Did Heimlich Invent the Maneuver? (Boston Herald 8-21-05)
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by Jessica Heslam, Boston Herald
Sunday, August 21, 2005
The Heimlich maneuver may be world-renowned for saving the lives of
choking victims, but a Bay State doctor is heading a probe into
allegations the legendary Dr. Henry Heimlich didn't invent it.
"There's questions of whether he was the originator of the Heimlich
maneuver," said Dr. Robert Baratz, president of the National Council
Against Health Fraud, a Massachusetts consumer watchdog group.
"There's no question he promoted it or branded it, but whether or not
he was the inventor is a little murky," said Baratz, who is on the
faculty at the Boston University School of Medicine.
Baratz also asserts Heimlich, who's 85 years old and living in
Cincinnati, has used his famous name for years to promote his own
"nonscientific" ideas.
Even Heimlich's estranged son, Peter Heimlich, calls his father a
"fraud."
Reached at his home last week, Henry Heimlich called the allegations "a
bunch of nonsense."
Among the allegations:
Heimlich did not invent the Heimlich maneuver. It was developed by one
of his colleagues, Dr. Edward Patrick or Dr. James Fattu.
While the Heimlich maneuver is proven to save the lives of people
choking on solid objects, Heimlich continues to promote the maneuver to
save drowning victims and people having asthma attacks - without
scientific evidence. But critics claim the Heimlich can in fact be
deadly for drowning victims.
Heimlich is involved in human "malariotherapy" experiments outside the
United States to prove injecting AIDS and HIV patients with the malaria
parasite strengthens their immune systems.
Baratz said Heimlich has tried to turn the Heimlich maneuver into a
"universal cure-all."
Henry Heimlich referred questions to spokesman Robert Kraft, who
disputed the allegations. Kraft said Peter Heimlich has "worked full
time" to smear his father's reputation since the pair had an argument
years ago.
Kraft said Henry Heimlich developed the Heimlich maneuver on his own
and has not injected humans with malaria but monitored such experiments
in China in the late 1990s.
Henry Heimlich knows of the controversary surrounding malariotherapy
and using the Heimlich on drowning victims, but still supports both
theories, Kraft said.
"After 30 years, he can't produce a single medical expert who agrees
with him about drowning," Peter Heimlich wrote about his father in an
e-mail. "He has no background in immunology, but insists he can cure
AIDS, cancer and Lyme disease by injecting people with malaria. It was
painful to discover my father is a fraud," he added.