Last fall, Dr. Henry Heimlich, known worldwide for the eponymous
anti-choking maneuver, was to be a guest speaker at a conference on
AIDS in Nashville. At the last minute, however, Heimlich, as the
Nashville Tennessean reported, was uninvited.

Cousin Bob, the quack hunter, struck again.

To those who remember Bob Baratz growing up on Plant Street in New
London, he is Dr. Robert S. Baratz, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.D., and in recent
years, besides running a medical clinic outside Boston and being on the
faculty of Boston University Medical School, he heads a medical
watchdog group called the National Council Against Health Fraud. He is
also, for the record, my first cousin, the middle son of Frances and
the late Wilbur Baratz of New London.
Baratz works closely with Dr. Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist
from Pennsylvania, in rooting out and exposing what they and others,
including a group called Quackwatch, deem medical charlatans and false
remedies. He's on Heimlich's case for a couple of reasons.

Foremost is Heimlich's advocacy of treating patients with Lyme disease,
HIV and cancer with malaria, which Baratz likens to Nazi war
experiments. Baratz also claims that Heimlich did not invent the
Heimlich Maneuver, but in fact affixed his name to the anti-choking
manipulation and thrust developed by someone else, he being Edward
Patrick, a professor of engineering at Purdue University. Initially, it
was called the Patrick/Heimlich maneuver, says Baratz.

How the name Patrick was dropped ventures into another realm of
allegation and intrigue, but for the purposes of space, if not avoiding
libel, let's leave it that this quack-hunting business has gotten
bloody on both sides. Baratz' credentials are being assailed online,
too.

As Baratz said, this is serious stuff. He was quoted in the Nashville
paper about malaria therapy the day before Heimlich's invitation was
withdrawn. A news feature about Baratz and his mission was published
last week by the Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune.

Heimlich is in his mid-80s, lives in Cincinnati and was recently
honored by the Cincinnati Business Courier with its Lifetime Health
Hero Award. Heimlich's wife answered the phone the other day at their
home, but, after consulting with her husband, referred all inquiries to
a public-relations man in Cincinnati named Bob Kraft.

Kraft said much of the assault on Heimlich's name and achievement
emanates from one of Heimlich's children, a son named Peter Heimlich,
who is estranged from the family and, said Kraft, has worked nearly
full time to harm his father's reputation.

Baratz has been in touch with Peter Heimlich, who has put up at least
one Web site designed to debunk his father. However, Baratz said his
crusade against the malaria therapy as treatment for HIV and other
illness is just common sense.

The precedent for this practice goes back to the early 20th century
when malaria was thought to be an effective treatment for syphilis.
Inducing fevers through malaria, the theory went, helped the body's
immune system fend off bacteria and virus. Heimlich was a nut when he
came out for this for treating cancer, said Baratz. He got shot down
for that. Then he shifted over to Lyme disease. He got shot down for
that, then he shifted to HIV.

The New York Times, in a story published on March 4, 2003, reported
that Heimlich hosted fund-raisers to pursue a malarial AIDS cure. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Times, was among
the opponents of malarial therapy.

Kraft said that Heimlich has ceased doing research into malarial
therapy. Nevertheless, Baratz is hard on the prowl. Quack hunting gets
ugly, but, as Baratz cautioned, the consequences of snake oil remedies
can be rather more severe.

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