powered by FreeFind
Updated January 9, 2012
Home Page
Bio and
contact info
Selected
media reports based on our work
The Sidebar
(Peter's blog)
Unreported or
under-reported news stories
Website
statement of purpose
What's
the best treatment response for choking? That
depends on whom you ask
By Peter M. Heimlich
In
Spring 2006, the American Red Cross made the first
major change in US choking rescue guidelines in 20
years by reintroducing backblows as the first
treatment response. If backblows fail to remove
the obstruction, rescuers are instructed to
proceed with abdominal thrusts, formerly known as
"the Heimlich maneuver." Click here for
instructions posted on the website of the Red
Cross. Page down for news reports about the Red
Cross update, arranged alphabetically by state.
As
first reported on my blog, five years later
the Canadian Red Cross finally caught up and made
the same update.
Here's
what the 2010 American Heart
Association (AHA) guidelines say:
For responsive adults and children 1 year
of age with severe FBAO, case reports show the
feasibility and effectiveness of back blows or
slaps, abdominal thrusts, and chest
thrusts....Although chest thrusts, back slaps,
and abdominal thrusts are feasible and effective
for relieving severe FBAO in conscious
(responsive) adults and children >1 year of
age, for simplicity in training it is
recommended that abdominal thrusts be applied in
rapid sequence until the obstruction is
relieved. If abdominal thrusts are not
effective, the rescuer may consider chest
thrusts. It is important to note that abdominal
thrusts are not recommended for infants 1 year
of age because thrusts may cause injuries.
And
in the land down under?
As
the assistant CEO of St John Ambulance
Australia's Queensland branch, it has been
Stephen (Dean's) job to teach and train people
across the resuscitation industry.
..."It
is important for people in the business of
saving lives to be taught to follow a set of
common rules, regulations and procedures to
stop confusion.
"In
the US, they still advocate the Heimlich
Manoeuvre for choking but in Australia, we
believe the evidence shows it is dangerous and
so our guidelines don't promote it," Stephen
said.
Who
so much confusion in the field? My research
uncovered that in 1985, my father and his cronies
(including then-US Surgeon General C. Everett
Koop) defrauded both organizations in order to
promote "the Heimlich maneuver" over other
methods. For recent published reports about that,
click here
(New Haven Register), here
(Cincinnati Magazine), and here
(Australian Broadcasting documentary). From a
syndicated column by Lenore Skenazy:
Back blows are
"death blows," Heimlich declared as he lobbied
for his own maneuver's acceptance 30 years ago.
In 1985, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop
endorsed this view, dubbing back slaps
"hazardous." After that, only the Heimlich
maneuver was considered kosher.
What most
people don't realize, said Heimlich's son, Peter
Heimlich, is that "Koop was an old friend of my
father's and he did it as a buddy favor."
In
response to recent inquiries from reporters at ABC
News and other news outlets, Dr. Koop has
repeatedly refused to comment.
National
& International News Outlets
November 13, 2006 - Basics
of First Aid: What to Do Until Medical Help
Arrives, Voice of America News,
May 26, 2008 - Learning
First Aid: What to Do Until You Reach Medical
Help, Voice of America (Special English
News),
July 18, 2007 - Heimlich's
Son Pushes to Discredit Famous Dad by JR
Santo, ABC News, The Blotter
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...Dr.
Heimlich refused to speak to ABC News..."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....
May 13, 2010 - To Your Good Health
by Paul G. Donohue MD, King Features syndicated
column
July 13, 2010 - CPR: Lifesaving
training you hope you'll never have to use
by Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch (Wall Street
Journal)
(The) Heimlich
maneuver for choking is now the more generic and
widely understood "abdominal thrusts"...We learned
what to do if an adult starts choking and can no
longer talk, cough or breathe. For conscious
victims, delivering five separate but
not-too-forceful back blows between the shoulder
blades and then, if needed, an equal number of
abdominal thrusts can help dislodge the item. The
abdominal thrusts turned out to be more like a
series of squeezes than the violent-looking jolts
that are often portrayed on TV.
July 27, 2009 - The
Heimlich manoeuvre by Aviva Ziegler, a
30-minute radio documentary from Australian
Broadcasting
Alabama
February 24, 2010 - City
and county workers learn CPR by Laura Fenton,
Selma Times-Journal
Arkansas
June 19, 2008 - Hold That Heimlich, Arkansas Times
California
March 9, 2008 - Hundreds Take Time to
Learn CPR at Free Red Cross Class by
John Driscoll, The Eureka Times-Standard
September 9, 2008 - How
to help a co-worker in a medical crisis
by R.J. Ignelzi San Diego Union Tribune
June 19, 2010 - Doctor advises how to
help a choking victim, Fremont Tribune
Colorado
February 21, 2010 - Know the ABC of
emergency first aid by Eric Murray, Sky-Hi
Daily News, Grand County,
Connecticut
October 23, 2006 - New
Haven Register, Red
Cross Reverses Policy on Choking Aid by
Abram Katz
April 10, 2007 - Red Cross
Deviates from Heimlich Maneuver by Anne
Pallivathuckal, Journal Inquirer
(Peter Heimlich) says
that the Heimlich maneuver works, but "the
question is whether it is the best method." Peter
contends that the maneuver gained widespread
prominence because of his father's media blitz,
even while other methods were found to be more
effective. Peter cites the work of Charles
Guildner, a doctor who studied chest thrusts as a
method for rescuing choking victims in the
mid-1970s. Guildner did a series of tests to
compare the effectiveness of using abdominal
thrusts versus chest thrusts by measuring airflow.
His findings showed that chest thrusts were more
effective. A more recent study in Norway that
tested the effectiveness of chest thrusts using
cadavers replicated Guildner's findings, Peter
says. The AHA in its journal, "Circulation", cites
this study, in which randomized trial maneuvers to
open the airway in cadavers was tested. The AHA
journal also mentions other studies that show that
higher sustained airway pressures can be generated
using the chest thrust rather than the abdominal
thrust.
February
7, 2010 - To thrust, or not to thrust?
Debate over whether Heimlich maneuver should be the
first response for choking by Lisa Chamoff,
Greenwich Time
In
recent years, stories have recounted years of
lobbying by the maneuver's namesake to bring it
into prominence as the response to choking.
Heimlich -- who turned 80 on Wednesday -- famously
declared that back blows were "death blows." Those
stories were unearthed by Henry Heimlich's son,
Peter. His Web site, medfraud.info, recounts how
his father allegedly "engaged in a variety of
dirty tricks such as using his secretary to send
threat letters under an alias and clandestinely
funding a Yale research study which allegedly
proved back blows were dangerous." During a recent
phone interview, Heimlich declined to comment on
how he came to call his father duplicitous, saying
he "discovered a fascinating, unseen history of
how the Heimlich maneuver came to be a household
word." "Science marches on," Heimlich said.
"There's been a 30-year scientific debate, not
whether the Heimlich maneuver works, which it does
for choking, but whether it is the best method."
Florida
September
11, 2008 - Heimlich
Maneuvering by Tim
Collie, Miami New Times
Hawaii
May 13, 2010 - Kauai boy saves choking father
by Manolo Morales, KHON2-TV
Illinois
September 24, 2006 -
Joliet Herald News,
Choking Victims: Debate Over Lifesaving - Groups
differ in controversy over backblows
While the Red Cross
and American Heart Association still say the
Heimlich maneuver, or "abdominal thrusts" as it's
called, is the foremost way to help somebody who
is choking, they take varying stands on whether
back blows also should be given. The heart
association favors the no-back-blow argument,
saying that it's easier to simply teach one
method. But under new rules taught in rescue
courses this summer, the American Red Cross
officially says yes to the back blow debate. The
group says a rescuer should first use back blows,
and then move to the Heimlich maneuver to help a
choking person. But even the Red Cross itself
seems to be on two different pages with the new
rules.
November 16-17, 2006 -
ABC7 Chicago I-Team Special Report, The Maneuver
by Chuck Goudie
December 20, 2006 -
SuperStation WGN-TV, Chicago, Heimlich Maneuver Now 2nd Choice
for Choking Rescue
Indiana
September 15, 2006 -
WNDU-TV, South Bend, Guidelines for Saving Choking
Victims Have Changed by Kari Huston
October 6, 2009 - South
Bend Tribune, Rescue from choking
- Advice varies a bit but includes abdominal
thrusts for most people by Joseph Dits
Iowa
August 1, 2007 - Learning the Basics
by Melissa Regennitter, Muscatine Journal
Kansas
April 4, 2009 -Giving Aid by Bobbie Mylnar, The
Emporia Gazette
Kentucky
August 22, 2007 - Choking Response Had All
the Right Rescue Moves by Tom Dekle, The
Kentucky Standard (Bardstown)
Louisiana
June
29, 2009 - Dealing with diet
and diverticulitis problems by Dr. P. Donohue (syndicated
column), The Town Talk (Central Louisiana). No longer
freely available on the paper's website; same column
is here.
Maine
February 1, 2007 -
Ellsworth American - What Is the Best
Way to Help Choking Victims? by James
Straub
June
29, 2009 - Dealing with
diet and diverticulitis problems by Dr. P. Donohue (syndicated
column), Sun Journal, Lewiston
Maryland
October 12, 2006 -
Cecil Whig, Red Cross
Expands Choking Treatment by Jane Weaver
March
27, 2007 - Cecil Whig, Woman
Claims Pet Pooch (Toby) Gave Her the Heimlich by
Scott Goss
As
strange as (Debbie) Parkhursts story might sound,
Toby's actions actually followed the emergency
measures recommended for choking victims by the
American Heart Association and the American Red
Cross. Both agencies recommend first aid
responders use a series of five back blows
followed by a series of five abdominal thrusts,
otherwise known as the five and five.
March
29, 2007 - WJZ (CBS-TV, Baltimore) Dog's Life-Saving Heimlich Contradicts Red
Cross by
Jessica Kartalija
Michigan
December 12, 2006 - The
Grand Rapids Press, Backslaps Dislodge
Heimlich Maneuver Here by Paul R.
Kopenkoskey
"As a choking rescue
treatment, it (the Heimlich maneuver) is effective
saving thousands of lives," acknowledged Peter
Heimlich, owner of a wholesale fabric business in
Atlanta. "That's not my beef. "The serious
question is, is it the best rescue treatment for
choking? The back blows are less invasive. They're
not going to hurt anybody. Abdominal thrusts, aka
the Heimlich maneuver, can break a rib, damage
internal organs." Peter Heimlich accuses his
famous father of a 10-year misinformation
campaign, touting his method while maligning back
blows as death blows. "In Europe, they've been
teaching back blows followed by abdominal thrust
for 30 years," said Peter Heimlich. "They never
heard about it killing people. No one is being
sued like mad."
Reached at his home
in Cincinnati last week, Heimlich, 87, referred
questions to his spokesman, Robert Kraft. "Dr.
Heimlich's maneuver has proved itself over the
last 30 years because of the lives it has saved,"
Kraft said. Heimlich continues to assert it's a
medical faux pas to use back blows to save a
choking victim, he said. "Back blow drives a food
deeper into the throat rather than expel it,"
Kraft said. (Dr. Robert) Baratz calls that, "pure
nonsense. " The Red Cross' new guidelines for
conscious victims recommend first applying
backslaps. If that fails to remove the airway
obstruction, abdominal thrusts are recommended.
For unconscious victims, the new guidelines
recommend chest thrusts, a method first
recommended in a 1976 study by Dr. Charles
Guildner, whose results were duplicated in a year
2000 study by Dr. Audun Langhelle.
January 9, 2007 - Nurse Uses
Heimlich Maneuver to Save Choking Diner
by Jennifer Linn, Ludington Daily News
March 21, 2008 - Choking Rescue Advice Changes;
Red Cross Recommends Classes by Lisa
Carolin, Ann Arbor News
One of the key
messages the Red Cross wants people to know is
that the Heimlich maneuver is no longer the first
thing one should do to help a choking victim. In
March of 2006, the American Red Cross reinstated
back blows as the first treatment response..."It
changed from doing abdominal thrusts to doing a
combination of back blows with the victim being
bent over,'' says Brothers. "You do a combination
of five back blows, then have the victim stand
upright for a series of five abdominal thrusts and
then repeat the cycle.''
November 25, 2008 - Dr.
McGeorge Demonstrates CPR And The Heimlich
Maneuver, WLIV-TV
McGeorge said back
blows were standard rescue treatment for choking
until the 1970's, when a new maneuver was
described. After that, abdominal thrusts, known
commonly as the Heimlich Maneuver, were considered
the best rescue method for a choking person.
McGeorge said the concern about back blows was
that they might cause the object to become more
lodged, but now opinions have shifted and a
combination of techniques appears best to save a
life.
Minnesota
January 26, 2007 -
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Heimlich Family
Divided Over Doctor's Reputation by Kim
Ode
December 19, 2007 - Red
Cross Tips for Happy Holidays by Marie
Plaskett, Winona County Red Cross Executive
Director, Winona Daily News
Missouri
New Jersey
August 14, 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
February 27, 2010 - Quick
maneuvers, North Jersey Record
New
Mexico
October 21, 2006 -
KOB-TV, Albuquerque, Red Cross Changes First
Aid Training for Choking by Todd Dukart
New
York
August
2, 2008 - Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, Kevin Schroeder, honored
by Red Cross for heroism by Bill Wolcott
January 9, 2007 - The
Citizen, Auburn, First Aid Update
by David Wilcox
Back
blows were advocated by the Red Cross as the best
way to rescue a choking victim until
Cincinnati-based physician Henry J. Heimlich began
a media campaign for the maneuver he invented. It
was adopted by the Red Cross following a 1985
conference of the American Heart Association,
whose lead the Red Cross often follows in
establishing first aid guidelines. At that
conference, Dr. Richard Day presented a choking
rescue committee with the results of a study
finding that back blows do indeed drive food
further down the windpipe. The Heimlich maneuver
subsequently replaced back blows as the
recommended method of removing food from the
throats of choking victims. However, Heimlich's
son, Peter, points out that Day's research was
devoid of scientific objectivity. What my father
and Dr. Day failed to divulge was that my father
had clandestinely funded the study and had a close
relationship with Day....
February 21, 2007: Maneuvering Over Heimlich
by Lenore Skenazy (syndicated column)
February
28, 2007 - WSYR (ABC-TV, Syracuse, NY) Doctor on Call by
Carrie Lazarus
North
Carolina
October 19, 2007 - Heimlich Family
Maneuvers by W. Terry Smith, The Daily
Southerner, Tarboro
Ohio
FIRST NEWS
OUTLET TO REPORT THE RED CROSS UPDATE
August 3, 2006 - The
Cincinnati Beacon, The Heimlich
Remover: David Pepper, or the Red Cross?
November 1, 2006 -
Cincinnati CityBeat, Proofreaders Are Sorely Missed
by Ben L. Kaufman
November 5, 2006 - Columbus Dispatch, Red Cross Revises Tips on
Helping the Choking by Misti Crane
April 2007 - Cincinnati
Magazine, A New Maneuver -the
circular history of a lifesaving procedure
by Pamela Mills-Senn
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 e-mail that
neither (Dr.) Heimlich's antics nor concerns over
the AHA's (American Heart Association) and the
ARC's (American Red Cross) reputations had
anything to do with the decision (to eliminate
backblows in favor of the Heimlich
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
evidence 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."
Oregon
October 20, 2007 -
Heimlich Hero Goes National by Sanne
Specht & October 23, 2007 -
Because We Like Ruining Your Fun, The
Mail Tribune, Medford
January 9, 2011 - It’s
a life-saver - Two-step technique is recommended to
help a choking person by Randi Bjornstad, Eugene (OR) Register-Guard
Pennsylvania
June 3, 2007 - Blows are Back
by Jo Ciavaglia, Bucks County (PA) Courier
Times:
With little public
fanfare nearly two years ago, the Red Cross
resurrected back blows as the first choking rescue
response, reversing its long published guidelines
promoting abdominal thrusts - better known as the
Heimlich maneuver. The policy change has been
called the most significant in decades, with major
implications for emergency and first-aid education
and training.
March 10, 2009 - Kiski Student Saves Friend From
Choking by Dr.
Maria Simbra, KDKA-TV (CBS) Pittsburgh
If someone can't
talk, cough, or breathe, or if they grab their
throat, these are signs they are choking and can't
get oxygen - a dangerous situation for the brain.
With this kind of emergency, you want remember
"five-and-five." Five back blows between the
shoulder blades with the heel of your hand, five
abdominal thrusts and then alternate between back
blows and abdominal thrusts until the blockage is
dislodged.
South
Carolina
September 24, 2007 -
Do You Know What to Do When Someone is Choking?
There Has Been a Change in the Techniques Taught
by the Red Cross by Scott Powell, The
Gaffney Ledger
Tennessee
February 12, 2007 -
Daily News Journal (Gannett, Murfreesboro, TN), Red Cross
Recommends Back Blows Before Heimlich by
Colleen Creamer
Peter Heimlich also
maintains that the American Red Cross is dragging
its feet in getting the information out about the
new protocol.
(Red Cross
spokeswoman Pamela) King disagrees. At the local
and national level, she said, efforts are being
made to let people know. "I know I have done
several media releases," said King. "Our chapters
are going out to their local communities. Anyone
who is trained now you are taught the new skills.
So, they are in all of the new Red Cross programs.
We've got materials, posters and wallet cards."
Texas
October 21, 2007 - The
Tale of Choking and Wall Street by Lynn
Walker, Times-Record News, Wichita Falls
Utah
July 11, 2007 - New Emergency CPR Procedures,
KUTV (CBS affiliate), Salt Lake City
In the last few
years, lifesaving rescue procedures have changed.
If someone was choking, we used to administer
several abdominal thrusts until the object came
out, but now. "Now it's a combo of back blows and
abdominal thrusts," says Cheryl Gren of the Salt
Lake Chapter of the American Red Cross. Five blows
to the back, five abdominal thrusts, for babies,
five blows to the back and five chest thrusts.
Vermont
November 22, 2006 -
Seven Days, Burlington, VT, Red Cross Revises Tips
for Helping Choking Victims by Ken
Picard
Virginia
May 18, 2005 - Heimlich's
Use Debated as Best Method for Aid by
Jim Hall, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
The Heimlich maneuver
may or may not be the best way to aid a conscious,
choking adult. It depends who you talk to. Someone
trained in American Heart Association techniques
will recommend the Heimlich. But someone trained
by the American Red Cross will tell you to give
five back blows first, then do the Heimlich--if
necessary. Sorry, the Red Cross doesn't call it
the Heimlich anymore. They say give five
"abdominal thrusts."
Washington
December 3, 2007 - Heimlich Maneuver by
Patricia Murphy, KUOW-FM, Seattle public radio
Wisconsin
November 7, 2006 -
Madison Capital Times, Big Changes in Red Cross CPR
Guidelines by Amy Mertz
November 24, 2006
(reposted 6/12/08) - WAOW-TV, Wausau, Experts Say: If
Choking, Don't Use Heimlich Right Away!
June 21, 2010 - Anything can
happen in the woods, but trust your compass
by Sarah Juon, The Daily News, Rhinelander
Copyright@2006,
all rights reserved; click here to
report broken links or to contact the author.