Dayton Daily News,
September 1, 2006:
Dr. James
Orlowski has collected about 30 cases
of Heimlich maneuvers leading to bad results
in drowning rescues, usually because
of vomiting. Orlowski, a prolific researcher,
directs pediatric intensive care, pediatrics
and medical ethics at University Community
Hospital in Tampa and teaches at the
University of South Florida. He wrote 19 years
ago in The Journal of the American Medical
Association about what should have been the
"routine resuscitation" of a 10-year-old boy
who'd been submerged for less than two
minutes. But given the Heimlich maneuver, the
boy vomited extensively, damaging his lungs
and impeding a lifeguard's and doctor's
efforts to give him CPR. The boy died after
seven years in a coma.
Washington
Post, June 3, 2011:
The Heimlich
maneuver became famous as a way for people to
dislodge a foreign object from a choking
person’s airway. But it’s been utterly
discredited as a way of rescuing a person who
is drowning, and can actually do serious harm
to someone who has just been pulled from the
water, numerous experts say.
...The list of experts
who reject the Heimlich maneuver (for drowning
rescue) is lengthy: The American Red Cross; the
United States Lifesaving Association; the
American Heart Association; the Institute of
Medicine; the International Life Saving
Federation and many experienced doctors and
academics have strongly inveighed against doing
“abdominal thrusts” for drowning victims.
...In Tampa, which has
one of the highest drowning rates in the
country, Dr.
James Orlowski said he has documented nearly 40 cases
where rescuers performing the Heimlich
maneuver have caused complications for the
victim. Orlowski is chief of pediatrics
and pediatric intensive care at University
Community Hospital in Tampa.