily Bruin, April 15, 2003


Researcher Violated Rules, UCLA Says by Rebecca Trounson and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2003

Board rebukes AIDS evaluator - Doctor had helped Heimlich associate by Robert Anglen, Cincinnati Enquirer, April 18, 2003

Institute Performs AIDS Testing by Janet Liao, Cornell Daily Sun, April 30, 2003

Last October, a medical oversight board at UCLA began reviewing claims about the involvement of UCLA researchers (John) Fahey and (Najib) Aziz when the allegations were brought to the attention of Steven Peckman, associate director for Human Research Subjects for the OPRS at UCLA. Peckman received an anonymous e-mail requesting an investigation of the involvement of Fahey and Aziz in malariatherapy studies.

Click here for the October 2, 2002 investigations request from "Dr, Bob Smith" -- written and sent by my wife Karen and me to UCLA.

Dr. Eponymous by Brad Herzog, Cornell Alumni Magazine, March 2004

Doctor Enters Lifesaving Controversy by James Kirley, Vero Beach Press Journal, May 24, 2004

Life-savers press their case -- CPR advocates say Heimlich creator is causing dangerous indecision on which technique to use on near-drowning victims by Mayrav Saar, Orange County Register, June 15, 2004

Young Boy Who Drowned in Pool Fondly Remembered by Lory Pounder, St. Augustine Record, June 16, 2004

Heimlich Maneuver Controversial in Drowning Cases by Lory Pounder, St. Augustine Record, July 17, 2004

Heimlich's Maneuver - Henry Heimlich is Ohio's most revered doctor. He may also be the most dangerous. Ask his colleagues -- and his son by Thomas Francis, Cleveland Scene (cover story), August 11, 2004

Deadly Medicine - a safety debate over the Heimlich maneuver has local repercussions. A Philadelphia area doctor is distancing himself from a growing medical controversy by Steve Volk, Philadelphia Weekly, September 15, 2004

Questionable Maneuver by Jed Gottlieb, San Diego City Beat, September 22, 2004

Heimlich May Discuss Malaria Therapy for AIDS by Anita Wadhwani, Nashville Tennessean, October 30, 2004

Conference Uninvites Doctor Advocating Malaria Therapy for AIDS by Anita Wadhwani, Nashville Tennessean (front page), October 30, 2004

Playing Doctor - Lying on a resume isn't a crime - except when a doctor does it. Luckily for Edward Patrick, the Ohio Medical Board is forgiving by Thomas Francis, Cleveland Scene (cover story), October 27, 2004

Off the Deep End - Dr. Heimlich's Dangerous Maneuvers by Curt Guyette, Detroit Metro Times (cover story), December 8, 2004

Heimlich the Hero?, Cleveland Scene, December 29, 2004:

(The) Cincinnati Business Courier recently announced that it would bestow its greatest honor, the Lifetime Health Care Hero Award, on the 84-year-old Heimlich.

...But the paper was quick to place the blame, er, credit for Heimlich's honor on a jury of community leaders.

...And just who nominated the dubious doctor? His lawyer, Joe Dehner.

The Trouble With Henry by Shane Johnson, Salt Lake City Weekly, December 29, 2004

Family Ties Unraveling - Henry Heimlich faces firing squad of criticism from surprising source by Dan Monk & Andrea Tortora, Cincinnati Business Courier (front page), January 24, 2005

Criticism won't deter Hero award by editor Rob Daumeyer, Cincinnati Business Courier, January 24, 2005

Quacks Duck When They See Cousin Bob by Steven Slosberg, The Day (New London, CT), March 3, 2005

Heimlich Debate Grows by Michael Risinit, The Journal News (Gannett - Westchester, NY) August 14, 2005

Boston University Doc Finds Heimlich's Role in 'Maneuver' Hard to Swallow by Jessica Heslam, Boston Herald, August 21, 2005

Outmaneuvered Parts I & II by Thomas Francis, Radar Magazine, November 10-11, 2005:

Mekbib Wondewossen is an Ethiopian immigrant who makes his living renting out cars in the San Francisco area, but in his spare time he works for Dr. Heimlich, doing everything from "recruiting the patients to working with the doctors here and there and everywhere," Wondewossen says. The two countries he names are Ethiopia and the small equatorial nation of Gabon, on Africa's west coast.

"The Heimlich Institute is part of the work there - the main people, actually, in the research," Wondewossen says. "They're the ones who consult with us on everything. They tell us what to do."

Wondewossen says that the project does not involve syringes full of malaria parasites. "We never induce the malaria," he says. "We go to an epidemic area where there is a lot of malaria, and then we look for patients that have HIV too. We find commercial sex workers or people who play around in that area." Such people are high-risk for HIV, and numerous studies show the virus makes its victims more vulnerable to malaria.

...Wondewossen says that the researchers involved in the study are not doctors. He refuses to name members of the research team, because he says it would get them into trouble with the local authorities. "The government over there is a bad government," he says. "They can make you disappear."

Wondewossen won't reveal the source of funding for this malariotherapy research. "There are private funders," he says. But as to their identity?"I can't tell you that, because that's the deal we make with them, you know?" He scoffs at the question of whether his team got approval to conduct this research from a local ethics review board. Bribery on that scale, he says, is much too expensive: "If you want the government to get involved there, you have to give them a few million - and then they don't care what you do."
To Heimlich Or Not? by Zach Brown, KTVO-TV, ABC affiliate, Kirksville, MO, November 15 & 16, 2005:
Part I, No Evidence Supports Using the Heimlich Maneuver to Revive Drowning Victims
Part II, The Death of Angela Henley

The Heimlich Maneuvers by Linda Vaccariello, Cincinnati Magazine, December 2005


Geniul unui chirurg roman a fost recunoscut
by Miruna Munteanu, Ziua, April 1, 2006 (Romanian newsmagazine article about Peter & Karen exposing Peter's father falsely claiming credit for the esophagus operation invented by Dr. Dan Gavriliu of Bucharest); via Google Translate, here's an English version entitled, The genius of Romanian surgeon was recognized.


Enquirer Feature Had Dangerous Misinformation
by Ben L. Kaufman, Cincinnati CityBeat, June 7, 2006


Red Cross reverses policy on choking aid - To smack the back or squeeze the trunk: That is the life-and-death question
by Abram Katz, New Haven Register, October 23, 2006


(The) only known study comparing the Heimlich maneuver and back blow was performed by three Yale scientists: Richard L. Day, Edmund S. Crelin and Arthur B. DuBois.


The paper, published in 1982 in the journal Pediatrics, concluded that the Heimlich is superior. Back blows are not merely ineffective, they can force blockages down the throat and toward the larynx - exactly the wrong direction, the researchers concluded.


"Choking: The Heimlich Abdominal Thrust vs Back Blows: An Approach to Measurement of Inertial and Aerodynamic Forces," by Day, Crelin and DuBois, could well have been the final word.


Except that in acknowledgements at the end of the paper, the authors credit support from the "Dysphagia Foundation Inc. of Cincinnati Inc."


And records from the Ohio Secretary of State's office show that the Dysphagia Foundation was renamed "The Heimlich Institute" Aug. 30, 1982.


In other words, the Yale experts studying the Heimlich maneuver were apparently assisted by Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, developer and tireless promoter of the Heimlich maneuver. He referred to back blows as "death blows."


The connection between Heimlich and the Yale scientists appears to pose at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.


Is the Heimlich Maneuver Safe for Drowning Victims? by Kevin Lamb, Dayton Daily News (9-part series), September 1, 2006


Heimlich Family Feud - Commissioner (Phil Heimlich) offers to settle 'defamation' claim
by Kevin Osborne, Cincinnati CityBeat, November 1, 2006


Red Cross Revises Tips on Helping the Choking
by Misti Crane, Columbus Dispatch, November 5, 2006


Basics of First Aid: What to Do Until Medical Help Arrives
by Bob Doughty and Shirley Griffith, Voice of America, November 13, 2006


The Maneuver Part I by Chuck Goudie, ABC7 Chicago, November 16, 2006
The Maneuver Part II by Chuck Goudie, ABC7 Chicago, November 17, 2006

Red Cross Revises Tips for Helping Choking Victims by Ken Picard, Seven Days (Burlington, VT), November 22, 2006

Backslaps dislodge Heimlich maneuver here by Paul R . Kopenkoskey, Grand Rapids Press, December 12, 2006


Foundation ends its Relationship with Dr. Heimlich by Chuck Goudie, ABC7 Chicago, January 17, 2007


The Heimlich maneuver made its namesake famous. His son says the fame is undeserved, even dangerous
by Kim Ode, Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 26, 2007


Red Cross Recommends Back Blows Before Heimlich
by Colleen Creamer, Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN), February 12, 2007:


The only known study comparing Dr. Henry Heimlich's method, which he developed in 1974, and back blows was performed by three Yale scientists, Richard L. Day, Edmund S. Crelin and Arthur B. DuBois, in the 1980s.

The Heimlich method was adopted by the Red Cross in 1985 after an American Heart Association conference at which Day presented findings that backed the idea that blows drive food deeper into the windpipe.

"The paper itself states that it was funded by the Dysphasia Foundation and the Dysphasia Foundation changed its name shortly after the paper was published to The Heimlich Institute," said Heimlich's son, Peter.

Peter Heimlich said his father "bought" the study during which researchers measured air pressure at the mouths of volunteers receiving either back blows or abdominal thrusts.

Maneuvering Over Heimlich by Lenore Skenazy, Creators Syndicate, February 21, 2007:

Back blows are "death blows," Dr. Heimlich declared long and loud as he lobbied for his maneuver's acceptance 30 years ago. In 1985, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop endorsed this view, dubbing backslaps "hazardous." After that, only the Heimlich Maneuver was considered kosher. What most people don't realize, Dr. Heimlich's son, Peter Heimlich, said, is that "Koop was an old friend of my father's, and he did it as a buddy favor."

A New Maneuver - the circular history of a lifesaving procedure by Pamela Mills-Senn, Cincinnati Magazine, April 2007:

(Was Dr. Heimlich's badgering), not science, the reason for the switch from back blows to the maneuver? Dr. William Montgomery, who chaired the 1985 CPR conference and currently practices in Hawaii, and Dr. Roger White, who chaired panel discussions on the management of foreign-body airway obstructions and who currently serves as consultant and professor at the Mayo Clinic, told me via email that neither Heimlich's antics nor concerns over the AHA's and ARC's reputations had anything to do with the decision-although they both recall that there was no especially compelling evidence or argument in favor of the maneuver.

However, in a 2004 e-mail to Peter Heimlich (who corresponded with White using a pseudonym), White is significantly less blase about Dr. Heimlich's role. "There was never any science here," White wrote. "Heimlich overpowered science all along the way with his slick tactics and intimidation, and everyone, including us at the AHA, caved in."

Heimlich family maneuvers - Famed doctor plans Portland visit; Son says he's dangerous, works to discredit him by Peter Korn, The Portland (OR) Tribune, April 13, 2007

"(Dr. Heimlich's) ideas are insane," (Robert S. Baratz MD PhD of the National Council Against Health Fraud) said. "Some of his ideas are delusional. He has been experimenting on human beings for most of his career, and he's no different than the Nazi experimenters. There isn't one iota of scientific basis for this except that Heimlich said so."

The Choke Artist by Jason Zengerle, The New Republic, April 23, 2007

Note from Peter: In 2004, Jason Zengerle, unquestionably the dirtiest reporter I've ever come across, was contracted by The New Yorker magazine to write the above article. At  the time, he was on staff at The New Republic magazine.

Shortly after the publication of Thomas Francis's stellar November 2005 two-part Radar Magazine expose, New Yorker editor Amy Davidson refused to publish Zengerle's article, undoubtedly because she realized it was a fix.

Two years later, after Zengerle had unsuccessfully shopped the article to a number of publications, The New Republic published it without informing readers the information was two years old, that Zengerle had lied to my wife Karen and me in order to gain access to our home and to our files, that Zengerle failed to disclose his relationships to players in the mix, and other ethical concerns.

Ironically, Zengerle's failed attempt to damage my reputation triggered the ABC 20/20 report below.

Zengerle's motives remain unclear (although I have a pretty good guess), but I've detailed the facts behind his dishonest reporting, the problematic editing of his article by Franklin Foer, and the role of his wife, AIDS researcher Claire Farel MD, on my web page, The Smear Artist.

From that page, here's my advice: If you're an editor, fact-check every sentence Jason Zengerle submits. If you're a source, don't trust the bastard.

[Via Google Translate] Norwegian doctor changed international practice; Audun Langhelle's study has put the Heimlich maneuver on trial by Randi Johannessen, Aftenposten (Oslo, Norway), May 24, 2007 -- click here for original version in Norwegian.

Is Dr. Heimlich Really a Savior? by Brian Ross, ABC 20/20, June 8, 2007

Heimlich family feud on '20/20' (and published correction) by Quan Truong, Cincinnati Enquirer, June 9, 2007


Heimlich criticism mounts by Kevin Osborne, Cincinnati CityBeat, June 11, 2007

Heimlich award to be presented despite protests by doctor's son By Emily Peck, The Decatur Daily, July 4, 2007

Heimlich removed from Spirit of America By Emily Peck, The Decatur Daily, July 6, 2007

Heimlich's son pushes to discredit famous dad by JR Santo, ABC News, July 18, 2007

Controversial Maneuver: Heimlich's claim that his famous procedure can save near-drowning victims is disputed by many, including his own son by Mike Riley, Asbury Park Press, August 14, 2007

Heimlich's son cites Dallas case in dispute - he says dad is wrong in urging maneuver be used on near-drowning victims by Jennifer Learn-Andes, The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA), August 22, 2007:

Dr. Henry Heimlich twice cited a 1981 Dallas, Pa., near-drowning case as evidence that his Heimlich maneuver saves the lives of near-drowning victims if it's used before CPR.

But the Heimlich maneuver was never used in the Dallas case...

Accurate details about the drowning came from an Aug. 12, 1981, article in the Dallas Post. Dallas resident Robert Besecker saved his 2-year-old nephew by applying CPR, the article said.

Donald Bunney, the boy's father, praised Besecker and the use of CPR in the article, going as far as to say that he would suggest the use of CPR to his co-workers.

On Tuesday, Besecker verified that he used CPR only. He said he would not have considered doing the Heimlich on his 22-month-old nephew.

"I don't know who or how someone thought I did the Heimlich. I don't know where Mr. Heimlich or anyone else got that idea. It never happened," Besecker said.

Doctors choke on other use for Heimlich maneuver by Natalie Gagliordi, The Oracle (University of South Florida), October 1, 2007

Fighting for Air: Drowning and the Heimlich Maneuver by Todd Spivak, Houston Press (cover story), October 11, 2007

Heimlich Maneuver by Patricia Murphy, KUOW-FM (Seattle Public Radio), December 3, 2007

Dangerous experiments: a cover-up, OH 2nd District Democratic campaign primary spot by Steve Black for Congress re: Dr. Victoria Wulsin and the Heimlich Institute's "malariotherapy" experiments, Democratic primary, Spring 2008.

Democratic Congressional Candidate's Ties to Bizarre AIDS Research - Democratic candidate tied to controversial research to cure AIDS with Malaria by Joseph Rhee, ABC News, July 4, 2008

Victoria Wulsin -- Not Exactly Your Good Doctor, Jean Schmidt for Congress campaign ad, Ohio 2nd US Congressional race, October 2008

A miserable pension for a legendary surgeon by Miruna Munteanu, November 7, 2008, Jurnalul.ro, about how for four decades, my father built the first part of his career by falsely claimed credit for inventing a surgical procedure that was actually invented by Dr. Dan Gavriliu of Bucharest, and our efforts to give proper credit to Dr. Gavriliu. English version via Google Translate.

Swimming in Controversy - The Heimlich Maneuvers by Laurel Chesky, Austin Chronicle, January 23, 2009

Lawsuit Against Haap, Heimlich Dismissed by Kevin Osborne, Cincinnati CityBeat, July 14, 2009

The Heimlich Manoeuvre, radio documentary by Aviva Ziegler, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, July 27, 2009:


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?


Local Lifeguards Trained In Dangerous Techniques by Bennett Cunningham, CBS-TV News, Dallas, July 27, 2009 - click here for text version

Doubts raised about Kalahari lifeguard trainers, Sandusky Register staff report, August 13, 2009

Questions Continue To Rise About Houston-Based Lifeguard Program by Mike Giglio, Houston Press, August 24, 2009

Group in Heimlich Scandal Disbands by Kevin Osborne, Cincinnati CityBeat, October 16, 2009

Court affirms judgment on defamation claim brought by 72-year-old doctor (Patrick v. Cleveland Scene) by Keith Arnold, Daily Reporter, December 29, 2009

Whatever Happened to? Dr Henry Heimlich by Paul Kendall, The Sunday Telegraph (UK), January 10, 2010

"My father has devoted himself to promoting a whole series of discredited, experimental, dubious medical theories which every medical expert says are either useless, dangerous or crackpot,' Peter (Heimlich) said....

In particular Peter highlighted his father's insistence that the Heimlich manoeuvre could be used to save victims of drowning and asthma attacks - not just choking - and a bizarre research project that set out to prove that victims of HIV and Aids could be cured by an injection of malaria. Dr Heimlich, he said, had even been responsible for an experiment in China, during which HIV patients had been subjected to malariatherapy.

...'Anyone who is not using [the Heimlich manoeuvre] for unconscious drowning victims is causing their death,' (Dr. Heimlich) said when contacted by The Sunday Telegraph.


To thrust, or not to thrust? Debate over whether Heimlich maneuver should be the first response for choking by Lisa Chamoff, The Greenwich Time (CT), February 4, 2010

Obituary: Edward A Patrick - Championed the Heimlich manoeuvre, in a life embroiled with scandal by Jeanne Lenzer, British Medical Journal, March 13, 2010:

Much of Edward A Patrick’s life is shrouded in mystery, his actual accomplishments clouded by his tendency to bend and invent the facts of his life. Patrick claimed that he was the co-developer of the Heimlich manoeuvre, which he referred to as the “Patrick-Heimlich manoeuvre.” For nearly 30 years, his career was intimately tied to the equally puzzling career of Henry Heimlich, once dubbed the “most famous physician in the world” for the life saving manoeuvre named after him. The two men worked tirelessly together, promoting the manoeuvre and later working on a cure for AIDS—a “cure” that was denounced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. Recently Patrick was implicated in a scandal about his medical credentials.


A group of physicians files a federal complaint against UMMC by Julie Straw, WLBT-TV, January 27, 2011:
In a new twist, the son of a famous doctor is speaking out against (the Physicians Committee for responsible Medicine). Peter Heimlich, son of Dr. Henry Heimlich who created the Heimlich maneuver, claims his father allegedly used people for controversial medical research. Dr. Heimlich serves on the board for PCRM which fights for ethical treatment of animals and humans.

"My concern is the organization seems to put the interest of pigs above human beings who are being subjected to violative medical research," said Peter Heimlich.

PCRM has been criticized by others as being a "PETA front group" and even promotes a vegan diet on their web site.

This one will leave you all choked up by John Kominicki, syndicated column originating from the Long Island Business Journal, May 10, 2011

Bill highlights dispute over first aid for choking victims -Texas restaurants would no longer have to display Heimlich posters by Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman, May 16, 2011

Senate passes Heimlich poster bill by Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman, May 19, 2011

Media Fail on Water Safety Coverage by Ben Kaufman, Cincinnati CityBeat, May 26, 2011

(Northern Virginia) parks authority teaches lifeguards discredited Heimlich maneuver (UPDATE: Authority discards Heimlich) by Tom Jackman, The Washington Post, June 3, 2011

Heimlich, Dangerous? Experts discredit maneuver by Eric S. Peterson, Salt Lake City Weekly, June 22, 2011

Paso Robles water park lifeguards use discredited Heimlich maneuver by Karlee Prazak, CalCoast News, August 22, 2011

Antigay consulting firm cites, withdraws animal-rights clients by Jen Colletta, Philadelphia Gay News, November 10, 2010

Peter's interview on Dr. Joe Schwarcz's radio show, CJAD-AM Montreal, November 20, 2011

It's a life-saver - Two-step technique is recommended to help a choking person by Randi Bjornstad, Eugene (OR) Register-Guard, January 9, 2012:

"Based on my experience, very few people, including medical professionals, are aware of the 2006 American Red Cross update," Peter Heimlich, who lives in Atlanta, said in a subsequent e-mail message last week. "This was a major change in U.S. first-aid guidelines, but the Red Cross didn't issue a press release so that the media could inform the public. I've asked Red Cross officials why they chose not to issue a press release, but I can't get a straight answer."

Enquirer Posts, Then Censors, Anti-Santorum Photos by Ben Kaufman, Cincinnati CityBeat, March 8, 2012

Applications of Illinois Eavesdropping Act still being debated - A whistleblower's story by Susan Johnson, Rock River Times (Rockford, IL), March 14, 2012

Dangerous Maneuvers by Kendra Kozen, Senior Editor, Aquatics International magazine, May 2012 Special Report:

Medical data shows the Heimlich maneuver is not effective in drowning rescue and may do more harm than good. Why is one agency still mandating use of the practice?


Science Fiction by Gary Thill, Editor in Chief, Aquatics International magazine, May 2012 editorial:

(There) are times when science must be paramount, particularly when going with our gut means using people as guinea pigs. That is essentially what (NASCO) has decided to do in its use of the Heimlich maneuver for drowning rescues.

Heimlich Maneuver for Drowning Victims: Progress in Ending It? by Richard Connelly, Houston Press, May 21, 2012

Now, (Peter Heimlich) reports, (Cincinnati's) Heimlich Institute "has finally quit circulating my father's dangerous, thoroughly-discredited medical claims." The institute's website has, he says, "deleted its main pages recommending the Heimlich maneuver as an effective treatment for drowning rescue, to stop asthma attacks, and to treat cystic fibrosis."

USF professor fights Heimlich maneuver's use in drowning by Margarita Abramova, The Oracle (University of South Florida), June 20, 2012:
The Heimlich Institute has stopped advocating on their website for the Heimlich maneuver to be used as a first aid measure for drowning victims.

But while the removal of information on the Heimlich maneuver and drowning is a victory of sorts for Peter Heimlich, the son of Dr. Henry Heimlich, who discovered the famous maneuver, and James Orlowski, a USF clinical professor who has worked to show the dangers of performing the Heimlich maneuver on drowning victims, the Heimlich Institute said they have not changed their stance on the maneuver's importance.

Patrick Ward, executive director of Deaconess Associations, the parent company of the Heimlich Institute, said the Institute doesn't take a position on the Heimlich maneuver for drowning. The Institute's main function, he said, is teaching the Heimlich maneuver for choking.

"We've cleaned out a lot of stuff on that site because all we're going to do is focus on the (education initiatives)," he said. "We're not talking about anything else."

But Peter Heimlich, whose website has long been dedicated to disproving his father's theory in relation to drowning and called his father's work on the subject "dangerous quackery," said the removal of the information had more significance. It happened shortly after he sent an email to Ward and the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.


Waterpark Safety by Brenda Flanagan, FOX-TV I-Team reporter, New York/New Jersey, July 10, 2012; also see my July 11, 2012 blog item, FOX-TV reporter Brenda Flanagan gets Cincinnati's Heimlich Institute on record - after 40 years, they've stopped promoting the Heimlich maneuver for drowning rescue

Questionable Study has UC Ties by Benjamin Goldschmidt, The University of Cincinnati News Record, December 5, 2012:

On Nov. 19, the University of Cincinnati received one of five inquiry letters sent to organizations that could be linked to an offshore, potentially controversial experiment.

Peter Heimlich, son of Henry Heimlich - famous for the Heimlich Maneuver choking rescue treatment - sent the inquiry letters in hopes of obtaining more information on the experiment, which was performed on children in Barbados, according to a study published in the West Indian Medical Journal in 2005.

...The study tested whether or not a modified version of the Heimlich Maneuver could stop an acute asthma attack or treat asthma symptoms without contemporary treatment...The 67 children who participated were between the ages of six and 16.

"Since at least 1996, based on dubious evidence, my father has claimed that the Heimlich Maneuver can stop asthma attacks, but asthma experts have expressed strong doubts," Peter Heimlich said.

"For example, in 2005, Loren Greenway, administrative director of respiratory and pulmonary medicine for Intermountain Health Care in Salt Lake City, told a reporter that using the Heimlich maneuver in an acute asthmatic condition could actually kill somebody."

Asthma Probe by Maria Bradshaw, the Barbados Sunday Sun, December 16, 2012:

Questions are being raised about an asthma study in Barbados in 2002, involving children and using a modified version of the Heimlich manoeuvre.

Peter Heimlich, son of Dr. Henry Heimlich, who made famous the life-saving technique used on choking victims, has been investigating the Barbados study with a view to finding out if legal and ethical guidelines were followed.

...The Barbados study was conducted by a team of researchers led by respected paediatrician, Professor Anne St. John.

In an email to this newspaper, (Dr. St. John) stated...that the Ministry of Health was carrying out an investigation into the matter, given Heimlich's queries.

...(Peter Heimlich) has written to Minister of Health Donville Inniss and officials at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, enquiring about the study. He charged that he had evidence that his father, whose work has been discredited, contributed US$1000 to the Barbados study.

Of the Barbados study, he asked: "Why did the researchers think this was a good idea? And who arranged, funded and conducted the study?"

He said he had evidence that in 1999 his father attempted to conduct a similar asthma study at Cincinnati's Deaconess Hospital, but had been turned down by the hospital's Institutional Review Board (IRB). ...(Dr. St. John) said that "not one of the subjects in the study suffered any fatality."

(David) Duke the Deceiver? A controversial figure interviews a top-selling Milwaukee author by Matt Hrodey, Milwaukee Magazine, January 7, 2012

Heimlich, After the Maneuver Limelight by Lindsay Abrams, The Atlantic, March 11, 2013

Son of Henry Heimlich questions UCLA researchers' involvement in his father's controversial malariotherapy study by Naheed Rajwani and Alessandra Daskalakis, The Daily Bruin, May 6, 2013

Mystery Study by Shawn Cumberbatch, Barbados Today, August 7, 2013:

The Ministry of Health is officially probing the existence of a controversial asthma study purportedly done in Barbados and involving a famous American physician.

But amid continued external queries about whether the research "followed legal and ethical guidelines", Acting Permanent Secretary Tennyson Springer said initial investigations had found no evidence of its existence.

...Last month Springer responded on the Ministry of Health's behalf and told (Peter) Heimlich that there was no knowledge of the study which was said to have involved 67 minors.

..."(I) wish to acknowledged receipt of your correspondence and inform you that the matter is being investigated," Springer said in his July 10 letter.

"So far, there has been no institutional memory or documentation of this research. However, the Ministry of Health will continue to probe into this alleged project."

Saint Louis University defends Chinese malaria research linked to discredited AIDS study by Alan Scher Zagier, Associated Press, August 21, 2013

Saint Louis University is vigorously defending a research partnership with a Chinese scientist whose work on a study that intentionally infected AIDS patients with malaria was roundly condemned by public health experts.

..."These experiments would never be permitted in the U.S. and other countries because they violate laws protecting the rights of humans used in medical research," (Peter Heimlich) said, referring to a 2003 internal inquiry by the University of California-Los Angeles after one of its scientists was linked to Heimlich's work abroad. "When I wrote to Father Biondi, I assumed SLU was unaware of Dr. Chen's malariotherapy history and that the school would be concerned. When I received Dr. Tait's letter, I was surprised to learn that the university had no interest."

University spokeswoman Nancy Solomon declined an Associated Press request to interview Tait and the two university researchers who oversee its global health research center, a pair of former Pfizer Inc. drug discovery scientists. Both Chen and the Chinese research center - the equivalent of the National Science Foundation in this country - did not immediately respond to interview requests Wednesday.

St. Louis University Under Fire for Work with Doctor Who Infected AIDS Patients with Malaria by Sam Levin, Riverfront Times, September 9, 2013:


With specific citations, (Peter) Heimlich writes in an e-mail to Daily RFT:

The "malariotherapy" experiments in China, conducted for over a decade by Dr. Chen in conjunction with Cincinnati's Heimlich Institute, have been called "atrocities" by the World Health Organization. Medical experts have condemned the work as "charlatanism of the highest order." Research subjects included prisoners who were controlled by hired guards. In one case, a woman with full-blown AIDS, suffering from pneumonia and hooked up to oxygen, was infected with malaria.

...SLU's school of medicine was awarded a $566,640 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, to "identify novel antimalarial drug targets and compound classes that kill the parasitic microorganism that causes malaria, which afflicts more than one billion people and kills about 1 million annually." A spokeswoman confirms to Daily RFT that this grant is part of the GIBH project.

"Why are U.S. tax dollars funding research by a doctor responsible for conducting what a World Health Organization report called medical 'atrocities?'" (Peter) Heimlich says in an e-mail to Daily RFT regarding the NIH grant.

Henry Heimlich: At 94, Cincinnati's famous, polarizing doctor still working to shape his legacy by Lucy May, WCPO-Digital, February 9, 2014:

Heimlich has spoken publicly many times about how a Chinese soldier dying in his arms inspired his invention of the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve years later. He told WCPO he trained Chinese soldiers to form their first-ever medical corps for the guerilla army, an account repeated in his book.

Frederick Webster said he served as assistant to "Doc Heimlich" at Camp 4. Webster said he doesn't recall the dying soldier or any medical corps training, although he said there were a few weeks where the men's service there did not overlap.

"You really can't believe any of the stories the veterans tell you," said Webster, who is 93 and lives in Vermont. "The Chinese soldiers never seriously needed help."
Webster told WCPO detailed stories of how Heimlich treated the Chinese and life at the camp.

Heimlich said he doesn't remember Webster and questioned whether the two men actually served together.

"He doesn't mean anything to me at all," Heimlich said.

Dr. Heimlich's final maneuver: detailing his controversial life by Deborah Kotz, Boston Globe, February 7, 2014:

He's been called a "fraud" by his son Peter and criticized by many in the medical community....

Dr. Henry Heimlich: Letter accuses famed doctor of being 'dishonest' in his new memoir by Lucy May, WCPO-Digital, February 11, 2014. The complete story's behind a paywall. Click here to read Joy Patrick's letter via my February 11 blog item that broke the story:

The same day Dr. Henry Heimlich's new memoir was released nationwide, an ex-wife of an old colleague has accused the famous doctor of being "dishonest and unjust" in the book.

Joy Patrick, whose ex-husband was the late Dr. Edward Patrick, wrote in a letter to Heimlich that she was "livid" when she found out Heimlich's book "includes no mention of Edward."

"I can only assume that you have no idea of the pain this causes me and my children, especially…the beautiful son and daughter I had with Edward," she wrote.

For years before his death in 2009, Patrick said he was the co-developer of the Heimlich Maneuver and hadn't received credit publicly.

New autobiography tells story of the man behind the Heimlich maneuver by Chris Boyette, CNN, February 12, 2014:

Heimlich has argued his maneuver can be used for resuscitating drowning victims and for both acute and preventive treatment of asthma.

The American Red Cross does not support using the maneuver for drowning. (Even for someone who's choking, the agency's first-aid procedure recommends first doing five back slaps and then five Heimlich abdominal thrusts.) Other experts have noted cases where performing the Heimlich Maneuver on a drowning victim did additional damage.

As for asthma, medical experts have long questioned the maneuver's effectiveness as a treatment. In an article published in Modern Medicine in 1997, doctors noted that asthma is a disease of chronic inflammation; while the Heimlich Maneuver may help clear mucous plugs that form in the lungs, it won't treat the inflammation that causes an attack. Only medication can do that.

In China, Heimlich teamed up with local doctors to test another one of his theories: that malaria can be used to treat chronic Lyme disease, cancer and HIV. Put simply, Heimlich believes purposefully injecting patients with the deadly disease and letting it go untreated for a few weeks will strengthen patients' immune systems.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opposes malarial therapy, and many medical experts have criticized Heimlich's testing methods, including his testing on human patients.

Heimlich's son, Peter Heimlich, writes a blog, on which he has spent years trying to draw attention to his father's "wide-ranging, unseen history of fraud."

Calling it a "family issue," Heimlich doesn't talk about his son, but says there is evidence to back up all his ideas.

Peter Heimlich has disputed his father's account that JAMA named the medical procedure after him. In response CNN contacted JAMA, but the journal was unable to verify or discount either Heimlich's claim.

94-year-old Heimlich maneuver namesake pens autobiography by Lisa Cornwell, Associated Press, February 17, 2014:


Heimlich now lives in an assisted-living facility but responds to emails and letters about his work and makes guest appearances with the Heimlich Heroes program. The program designed to teach young people how to use the Heimlich maneuver allows him to still pursue his passion for saving lives.

Click here for my blog items about the "Heimlich Heroes" program teaching students to perform the Heimlich maneuver to revive unconscious choking victims, a treatment that's unapproved by the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross. In the interests of public safety, I shared that information with AP editors and requested an addendum to Ms. Cornwell's article -- they refused. Correspondence on request -- PMH


Henry Heimlich's New Book Deserves Informed Reviews by Ben L. Kaufman, Cincinnati CityBeat, March 5th, 2014:

As interviews and reviews of the autobiographical Heimlich's Maneuvers accumulate, (Peter Heimlich's) scrapbook of corrections and clarifications is getting fatter. So is his collection of refusals to correct or clarify what he says were egregious errors or credulous repetition of his father's contradictory statements.

Among Peter Heimlich's proudest achievement are corrections in influential national pre-publication reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Review and Booklist. [Click here for my related blog item.] All three initially ignored Romanian surgeon Dan Gavriliu and credited Heimlich alone with inventing the Heimlich-Gavriliu esophagus replacement procedure.

Meanwhile, Peter Heimlich is chasing news media that repeated his father's claim that editors of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) renamed abdominal thrusts the "Heimlich Maneuver" years ago.

Super pooch Mollypops congratulated by Peter Heimlich for saving choking owner Rachel by James McCarthy, Wales On Sunday, March 30, 2014:


Pawsome pup Mollypops has been congratulated by the son of the doctor who gave the world the Heimlich manoeuvre, after she saved her owner from choking to death.

As previously reported on WalesOnline, the pooch leapt into action as terrified Rachel Hayes gasped for air after swallowing a strawberry fruit pastille.

Peter – the son of Heimlich manoeuvre inventor Henry – got in touch after reading our story about the five year old animal.

“Based on the recent news stories, if I’m ever choking I hope Mollypops is nearby!”, the 60-year-old said.

“She’s up to date on St John Ambulance’s first aid recommendations and didn’t hesitate putting her knowledge to good use.”

...Peter urged others to follow Mollypops’ lead.

“One thing everyone can agree on is that it’s important to learn how to respond to choking and other medical emergencies,” he said.

“I’d urge Wales on Sunday’s two-legged readers to follow Mollypops’ example and brush up on your first aid skills – it may help you save someone’s life.”

The Heimlich manoeuvre, which Peter insisted Mollypops did not use, is among a variety of methods used to help choking victims.

“There’s no question the Heimlich manoeuvre – abdominal thrusts – is effective for responding to a conscious child or adult who’s choking,” Peter said.

“But, as the saying goes, science marches on.”

Mollypops probably would not have been impressed by Henry Heimlich’s research into choking.

“The only choking research my father ever conducted was over 40 years ago, when he put chunks of raw hamburger down the throats of four anaesthetised dogs,” Peter said.

“A lot can happen in four decades and since then the international medical community has determined that back blows, abdominal thrusts, and chest compressions are equally effective treatments for choking and that a combination of more than one method can be more effective.”

Lagoon lifeguards will no longer use Heimlich maneuver by Mark Saal, Standard Examiner, Ogden, Utah, May 8, 2014:

Beginning this year, lifeguards at Lagoon-A-Beach will not use the lower abdominal thrusts as a resuscitation method, after the State of Utah determined the technique didn't meet required standards.

Late last year, the Utah Department of Health denied an application from the National Aquatic Safety Company to continue to train and certify lifeguards at two Utah parks - Lagoon-A-Beach, in Farmington, and Cowabunga Bay, in Draper.

...Utah's ban on the thrusts is welcome news for Peter Heimlich, son of Henry Heimlich, the doctor who is credited with the invention of the maneuver named after him. The younger Heimlich, who lives in suburban Atlanta, has been on a crusade of sorts to stop his father's technique from being used on near-drowning victims across the country. And he's talking to anyone who will listen.

While the Heimlich maneuver is valuable for dislodging a piece of food or other solid obstruction from a choking person's airway, Peter Heimlich says the only evidence that it works on drowning victims is a handful of anecdotal reports.

"I'm still shocked by his 'Heimlich for drowning' scam, which started in August 1974," Heimlich said of his father in a recent email interview with the Standard-Examiner.

And he says he's not the only one who's shocked.

"Long before I entered the picture, the top medical and water safety organizations and drowning experts had thoroughly reviewed and dismissed my father's claims," Heimlich said. "They unanimously agreed that the treatment was unproven, has no merit, and was potentially harmful."

Texas Lifeguards Are Still Taught Potentially Harmful Technique by Craig Malisow, May 28, 2014:


Unlike the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, the United States Lifeguard Coalition, and the International Life Saving Federation, a Texas-based company called NASCO still teaches lifeguards to administer abdominal thrusts to drowning victims while they're in the water. The aforementioned authorities say that this procedure is at best non-beneficial and at worst detrimental.

As illustrated by the Press' Todd Spivak in 2007, while most medical and aquatic experts have stated that applying the Heimlich maneuver to a drowning victim delays, if only for a few seconds, the all-important CPR.

Also, experts say that the Heimlich could cause a victim to aspirate vomit into his lungs.

But John Hunsucker, founder of Dickinson-based National Aquatics Safety Company (NASCO), doesn't have much use for mainstream scientific opinion. He's a professor emeritus at the University of Houston and, according to NASCO's website, holds degrees in mathematics, physics, and engineering.

"These so-called medical experts -- screw 'em," Hunsucker told the Press in 2007.

But NASCO isn't some obscure company whose adherence to faulty science is of no practical application to the real world: it's one of the nation's largest lifeguard certification agencies for water parks, and Hunsucker has won awards from the National Water Safety Congress and the Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics. As we wrote in 2007, Hunsucker "was elected to the World Waterpark Association Hall of Fame, and, in 2005, he was recognized by Aquatics International magazine as among the industry's
most influential people."
Via Lifeguards trained in controversial procedure by Cindy Weightman, WBGO-FM, Newark, NJ, June 30, 2014:

Dr. Peter Wernicki is a member of the American Red Cross Science Advisory Council.

"Using the Heimlich maneuver to resuscitate drowning victims) is not supported by any scientific body throughout the world. There are protocols that have been developed by the American Red Cross, the International LifeSaving Committee and the American Heart Associationand those protocols are based in science. Use of the Heimlich Maneuver is not," Wernicki said.

...Barbara Caracci is the Director of Program Development and Training for First Aid Programs at the National Safety Council. She says the Heimlich Maneuver should never be used in drowning situations, especially when someone is unconscious.

"Absolutely not, because the reason for the person's unresponsiveness has nothing to do with airway obstruction, which is what abdominal thrusts are for. In the case of someone who is drowning, they need CPR and they need it as soon as possible."

Lifeguard training company won't abandon use of controversial technique by Joel Eisenbaum, KPRC, July 11, 2014

Question Triggers Probe into Drowning by Harrison Berry, Boise Weekly, July 16, 2014:

In the late afternoon of June 23, Ada County Paramedics pulled Felix Martinez from the New York Canal....(Boise firefighter Brent) Matthews said he used the Heimlich maneuver -- an emergency technique in which abdominal thrusts are repeated until a blockage is pushed out of a choking victim's airway -- until sand and other debris poured out of Martinez's mouth.
Martinez's condition worsened; within five days, he was dead.

...Martinez, a homeless man, may not have attracted much attention prior to the incident, but because of the circumstances of his rescue, he has been the subject of a formal inquiry -- in large part because of Peter Heimlich...

How A Rescue Attempt, A Death, And A TV Story Are Causing Problems For Boise by Adam Cotterell, Boise State Public Radio, August 7, 2014:


Peter Heimlich is not satisfied with the city's explanation of what happened.

"What began as a concern regarding possible improper medical treatment given to Mr. Martinez seems to have turned into something bigger," he says. "The mayor, the fire chief and others appear to be trying to change the story altogether."

Peter Heimlich asked Boise's city ethics commission to "investigate the investigation."

Heimlich Maneuver inventor's son demands answers after Boise drowning
by Chris Oswalt, FOX9 News (Boise, ID) August 13, 2014


How Dr. Heimlich Maneuvered Hollywood Into Backing His Dangerous AIDS "Cure" by Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, August 14, 2014

At the height of the crisis, the inventor of the famous anti-choking technique claimed HIV could be cured by injecting patients with malaria. New documents reveal how stars like Jack Nicholson and Ron Howard gave thousands to his cause.

When 'Chicago Hope' Dealt in Heimlich, Malariotherapy and AIDS
by Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, August 14, 2014

The Right Way to Stop Choking by Daniela Ongaro, The Daily Telegraph (Australia), October 29, 2014:

Although popularised by Hollywood, the manoeuvre (invented by American physician, Dr Henry Heimlich in the 1970s and introduced in the US) has never been accepted practice in Australia.

The Australian Resuscitation Council in its June 2014 guidelines states: "Life-threatening complications associated with use of abdominal thrusts have been reported in 32 case reports.

"Therefore, the use of abdominal thrusts in the management of Foreign Body Airway Obstruction is not recommended. Instead back blows and chest thrusts should be used."

St John's Ambulance First Aid trainer Nick Allison says Australian resuscitation experts do not recommend the Heimlich, which has attracted significant controversy for the risks it poses and the lack of scientific evidence supporting its use.

"The Heimlich manoeuvre looks dramatic, which is why you see it in all the movies," Allison says.

"It came out in the US but there were concerns because of the damage being caused (to victims) such as broken ribs and the difficulty involved in using it if the choking person was a larger person.

"It's not a recommended technique because it can be dangerous."


Heimlich maneuver on unconscious persons causes controversy by Nick Kammerer, Rambler Newspapers (Irving, TX), November 24, 2014:

Certain entities, such as the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, do not recommend using the Heimlich maneuver on unconscious patients; however, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and Henry Heimlich have advocated the practice....In an effort to uncover the scientific reasoning behind ACEP's stance, this reporter contacted ACEP representatives and even visited their headquarters in Irving. Unfortunately, physicians refused to comment on the matter and referred this office to a media liaison in Washington D.C. who did not respond by press time.

...Peter Heimlich, son of Henry Heimlich, has also made several attempts to contact ACEP. He has also met the ACEP's reluctance to comment on a medical practice the College openly advocates. Due to the lack of response, Peter reached out to Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. Peter listed a copy of the letter on his blog, and he is currently waiting for a response.

...Heimlich Heroes, a Cincinnati-based first aid program developed partly by Henry Heimlich, is teaching students to perform the Heimlich maneuver on unconscious choking victims. This means that school children are being taught a medical practice that is not recommended by the American Heart Association or Red Cross, two highly credible public health organizations.
Peter Heimlich questions a country singer's Heimlich maneuver story in People magazine by Jim Romenesko, JimRomenesko.com, February 8, 2015:

Journalist Peter Heimlich, whose father developed the "Heimlich maneuver," has tried since 2012 to verify the above Heimlich claim by Luke Bryan in People Country magazine. The singer, his managers, and even his mother won't discuss the story with the skeptical journalist. The magazine isn't interested in checking the claim, either, says Heimlich.
Bamboozled: Breakwater Beach security breach puts hundreds of employee documents online by Karin Price Mueller, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, July 8, 2015:

Hundreds of documents containing personal information of some employees at Jenkinson's Breakwater Beach Waterpark at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights have been available online to anyone who clicks in the right place, Bamboozled has learned.

The documents include copies of Social Security cards, driver's licenses, birth certificates, passports, student IDs, tax forms, seasonal work agreements, minor consent forms and employment eligibility forms from the Department of Homeland Security.

...The information about the breach came to Bamboozled in an interesting way.

Peter Heimlich of Atlanta is an independent blogger with a journalism background. His father is Henry J. Heimlich, the famed physician for whom "the Heimlich maneuver" was named.

...Earlier this week, (Peter) Heimlich...came across the personnel information.

"It couldn't have been easier (to find)" he said.

And then he contacted Bamboozled.


2 Investigates: CDC gives millions of tax dollars to shady nonprofit
by Jodie Fleisher, WSB-TV (ABC Atlanta), July 15, 2015:

The CDC is refusing to answer Channel 2 Action News' questions about a high-ranking employee who served on the board of a now-defunct nonprofit that's been the subject of a series of scandals. The Save A Life Foundation (SALF) also happened to receive more than $3 million in CDC funding, much of it while that same employee was serving as the nonprofit's treasurer.

"Save A Life was a fraud, it can't be described as anything but a total fraud," said attorney Jennifer Bonjean, who represents a whistleblower who used to work there.

The Downfall of a Non-Profit: The Ongoing Saga of the Save A Life Foundation -- Peter Heimlich provides a full look at the rise and fall of the Schiller Park-based organization by Tim Moran, Patch.com, July 17, 2015:

PMH: Here's one of the biggest problems. In funding applications that pulled in millions of dollars, SALF claimed their trainers provided in-school first aid classes to hundreds of thousands of students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). A program of that scope would have produced tens of thousands of pages of documents. But in response to a federal court subpoena and FOIA requests, CPS failed to produce a single training record: no correspondence, no scheduling, no employee records, no evaluations, just a handful of SALF press releases hyping their relationship with then-Chicago Public Schools head Arne Duncan.

SALF's training was supposed to be free to the schools, so why did Duncan personally arrange a $174,000 contract with Spizzirri to train thousands of students? Further, CPS wrote me that they have no records for the program except the contract and paid invoices to SALF, and that Duncan was entirely responsible. But when I and others have tried to get answers from Duncan - who was close to SALF for years and reportedly called Spizzirri "one of my heroes" - he won't answer. Why not?

In 2011, CPS Inspector General James Sullivan wrote me that there's no statute of limitations on vendor fraud, so I submitted a thoroughly-documented investigation request asking him to look into what happened to the money CPS paid SALF including the contact Duncan arranged with Spizzirri. Despite multiple follow-ups, I've never received a reply, so presumably Sullivan wants to bury the mess.

Katz faces criticism for book review by David Yaffe-Bellany, Yale Daily News, November 4, 2015. I first reported the story on my blog on September 30:

In February 2014, David Katz MPH '93, the director of the Yale School of Medicine's Prevention Research Center, wrote two glowing online reviews of a science-fiction novel called reVision.

In his biweekly column in The Huffington Post, Katz lauded the book's "lyrically beautiful writing," comparing it to the work of a veritable "who's who" of great writers, including Plato, John Milton and Charles Dickens. "I finished with a sense of illumination from a great source," he concluded. "The most opportune comparison may be to a fine wine." Katz had used similar language two days earlier in a five-star product review he posted on the book's page on Amazon.

But Katz omitted a crucial detail from both reviews: the subject of his praise was his own self-published passion project, released two months earlier under the pseudonym Samhu Iyyam.

...In recent weeks, the Amazon and Huffington Post reviews have drawn significant criticism from doctors and pundits who disagree with Katz's support for the United States Dietary Guidelines, a set of nutrition standards that help determine the contents of school lunches. Katz, an internationally renowned nutrition expert, told the News that the social-media backlash against the reviews is part of a smear campaign engineered by groups aiming to undermine the federal guidelines.

But Fred Brown, a spokesman for the Society of Professional Journalists, told the News the Huffington Post column was blatantly unethical, and the blogger, Peter Heimlich, who wrote about the Amazon review in late September and contacted the News shortly after, said he is not involved in the debate over the guidelines.

...On Oct. 24, Katz addressed the controversy in another Huffington Post column, insisting that Internet bullies had dug up the reviews in an effort to discredit his nutritional advice.

But Heimlich, who contacted the News about the controversy, said he was unaware of the guidelines dispute.

"Instead of trying to change the subject, [Katz] should man up and explain what happened," Heimlich said.

Suspects often claim abuse injuries stem from CPR, Heimlich effort by Justin Strawser, The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, November 13, 2015

Yale doc loses 2 HuffPo blog posts after secretly promoting his novel by Shannon Palus, Retraction Watch, November 20, 2015:

The Huffington Post has retracted two blog posts by prominent Yale nutritionist David Katz after learning he had posted incredibly favorable reviews of a new novel - and not revealed that he had written the novel himself, under a pseudonym.

There's no doubt Katz is a prolific writer - in addition to a couple hundred scientific articles and textbook chapters, Katz regularly blogs for the Huffington Post. He's also the author of a novel, reVision, under the pen name Samhu Iyyam. Last year, Katz wrote a pair of incredibly favorable reviews of reVision on The Huffington Post that implied he had discovered the novel as a reader. The Huffington Post has taken them down, as blogger Peter Heimlich - yes, related to the maneuver - reported earlier this week. According to Heimlich, a 5-star Amazon review of "Iyyam's" book, written by Katz, has also been removed.

Nutritionist Wrote Two Positive Reviews of his Own Book, Huffington Post Deletes by Sydney Smith, IMedia Ethics, December 5, 2016:

The Huffington Post unpublished two blogposts by Yale nutritionist David Katz after it was revealed he wrote articles praising his own book. However, the conflict in the blogposts wasn't obvious because Katz's book was written under a pseudonym.

Katz is a Clinical Instructor in Medicine at Yale, which identifies him as a "nationally recognized authority on the prevention of chronic disease, nutrition, and weight management." His website lists him as the founding director of Yale's Prevention Research Center, the president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, and author of "roughly 200 scientific articles and textbook chapters, and 15 books to date."

Heimlich remover! Son of 'maneuver' inventor wants investigation into anti-choking device at boro schools by Allegra Hobbs, The Brooklyn Paper, January 13, 2016

New potentially life saving device questioned by medical watchdog by Joe Mauceri, WPIX-TV, New York City, January 18, 2016

At 96, Heimlich performs his own maneuver by Kevin Grasha and Bowdeya Tweh, Cincinnati Enquirer (which resulted from my corrections request to the Enquirer earlier that day), May 27, 2016:

Monday might not have been the first time Dr. Henry Heimlich performed his namesake medical procedure on a live choking victim.

...Heimlich told The Enquirer Thursday his encounter with Patty Ris at the Deupree House senior living facility, where they both live, was the first time he ever performed it on a person needing immediate aid. However, several published reports in the early 2000s from news outlets ranging from the BBC to the Chicago Sun-Times show interviews with Heimlich describing himself using the maneuver. In one interview, he said he helped a man at the former private dining club, the Banker's Club, in Downtown Cincinnati in 2001.

Cincinnati.com initially published a story late Thursday about the incident, quoting Heimlich as saying this was the first time he'd ever performed his own maneuver on someone. But then one of his sons, Peter Heimlich, reached out to media organizations pointing out the existence of articles roughly 15 years ago.

Another son, local attorney Phil Heimlich, said he doesn't recall those media reports.

"All I can say is none of us had a recollection of it," Phil Heimlich said. "If dad did it, I would've heard about it."

It isn't the first time Heimlich's statements have been challenged. In 2003, The Enquirer reported that Romanian surgeon Dr. Dan Gavriliu disputed statements from the Cincinnati doctor that he developed an operation that uses a section of the stomach to bypass the esophagus. The Romanian doctor claimed Heimlich took credit for a procedure he developed years earlier.

At 96, Dr. Heimlich Uses His Own Maneuver on Choking Victim by Christine Hauser, New York Times, May 27, 2016:

Since he invented the Heimlich maneuver, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich had spent decades demonstrating the lifesaving technique on people willing to play the role of a choking victim.
But this week, Dr. Heimlich, 96, said he got to do the real thing.

He used the abdomen-squeezing maneuver on Monday night on an 87-year-old woman who was choking at their senior residence community in Cincinnati, popping a morsel of meat out of her mouth.

“I felt it was just confirmation of what I had been doing throughout my life,” he said in an interview on Friday.

After Dr. Heimlich’s lifesaving move, a public relations team working for the parent company of the residence, Episcopal Retirement Services, snapped into action, recording and distributing video interviews with the doctor, the woman he saved, and a dining room employee.
They also arranged media appearances promoting the claim that this was the first time the doctor had used the maneuver himself to save a life, although decade-old reports cast doubt on that.

...Is this the first time Dr. Heimlich has ever used the maneuver to save a life?

“Yes, this is,” he said Friday. “I originally did my research studies that led to my developing it, which was in 1974, and I never considered that I would be doing it myself.”

The record is murky in that regard. A BBC article in 2003 quoted the doctor, then 83, describing a similar encounter where he tried the maneuver on a fellow diner, a man, although the story lacked details such as a precise date, location and name. A New Yorker article in 2006 made reference to a similar incident, also without details. But a son, Phil Heimlich, said his father had never mentioned any previous incidents to him. The doctor himself did not return a follow-up call.

This lifesaving coincidence definitely makes you swallow deeply by James M. Berklan, Editor, McKnight's, June 01, 2016:

(Patty Ris) had her life saved by none other than world-famous inventor-doctor Henry Heimlich. And he did it by using his well-known abdominal-thrusting Heimlich Maneuver.
Some are billing it as the first time the 96-year-old ever used his move on a person truly in distress since he pioneered it in 1974. (A BBC account contends otherwise.)

The story, full of coincidences or not, proved to be pure catnip to journalists around the globe.

It happened last week when the 87-year-old Ris started to choke on a piece of hamburger at Deupree House, an Episcopal Retirement Services continuing care retirement community in Cincinnati. Heimlich is an independent living resident who swims every other day and takes an exercise class there.
The timing was incredible. Today — June 1 — is National Heimlich Maneuver Day.

At Least Part of Last Week's Charming Viral Heimlich-Maneuver Story Was Bogus by Ben Mathis-Lilley, Slate (which resulted from my corrections request to Slate the day before), June 3, 2016:

Last week I wrote about the story, reported by the Cincinnati Enquirer and others, of Heimlich-maneuver inventor Henry Heimlich having performed his signature windpipe-blockage response on an actual real-life choking victim for the first time ever. (Dr. Heimlich is now 96 and lives in a retirement home where the event is said to have taken place.) I also linked to a very interesting 2007 piece in the New Republic about Heimlich's long history of exaggerations and dubious claims about other medical subjects. Turns out that I should have taken that piece to heart and done a little more research on the "first time" story: The Cincinnati Enquirer now notes that Heimlich has previously made the exact same claim about an incident that was said to have taken place in 2001 at a private club in Cincinnati.

...This Wednesday [June 1, 2016], perhaps not coincidentally given Henry Heimlich's history as a self-promoter, was National Heimlich Maneuver Day.

Both the ostensible choking victim in the recent retirement-home incident (Patty Ris) and another witness vouched that Heimlich had performed the dislodging procedure, although Ris' testimony was made public through a public relations firm rather than a direct interview with a reporter. Whatever actually happened at the retirement home, it appears that the actual final step in the Heimlich maneuver might be boondoggling the press.

Heimlich's first time using maneuver? Maybe not by Joe Rosemeyer, WCPO-TV News, June 28, 2016:

Maybe Henry Heimlich simply misremembered. Or maybe news reports from the early 2000s simply weren't true.
Either way, there's an irresolvable conflict: When did Dr. Heimlich first perform his namesake maneuver?

A month ago, just a few days before National Heimlich Maneuver Day, the Cincinnati doctor said he'd finally used it for the first time. He's 96 years old, and he invented the move to help choking victims more than 40 years ago.

Pretty incredible that he hadn't used it before then, right?

Except Heimlich apparently told the BBC in 2003 he'd performed it three years earlier, in 2000. 

"I was in this club restaurant eating when I heard someone calling 'Dr. Heimlich,'" the BBC quoted him as saying back then. "I turned around and saw a man choking, so I did the Heimlich maneuver and got it out and then went on and had my lunch."

...The doctor's son, Phil Heimlich, said he, his sister and father have no recollection of the incident 16 years ago.

"It would have been a major news story, so we would have remembered," he said.


Yale doctor's column raises questions - again by David Yaffe-Bellany, Yale Daily News, September 12, 2016; also see my May 23, 2016 blog:

David Katz SPH '93 - the Yale-affiliated doctor whose over-the-top Huffington Post review of his own self-published novel caused a furor in the nutrition community last year - has once again tested the boundaries of ethical journalism.

In another column for The Huffington Post over the summer, Katz lambasted the Massachusetts-based supermarket chain Big Y, calling its ad campaign for the In-Vince-Ible Pizza, a fatty snack named after NFL star Vince Wilfork, "deeply disturbing." He described the pizza as symptomatic of the obesity epidemic in America, and questioned the parenting skills of Wilfork, who appears alongside his son in ads for the product.

"You see, it is not just any pizza," Katz wrote. "[It represents] carnage in the service of carnivorous palates."

But nowhere in the May article, which also appeared in the New Haven Register, did Katz mention another crucial detail: Big Y is not just any supermarket. Just one month before the column was published, Big Y cut ties with a nutritional ratings service, NuVal, that Katz established in 2008 and has passionately championed ever since.

...This summer was not the first time Katz has failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest in his biweekly Huffington Post column. In February 2014, he posted a glowing review of a science fiction novel called reVision, which was published under the pseudonym Samhu Iyyam. Katz - who lauded the book's "lyrically beautiful writing," comparing it to the work of great authors like John Milton and Charles Dickens - did not reveal that reVision was in fact his own self-published passion project until he was outed by professional rivals online months later.

After the News published an account of the reVision controversy, The Huffington Post retracted Katz's review. Amazon also took down a similarly florid customer review that he had posted.

...Over the past few years, Katz has become a controversial figure in his field. His work is at the center of an ongoing dispute in scientific circles about federal nutrition standards that affect the contents of school lunches.

..."It's reasonable to assume he has a lot riding on the project," said Heimlich, who added that he has counted 16 references to NuVal in Katz's Huffington Post columns over the past five years.

Katz questioned Heimlich's interest in his career - Heimlich has written several blog articles about Katz over the past year -and accused him of "trolling."

Raley's phasing out nutritional scoring system, will develop own program by Mark Glover, Sacramento Bee, October 11, 2016; I broke the story that morning on my blog.

Judge: Anyone May Access Records by Karen Knight, Cape May County Herald, October 21, 2016:

A New Jersey Superior Court judge has determined that a Georgia man can access state records under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). That differs with a decision rendered earlier this year by an Atlantic/Cape May County Superior Court judge who said out-of-state residents have no right to benefits of the act. Peter Heimlich, an Atlanta-based investigative blogger, filed a lawsuit in June challenging the Educational Information and Resource Center's (EIRC) denial for records filed under OPRA because he was not a state resident. Attorney C.J. Griffin, of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, represented Heimlich and specializes in First Amendment law.

Judge Won’t Reconsider OPRA Decision, Non-Residents May View Public Records by Karen Knight, Cape May County Herald, January 19, 2016:

A New Jersey Superior Court judge has rejected a motion to reconsider a decision she made that allows out-of-state residents access to public records under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA).

The Educational Information and Resource Center (EIRC) filed a motion Nov. 11, 2016, asking Superior Court Assignment Judge Georgia Curio, to reconsider her Oct. 24, 2016, decision because the state Government Records Council (GRC) changed its position, saying it is "proper to deny access to out-of-state requestors."

The EIRC also submitted two court decisions they became aware of after their case was presented to Curio where the judges ruled that out-of-state requestors did not have any rights to the benefits of the Act.

Peter Heimlich, an Atlanta, Ga.-based investigative blogger, filed a lawsuit in June 2016 challenging the EIRC's denial for records filed under OPRA because he was not a state resident.

Attorney C.J. Griffin, of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, represented Heimlich. She specializes in First Amendment law.


Media outlets choke on Heimlich obituaries by Erik Wemple, Washington Post, January 31, 2017:

(Peter Heimlich obtained) at least seven corrections/amendments (to published obituaries about his father) from some of the biggest names in the news business, over a single news topic. Record?

...On Jan. 9, (Heimlich) emailed the newspaper with correction requests over the Berry thing as well as a contention regarding the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The New York Times later informed him that it wouldn’t be responding.

That’s when Peter Heimlich turned to the Erik Wemple Blog, a bastion of accountability in relation to medical history. He CC’d us in an appeal to Spayd that included this elbow: “Needless to say, for the paper of record not to correct factual errors is a slippery and troubling slope...." We have asked (Public Editor Liz) Spayd for a further explanation; she referred us to (senior standards editor Greg) Brock; Brock says that a correction is in the works.

Via the New York Times:




Who Saved Otto Klug? Investigating a 75-year-old mystery by Peter M. Heimlich, Kent Historical Society Newsletter, February 2017. According to two 1941 articles in the New York Times and my father's 2014 memoir, he saved the life of a man named Otto Klug in a massive, high-profile train wreck in Litchfield County, Connecticut. But all local newspaper reports credit an local man named Jack Bartovic for saving Klug. Was this my father's first media scam?

N.J. school agency's implosion leaves questions, South Jersey Times Editorial Board, March 17, 2017:

Wonder where your kid's teachers go when his or her school district has "in-service days" when staff is supposed to work, but students have no classes?

If it's not to the mall, the casino or on a journey of spiritual improvement,  chances are that, in New Jersey, they're at a program given or authorized by the Educational Information & Resource Center (EIRC). EIRC, once one of several similar agencies around the state, supplies curriculum development tools and serves as a clearinghouse for anti-bullying, tolerance and other programs.

Now, EIRC is going away after losing a staggering $3.7 million in the past three years. That's on an annual budget no larger than $18 million over the period. Incredible.

...EIRC's website was operating a few days ago, but went off-line about the time  the Times' first report about the monetary troubles appeared. Also, the agency was involved in a recent Open Public Records Act tussle that played out at the shore. According to the Cape May Herald, ERIC had a judge block an OPRA request from a Georgia-based "investigative blogger." The judge ruled that agencies didn't have to supply records when requests came from outside New Jersey. Fortunately, Superior Court Assignment Judge Georgia Cuiro reversed the decision, and rejected an EIRC motion to reconsider it.

We have no clue why Peter Heimlich of Atlanta sought EIRC records, but the agency took considerable steps to keep them secret. Some follow-up is in order. Let's find out if this is another textbook case -- pun intended -- of a New Jersey independent agency operating with insufficient internal or external cont
rols.

Son of famed New Rochelle doctor asks for Walk of Fame reconsideration by Lisa Reyes, Local12 (Westchester, NY), May 8, 2017 -- click here for a copy my letter:

The son of a New Rochelle doctor credited with creating the Heimlich maneuver says inducting his father into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame would be a mistake.
Dr. Henry Heimlich, part of the New Rochelle High School class of 1937, is world-famous for developing the anti-choking method that bears his name. This year, the city is honoring him by inducting him into its Walk of Fame.

Dr. Heimlich's son, Peter, sent a letter to the city urging officials to reconsider the designation.

"My father was involved most of his career promoting a bunch of crackpot medical ideas that resulted in a significant loss of life," he says.

The surprising reason why the Heimlich maneuver is no longer called 'the Heimlich' by Gene Kim and Jessica Orwig, Business Insider, June 6, 2017


What's the right way to save a choking victim's life? It turns out, the Heimlich maneuver is not the only approach – and it may not even be the best one.

Repeated blows to the back could be equally useful in a dangerous situation. You might be thinking that back blows will only lodge the food deeper into a person's trachea. But this is a myth perpetuated by Dr. Henry Heimlich.

According to reports from Dr. Heimlich's youngest son, Peter Heimlich, the founder of the Heimlich maneuver spent years trying to discredit back blows, publicly denouncing them as "death blows."

He even funded a study in the '80s that showed back blows could do more harm to a choking victim than good. But in truth, there is no valid scientific evidence to prove that back blows are any better, or worse, than the Heimlich maneuver.


Media player column by John Burns, The Sunday Times (UK), June 18 2017 (free signup for two articles/month):

(Peter Heimlich), a 63-year-old retired businessman living in Atlanta, thinks his father was a humbug who lied to journalists and saw many of his preposterous claims printed verbatim. “As a result,” Peter Heimlich says, “when he died last December, virtually all of his obituaries included factual errors.” So he set about having them corrected. Within a month he had secured published corrections in seven news outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. “Since then, that tally has more than doubled,” he says.

The Sunday Independent published an obituary of Heimlich on December 25. Unbylined, it was “riddled” with errors, according to Peter. He emailed the Sindo a number of times, but received only auto-replies. In mid-January this year, he contacted the Office of the Press Ombudsman, and got a same-day response supplying the contact details of INM’s group managing editor. He explained to Heimlich that the Sindo obituary had come from The Daily Telegraph, with which it has a syndication agreement.

...Heimlich then turned his sights on to the Telegraph, and within days it had posted online a revised version of the obituary, correcting seven errors. Heimlich emailed this to the INM editor, and by February 8 the original Sindo obit had been replaced with the revised and corrected one.

But the saga was not over; now the headline was wrong...Further emails to the Indo went unanswered, however, so once more he turned to the Office of the Press Ombudsman. Again, bingo! The headline on the Indo’s website was promptly fixed.

...(A) decade ago, Peter Heimlich would have got no satisfaction. Back then, Irish newspapers were bad at admitting and correcting errors...What changed? The industry’s own decision to appoint and fund a press ombudsman...Newspapers do not like having to deal with formal complaints lodged by the public with the ombudsman, and loathe having to publish negative decisions....

“The public deserves an effective independent press oversight organisation like the Office of the Press Ombudsman,” Peter Heimlich concludes. “It’s unfortunate we don’t have one here in the US, but perhaps some days we’ll catch up with Ireland.”


Duncan Garner saves son from choking on bacon by Newshub staff, June 12, 2017, Newshub New Zealand:  

Duncan Garner has recounted the "dreadful experience" of his young son choking on food and not knowing how to save him.

The AM Show host said both he and six-year-old son Buster knew how bad things could have got after the boy ate a piece of bacon without first cutting it.

...Newshub was sent an email by the son of Henry Heimlich, who invented the technique, saying his dad's manoeuvre wasn't the right way to help someone who is choking.

"First of all would you please convey to Mr Garner that I'm delighted that he and his lad got the better of that bacon?

"Second, Mr Garner may wish to learn that my father's namesake anti-choking treatment ("the Heimlich" aka abdominal thrusts) is not recommended by the New Zealand Resuscitation Council or by St John Ambulance New Zealand," he wrote. 

Instead, chest thrusts are now the recommended method and more effective than abdominal thrusts.

Methods to save choking victims by Fred Cicetti, September 1, 2017, International Falls (MN) Journal:

A few months ago, I wrote a column on the Heimlich maneuver, a well-known method to save choking victims. After the column appeared, I received an email from Peter Heimlich, the son of the late Henry Heimlich, who invented the procedure.

Peter Heimlich said that two of the methods recommended by the Heimlich Institute — the source for my column — are “problematic.” These are the methods for treating unconscious victims and infants. He recommended that I contact the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross and ask them for their guidelines. I felt obliged to follow-up on my column.
Yale researcher’s ratings service discontinued by Amy Xiong, Yale Daily News, November 3, 2017:

NuVal LLC, a nutrition ratings service criticized for its potential conflicts of interest — and established by Director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center David Katz SPH ’93 — has been discontinued nationally.

The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System is currently being removed from grocery shelves, according to a USA Today article published on Oct. 25. Created in 2008, the NuVal system works by assigning a score from 1–100 based on the nutritional characteristics of any given food. Katz is now founding a new company called DQPN — which stands for Diet Quality Photo Navigation — to evaluate dietary nutrition.

“NuVal was criticized for giving high ratings to sugary foods. That may have just been a coincidence, or it may have had to do with who funds Katz,” said science journalist and longtime Katz critic Nina Teicholz ’87, who has written about the food industry’s influence on nutrition science. “It’s a murky area.”

Mail Online and Evening Standard pull 'completely untrue' stories about Ed Byrne saving audience member's life with Heimlich manoeuvre by John Reynolds, Press Gazette (UK), January 4, 2017:

The Mail Online and London Evening Standard have pulled stories claiming that comedian Ed Byrne performed a life-saving manoeuvre on an audience member, after the stories were refuted by the comedian and the theatre where it was purported to take place.

It was reported in Mail Online and on the London Evening Standard website that after seeing a member of the audience in anguish while choking on food, the comedian jumped from the stage and performed the Heimlich manoeuvre during his set.

A spokesman for the Alhambra theatre in Bradford, said it had “no record” that anything like this occurred at Byrne’s show on 9 December,2017.

Byrne also said the story was untrue. He tweeted: “This is a great story, only partially ruined by the fact that’s it’s completely untrue.”

...Blogger Peter Heimlich exposed the two titles pulling the story.

On his blog – The Sidebar – he explains that his father is the doctor credited with inventing the famous life-saving technique.


Life-saving Byrne is a choke at media’s expense by John Burns, Sunday Times of Ireland, January 7, 2018:

Heard the one about the Irish comedian who saved the life of an audience member by performing the Heimlich manoeuvre?

The Daily Mail and Evening Standard reported last week that Ed Byrne saw a woman choking during a performance in December, jumped from the stage mid-joke, and saved her.

Byrne says it is a great story but only wishes it were true.

They quoted Morgan Wilson, 29, as saying: “I was laughing too much while I was eating M&Ms during his hysterical act, and looking back it wasn’t the best idea for a comedy gig as I started choking. If it weren’t for Ed, I believe I would have choked to death. I’m still in disbelief that he saved me.”

Not as much disbelief as Byrne was in when he heard about the claim. “This is a great story, only partially ruined by the fact that it’s completely untrue,” the Dubliner tweeted. The “fake news” pieces promptly disappeared from the Mail and Standard websites.

A news editor on the Irish Sun revealed this was a deliberate attempt to hoax newspapers. Told by the Sun that Byrne was denying the story, the woman replied: “He’s probably being modest.”

Comedian didn’t save choking fan, 2 UK sites delete stories by Sydney Smith, IMediaEthics, January 10, 2018:

Blogger Peter Heimlich, whose father is the same Dr. Henry J. Heimlich associated with the aforementioned maneuver, has caches and screenshots of the errors on his website.  In an e-mail to iMediaEthics, Heimlich, who noted he has raised questions about previous reports on people allegedly being saved by the Heimlich maneuver, explained he spotted the Mail Online article and then tweeted Byrne to ask for more information. The next day, he noticed the article had been removed and kept digging.

Byrne tweeted about the Evening Standard‘s story, “This is a great story, only partially ruined by the fact that it’s completely untrue.”  A spokesperson for the theatre, Liz Hall, told iMediaEthics, “We have no record that anything like this occurred” and pointed to Byrne’s tweet.

iMediaEthics has contacted both the Standard and Mail to ask how they learned about the story, how they attempted to fact check and if they are or have published corrections.

Not choking fan (Interview with Peter by Carol Off), As It Happens, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, January 10, 2018:

CO: What was it about the articles that rang alarm bells in your head?

PH: Well, I didn't initially have an alarm bell. What concerned me about the reporting, and I didn't know if the stories were bogus or whether it was just reported not at the highest level of journalism. The first story, which was published on January 2nd; that was a Tuesday, appears to have originated solely from one source. A woman who was identified as Morgan Wilson, and the photo identified her as Morgan Wilson. As I don't need to tell you, Carol, a basic rule of journalism is to confirm facts with two or more sources. But the Mail article didn't quote anyone else. Nothing from Ed Byrne, the comic and alleged rescuer, or from representatives of the theatre where the incident reportedly occurred, or from any medical personnel who were reportedly on the scene, and there were no eyewitnesses who were quoted in the story.


Heimlich’s son questions Dechoker products in A-L schools
by Kate Day Sager, Olean (NY) Times Herald, November 1, 2018:

The son of the founder of the Heimlich maneuver has questioned the effectiveness and safety of the Dechoker device currently available at a local school district and other public locations in the area.

But Peter Heimlich, son of Dr. Henry Heimlich, who in 1974 was credited with developing the abdominal thrust meant to clear a person’s airway from an object causing choking, questions the Dechoker’s effectiveness and safety, stating it hasn’t been tested.

..“Why the school district and the sheriff's office thought this was a good idea is a mystery,” Heimlich said in an email to the Times Herald. “There are no research studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals testing the device's effectiveness and safety — let alone on children — and it isn't recommended by any first aid organizations.”

Heimlich said that one doesn’t “have to be an expert to realize that using an unproven, unapproved medical device in what may be a life or death emergency raises serious questions. For example, were parents of students given the opportunity to provide informed consent for the use of the device on their kids? Was a risk manager consulted to evaluate potential liability concerns?”

As for the abdominal thrusts, Heimlich said that procedure has been the topic of a “spirited debate” in the medical community about how best to respond to a choking emergency.

“For example, some experts have suggested that chest thrusts are safer and more effective than the Heimlich maneuver,” he said. “In fact, first aid authorities in Australia and New Zealand recommend chest thrusts, not ‘the Heimlich.’ Are they ahead of the curve? I don't know, but that's one of the beauties of science — it keeps evolving.”

Blogger asks press regulator to consider sanctions against online publishers that pull articles without explanation by staff reporter Charlotte Tobitt, Press Gazette (UK), February 11, 2019:

A US blogger is pushing for a change to the Editors’ Code of Practice – the standards to which most UK newspapers are held – which would see publications sanctioned for pulling articles without explanation.

Peter Heimlich has asked the Editors’ Code of Practice Committee to consider “plugging” a hole in the code which allows publishers to delete online news articles “with impunity.”

...Heimlich told Press Gazette: “’Here today, gone tomorrow’ reporting is not only junk journalism, it’s a thumb in the eye to readers: ‘If we get something wrong, we’ll just bury it and you don’t deserve an explanation.’"

...In a letter to Code Committee secretary Jonathan Grun, Heimlich wrote: “For instance, if an article includes false information, rather than exercising editorial responsibility to correct errors, a publication may simply eliminate the entire story.

“That may shield reporters and editors from embarrassment (or worse), but in my opinion the Orwellian ‘disappearing’ of published news reports is a disservice to readers and to the record.

“It’s also a slippery ethical slope. For example, if an advertiser doesn’t like critical information in a story, could a word in the ear of a person with authority at the newspaper lead to the offending article being sent down the memory hole?”

An AIDS therapy involving parasite injections was discredited. China is reviving it — for cancer by Jane Qiu, Stat news, March 18, 2019

American surgeon Henry Heimlich is best known for inventing a way to rescue choking victims, but a quarter-century ago, he was vilified for promoting a fringe treatment for AIDS and Lyme disease. Called malarial therapy, it involved injecting patients with the malaria-causing parasite, supposedly to stimulate their immune systems.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report saying the procedure “cannot be justified,” and another critic compared its use to the discredited practice of bleeding patients with leeches. Despite the criticism, Heimlich launched trials of the therapy in HIV patients in Mexico and China in the 1990s. Now, the scientist who led the Chinese study is using malarial therapy again — this time to treat cancer patients. And the still-unproven intervention is being hailed in China as a miracle cure.


Spotlight: Experts warn malaria for cancer treatment "scientifically unsound," risky for patients
by Tan Jingjing, Xinhua News, March 18, 2018

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Peter Heimlich, son of Henry J. Heimlich, said his father claimed he could cure cancer by infecting patients with malaria in the early 1980s.

In the late 1980s, the Heimlich Institute conducted clandestine experiments in Mexico which were eventually shut down by the Mexican government.

The Heimlich Institute also oversaw experiments on U.S. Lyme Disease patients in Mexico City and Panama City, before the project was shut down in 1992 after an investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) because returning patients infected with malaria were bringing the disease into the United States, according to Peter Heimlich.

Henry Heimlich's "malariotherapy" raised great controversy. Many U.S. medical experts said the theory does not make any scientific sense.

In a phone interview with Xinhua, Robert S. Baratz, assistant clinical professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, said that what the Chinese research team has been working on is no different from Henry Heimlich's "malariotherapy" experiments.

"It (the therapy) has no logic nor scientific basis," said Baratz, who was former executive director of the U.S. National Council Against Health Fraud, adding Henry Heimlich had no background or training in immunology.

"Dr. Heimlich was no expert in malaria, HIV, Lyme, nor infectious diseases," he said.

"In my own opinion, the 'malariatherapy' endorsed by Dr. Heimlich has no scientific basis and should not be used on human subjects," said George J. Annas, a professor and director of the Center for Health Law, Ethics and Human Rights at the Boston University School of Public Health, School of Medicine, and School of Law.


Dr. Heimlich’s son questions effectiveness of famed maneuver by Jeff Bernthal, FOX2 Now (St. Louis), April 29, 2019:

Dr. Heimlich’s own son believes there could be more effective means of helping choking victims. Peter Heimlich said his father was a very effective promoter and believes that played a big role in convincing the public his method was the best way to help choking victims.

“He was such a gifted marketer he could teach P.T. Barnum a few tricks,” said Peter Heimlich.

Dr. Anthony Pearson, a cardiologist at St. Luke’s Hospital, believes the abdominal thrust method of helping choking victims should be called the Heimlich experiment instead of the Heimlich maneuver.

“It seems to help some people but we don’t know how many are helped or how many would have been improved if they had just gotten back slaps,” he said. “That’s why I call it an experiment."

Pearson said Heimlich tried to discredit those who attempted to promote other methods such as back slaps or chest thrusts.

“He really bullied people to not think of anything other than his abdominal thrusts procedure which became known as the Heimlich maneuver," he said.

Peter Heimlich and his wife have even created a website that includes links to media reports questioning his father’s work.

“The debate which began when my dad first introduced the treatment in 1974 and has continued until now is whether it’s the most effective and safest treatment,” said Peter Heimlich.

The Australia and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation removed abdominal thrusts from its guidelines in 2010 after the agency discovered there were 32 case reports of abdominal thrusts causing life-threatening harm. The agency determined higher airway pressures could be generated by using chest thrusts rather than abdominal thrusts.

“There has to be a better way to go about doing something that’s looking at trying to prevent 4,000 deaths a year,” Pearson said.

He said there’s no doubt the Heimlich has saved lives. The question remains what’s the balance between the life’s saved and the potential for serious, even deadly harm, according to Pearson.

Dr. Heimlich’s son questions whether famous anti-choking maneuver is the best or safest treatment by Danielle Wallace, FOX News, updated May 14, 2019: 

The American Red Cross began adopting Heimlich’s abdominal thrust maneuver in 1976. in 2005, the ARC "downgraded" abdominal thrusts (aka the Heimlich maneuver) to a secondary treatment response for choking emergencies. Since then, the ARC's recommended first treatment response has been a series of back blows. Here's an ARC poster describing the protocol which they call "the five and five." The AHA recommends to first try using abdominal thrusts on conscious responsive adults and children aged 1 or older to dislodge a foreign-body airway obstruction (FBAO). “If abdominal thrusts are not effective, the rescuer may consider chest thrusts,” the website states.


...
The Australia and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation removed abdominal thrusts from its guidelines in 2010, citing 32 case reports of abdominal thrusts causing life-threatening harm, FOX 2 reported. The agency concluded higher airway pressures could be generated by using chest thrusts rather than abdominal thrusts.

State Rep. Jim Marshall’s infant choking bill to be amended to avoid teaching Heimlich procedure for use on babies by J.D. Prose, Beaver County (PA) Times, June 17, 2019

State Rep. Jim Marshall’s recent bill on infant CPR and choking prevention will need to be amended in the Senate after he learned that the well-known Heimlich maneuver is not recommended for babies.

...(Peter Heimlich), the son of the late Dr. Henry Heimlich, who popularized the anti-choking method that involves standing behind a choking victim and giving them abdominal thrusts with interlocked arms, saw a story about the bill online and spotted a problem.

In subsequent emails, Heimlich, who lives in Georgia, said his father’s namesake technique is not recommended for infants. Heimlich said medical groups, such as the American Red Cross, advise against using the procedure on infants.

“What concerns me is that codifying that language in a government statute may inadvertently result in harm to infants,” Heimlich wrote in an email.

Heimlich has also written a letter to state Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera and University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann about concerns he has over the Heimlich Heroes program and its Heimlich choking procedures on babies being taught to Philadelphia students through a Penn Medicine grant.

In Arizona, a County Attorney Candidate’s Past Seems To Contradict Her Pro-Reform Stance: Julie Gunnigle, who is running in Maricopa County, says she supports alternatives to incarceration. But a decade ago in Illinois, she prosecuted a woman for recording phone calls and helped put her in jail for 18 months by Meg O'Connor, The Appeal, August 3, 2020:

Julie Gunnigle is one of three Democrats vying to become the top prosecutor in Arizona’s Maricopa County, the fourth most-populous county in the U.S. An Arizona native, Gunnigle has billed herself as a strong supporter of criminal justice reform who would break from the county’s historically harsh approach to charging and sentencing if elected. 

But as she heads into the final stretch of the race—the primary is Tuesday—Gunnigle finds herself having to contend with a controversy from her past. A decade-old case from her time as a prosecutor in Cook County, Illinois, has caused a stir on the campaign trail and raised doubts about her commitment to some of the stances she’s taken during the race.

While in Cook County, Gunnigle helped prosecute Annabel Melongo, who is Black, first for alleged computer tampering, then for recording and publishing a conversation with a court reporter. Eight years, two trials, and one appeal later, Melongo beat all the charges against her. But she spent a year and a half jailed on a $300,000 bond in the process, and at one point had to undergo a hysterectomy while handcuffed to an operating table. In 2013, Melongo filed a lawsuit against Gunnigle and a slew of other public officials over what she alleged was a malicious prosecution and wrongful arrest.

Choking incident that spawned viral video takes bizarre turn by Chris Mertes, Sun Prairie (WI) Star, December 28, 2021

Inside Edition owes an apology to Sun Prairie bartender by Peter M. Heimlich, Sun Prairie (WI) Star Jan 1, 2022
     


MORE TO COME...