A few weeks ago, we published this story about the American Heart Association’s new procedures for resuscitation, particularly noticing how the Heimlich Maneuver for drowning has been discredited.  This week, a San Diego writer has published another non-medical news story promoting this unsupported tactic.  How does Cincinnati’s own Dr. Henry Heimlich continue to accomplish these amazing feats of PR?

San Diego reporter Diane Bell recently published this article � a collection of short, disconnected stories � and it ends with this:

San Diego seen
Andy Hewitt was one of several swimmers who helped rescue a drowning diver at La Jolla Cove last Saturday. “The big loss of the day was that Andy sacrificed his cap and goggles in the surf,” says swimming buddy William Newbern. Hewitt had worn the goggles during his three big swims: around Manhattan last year, across the English Channel last July and from Catalina to the mainland in August. Hewitt took the loss in stride: “Well, they were old anyway” . . .

“You can save yourself if you’re choking, even when you’re alone.” So says Dr. Henry Heimlich, the father of the life-saving Heimlich maneuver for choking victims.

Just apply thrusts with your fist above your belly button and under your ribs, he told a group of San Diegans. The Heimlich maneuver also is a treatment for drowning victims because it clears water out of the lungs. But its newest application, Heimlich says, is for asthma attacks. It forces out airway-clogging mucus so the victim can take in oxygen.

The first Heimlich maneuver, joked the thoracic surgeon, was when he managed to get a date with his wife-to-be many years ago.

I find the bad writing above to serve a noteworthy function:  when Bell transitions abruptly from the story of the drowning to the maneuver, she neglects to inform us whether Hewitt saved the “drowning diver” by using it or not.

She also does not give any details about the “group of San Diegans” who apparently attended a seminar by Heimlich.  What kind of group listens to an old doctor talk about claims discredited by every major medical association in the country?

How does Team Heimlich continue to push this agenda in various media outlets?

I have just submitted the following letter to Diane Bell:

Dear Ms. Bell:

I just read, with interest, your recent bit on the Heimlich maneuver for drowning.  I am a member of an Independent Media Network in Cincinnati, Ohio � Dr. Henry Heimlich’s hometown.  For quite some time, we have been following the emerging scandal surrounding some of Dr. Heimlich’s work � like “malariotherapy” (injecting African AIDS patients with malaria as a human experiment in AIDS research), and of course the dangers in using the maneuver for drowning.

Recently, the American Heart Association issued new research on resuscitation, and they have removed all mentions of the Heimlich Maneuver in regards to drowning.  The AHA has increasingly distanced themselves and repudiated Heimlich’s claims in regards to drowning.  Given that this organization is made of medical experts basing their decisions on scientific data, the AHA strikes me as a credible source.

So as you can imagine, it strikes my curiosity when I see a reporter helping to advance Dr. Heimlich’s discredited agenda.  I know Dr. Heimlich and his associates can be persuasive, especially since they know people are not aware of the medical claims working counter to their position.

I was wondering, therefore, if you would be willing to share the source of this story.  Did you actually speak to Dr. Heimlich?  If so, how did you reach him?  Who initiated that discussion?  What was the nature of the event in San Diego at which Dr. Heimlich seems to have presented recently?  Do you know any of those details?

Thank you in advance for your help with this story.  Many of us in Cincinnati have been trying to piece this together for quite some time.

Respectfully,

The Dean of Cincinnati

• Share This Article!
Listen to this article

del.icio.us

Furl It

Anonymous comments are allowed, but you can log in above to stamp your name and to avoid typing the anti-spam code.