Heimlich’s Son Pushes to Discredit Famous Dad
EmailDr. Henry Heimlich’s name has been dropped from a prestigious humanitarian award following intense criticism of Dr. Heimlich’s activities in recent years raised by his own son. The H.J. Heimlich Humanitarian Award, given out since 1994 in recognition of the inventor of the life-saving Heimlich maneuver, has been renamed the Spirit of America Festival Humanitarian Award. Award officials said they made the change in response to controversy generated about Dr. Heimlich by his son, Peter. THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS Blotter Dr. Heimlich’s New ‘Maneuver’: Cure AIDS With Malaria Photos Dr. Heimlich’s ‘Maneuvers’ 20/20 Video Is Dr. Heimlich Really a Savior? Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage. A recent 20/20 investigation detailed Dr. Heimlich’s attempts to promote the use of his maneuver on near drowning victims and cystic fibrosis patients, which leading medical experts say is either useless or potentially dangerous. Dr. Heimlich has also been criticized for supporting human studies into his theory that malaria can be used to treat AIDS patients. The application of so-called "malariatherapy" has been denounced by leading AIDS researchers as dangerous, scientifically unfounded and unethical. "The harm that he’s caused overwhelms the good he accomplished," Peter Heimlich told ABC News about his father. "Any award named after Henry Heimlich is a contradiction." Dr. Heimlich refused to speak to ABC News about his son’s campaign. Speaking on behalf of Dr. Heimlich, spokesperson Bob Kraft said, "Peter harassed those poor people to change the name of their award." Dr. Heimlich has also been released from his position as medical advisor for the Save-A-Life Foundation and disinvited as a speaker for a PanAfrica AIDS Conference. In another significant setback, the use of the Heimlich maneuver on choking victims has been quietly downgraded by the American Red Cross. In new guidelines, the Red Cross recommends a series of five back slaps as the first course of action, followed by five Heimlich maneuver thrusts. Back slaps had been the primary treatment used on choking victims until the Red Cross and the American Heart Association, following a joint medical conference in 1985, decided to abandon back slaps and instead promote only the Heimlich maneuver. That decision came about after a long and heated campaign during which Dr. Heimlich branded back slaps as "death blows." The Heimlich maneuver gained widespread acceptance among the public when former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop denounced the use of other methods on choking victims. "Today, there is universal agreement that these methods can be dangerous and should not be performed," Koop said. "The best rescue technique in any choking situation, doctors now agree, is the Heimlich maneuver." "Every study in this shows that back slaps drive the food deeper and do not save lives, that only the Heimlich maneuver saves lives," eldest son Phil Heimlich told ABC News on behalf of his father. At the 1985 Red Cross and AHA conference, however, only one study was cited that showed back slaps can be dangerous when used on choking victims. That study had been funded by Dr. Heimlich through an institution called the Dysphagia Foundation Inc., which was later renamed The Heimlich Institute, according to records from the Ohio secretary of state’s office. The Red Cross says its recent decision to change its guidelines was motivated by a desire to conform to international guidelines on choking, which emphasize more than one technique may be needed. The American Heart Association continues to recommend using the Heimlich maneuver as the first course of action on choking victims, but also says it can be used in combination with back slaps. Both the AHA and the Red Cross have also removed Dr. Heimlich’s name from the maneuver, using a more instructive name: abdominal thrusts. Phil Heimlich says that his father is accustomed to resistance from mainstream medical organizations. According to Phil, "My father’s kind of had a history of coming out with discoveries and having to fight the medical establishment to get them to accept it." Though Peter denies the charge, Phil also believes that Peter’s campaign has been motivated by personal issues. Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
The Heimlich manuever saved my life 33 years ago-back when very few doctors knew anything about it. Fortunately, I was sitting at a table and a doctor sitting next to me knew of it and performed it upon me quite successfully.
Unfortuntately, many families have to contend with hateful children and jealous siblings. I have the same problem in my family.
Posted by: Glenda Graham | July 18, 2007, 2:19 pm 2:19 pm
Weird story … Dr. Heimlich (the elder)’s recent campaigns do sound a little odd, but malariatherapy does have some basis in science. I’m not saying I support it, but I don’t think the Dr. was intentionally trying to harm people. When innoculations / vaccinations were first developed, people didn’t understand that either.
The son ought to worry about doing something with his own life that might help people or solve problems, rather than rushing to discredit his Dad. What the heck is wrong with people – everyone’s in such a hurry to say “nuh-uh” and try to smear others. Worry about yourself, kid.
Posted by: DC | July 18, 2007, 3:20 pm 3:20 pm
For years the medical profession has considered Henry Heimlich to be a kook, so no surprise to learn he’s also a fraud.
Posted by: Magpie | July 18, 2007, 5:50 pm 5:50 pm
Forget about the son.
Now, if someone’s choking, I’ll do what I’ve done my whole life: hit someone on the back first and then try the Heimlich.
I’ve done that no matter what just because hitting someone on the back is easier. I don’t believe that the Red Cross was teaching for 20 years to just do the Heimlich. This is common sense… do what’s easiest first. If that fails, do the Heimlich. Way to catch up with practicality, Red Cross…
Posted by: Choking | July 18, 2007, 5:55 pm 5:55 pm
i had no idea there was such a dramatic back story to the heimlich maneuver. he seems like a good man.
Posted by: bob | July 18, 2007, 6:28 pm 6:28 pm
Regardless of what others are doing or the politics involved in discrediting Dr.Heimlich, I still believe that Heimlich Maneuver is a viable procedure and may say lives.
Posted by: Shakil A. Khan MD, ND.HD | July 19, 2007, 11:50 am 11:50 am
Having been in the same room when my wife Patricia started choking on a piece of Irish Soda Bread and could not breathe and seeing her quickly saved through use of the Heimlich Manouever, it is an injustice to drop his name from this technique
Posted by: Brian Connolly | July 19, 2007, 1:24 pm 1:24 pm
DC: What Peter is doing is moral and important. You have no idea how Dr. Heimlich has manipulated, threated and foisted his maneuver onto a trusting public–a special concern when it comes to using the maneuver rather than CPR to assist a drowning victim. He has been the behind-the-scenes encourager of human studies experiements that had no business being conducted. It would have been easier for Peter to just ignore what his father has done, but he chose instead to bring it to light. We are all the better for it.
Posted by: Pamela | July 19, 2007, 1:58 pm 1:58 pm
From current American Heart Association choking rescue guidelines:
Like CPR, relief of foreign-body airway obstruction (FBAO) is an urgent procedure that should be taught to laypersons. Evidence for the safest, most effective, and simplest methods was sought.
Consensus on Science: It is unclear which method of removal of FBAO should be used first. For conscious victims, case reports showed success in relieving FBAO with back blows/slaps, abdominal thrusts, and chest thrusts. Frequently more than one technique was needed to achieve relief of the obstruction.
Life-threatening complications have been associated with the use of abdominal thrusts.
Posted by: Fact-Checker | July 19, 2007, 2:12 pm 2:12 pm
We’re better for it? I don’t see how. It’s a ticked-off son trashing his father in the press. How does that help anyone?
I don’t know much about the Heimlich manuever, and how it achieved widespread acceptance. I do know that it is recommended by most medical societies and organizations, often to be used in conjunction with other techniques. It’s certainly possible that the Heimlich manuever isn’t the best thing to do in every situation – a lot of medical techniques are like that.
But that still doesn’t explain why “we are all the better” for his son’s angry rambling.
Posted by: DC | July 19, 2007, 2:59 pm 2:59 pm
“Life-threatening complications have been associated with the use of abdominal thrusts.”
Australia has eliminated abdominal thrusts (Heimlich) from their choking rescue guidelines. They recommend backblows followed by chest thrusts.
Seems like chest thrusts might help avoid organ damage, broken ribs, etc.
Any MDs out there have an opinion?
Posted by: Etouffer | July 19, 2007, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
Hey DC, you sure seems to have a bug up your nose about Peter Heimlich. How come, DC? Are you “deeply offended” or could it be you have a dog in this hunt? You’re not Dr. Heimlich’s press agent quoted in the story, by any chance, are ya?
By the way, how many doctors have press agents and why can’t Dr. Heimlich speak for himself? Is he in the Federal Witness Protection Program?
Oh dear me. Could the wonderful Dr. Heimlich actually not be so wonderful? Impossible! How could a doctor ever do anything selfish or crooked?
Posted by: Snarker | July 19, 2007, 5:04 pm 5:04 pm
Maybe, the son was disinherited.
Posted by: marc | July 20, 2007, 9:41 am 9:41 am
Henry Heimlich had a jacket long before his son started speaking out about his father’s frauds:
“Among Heimlich’s critics on the drowning issue is Dr. Joseph Ornato, professor of internal medicine and cardiology at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. ‘Dr. Heimlich continues to distort, misquote, fabricate, and mislead his peers and the public regarding the scientific “evidence” supporting the safety and efficacy of his theory,’ Ornato wrote in an August, 1992, letter to the Red Cross. ‘Dr. Heimlich’s “evidence” consists of unsubstantiated, poorly documented anecdotes. He cites letters to the editor (published in the Journal of the American Medical Association) as though they represented rigorous scientific study.”‘ The Cincinnati Enquirer, May 10, 1993
Posted by: Quacks Like a Quack | July 20, 2007, 3:42 pm 3:42 pm
My life was saved by the Heimlich method and because of it, I was able to raise my two children and live a productive life. I choked on an almond in a busy restaurant. The almond lodged in my throat, I couldn’t talk, barely breathe and then thank God a man sitting nearby recognized what happened to me and immediately did the maneuver — the almond popped out and I was saved — so I’m a believer in this method.
Posted by: Shirley | July 20, 2007, 5:03 pm 5:03 pm
There’s no dispute that abdominal thrusts (Heimlich maneuvers) can be effective for choking victims. The debate has *always* been about whether they’re the *most* effective method and whether they should be used with a combination of other methods. After all, the point is to do whatever it takes to save the choking victim, isn’t it?
According to the Heart Association, medical evidence indicates that backblows and chest thrusts are also effective and may work when abdominal thrusts fail.
The issue here is that Dr. Heimlich attempted to eliminate backblows in favor of his own namesake method. According to the ABC Blotter article, the only research study that supports his claims was secretly funded by Dr. Heimlich. Obviously that casts doubt on the findings of the study and his ethics.
Posted by: Mercury Rising | July 20, 2007, 7:05 pm 7:05 pm
Sounds like one of those Heimlichs needed to have some of those “Sharp Back Slaps”…. only, further down the anatomy!
Posted by: Dave | July 21, 2007, 3:47 am 3:47 am
Peter Heimlich has a website called “Outmaneuvered: How We Busted the Heimlich Medical Frauds” with links to many articles and more information. He and his wife are writing a book about Peter’s father, who sounds like quite a character:
“It’s the fascinating and improbable tale of a failed chest surgeon who was fired from his last medical job in 1976 (in part due to a habit of fainting while performing surgeries). For the next 30 years, building on his reputation as the inventor of a choking rescue procedure, my father devoted himself to media self-promotion, fundraising, and hyping a string of dangerous, crackpot medical theories.”
Posted by: Cleveland Rocker | July 22, 2007, 2:37 pm 2:37 pm
This whole story is very interesting to me. I think that certain groups of people in America put their names on maneuvers,medical equipment and so on. A doctor in New York that is a Jew can use a procedure one time and the country calls it by his name. The Red Cross used the name Heimlich Maneuver in one of there publications and it stuck. The man did not even envent it. It has been around for some time before he started using it. I am a nurse living in Colorado that was born in Cincinnati and I can say that it works and so does the back slap method. My belief is that some groups do very little so they have to steal credit when they can. That is easy when you control all of the media and most large corporations in America. I believe Phil is doing the right thing. God bless him for being a Christian and telling the truth.
Posted by: fredrick mick | April 3, 2011, 7:26 pm 7:26 pm