The Sidebar

My dad demonstrates his namesake anti-choking maneuver on Dr. Xiaoping Chen, Guangzhou (1995). Chen, who trained at UCLA and headed the Heimlich Institute's notorious"malariotherapy" experiments on AIDS patients, reportedly is now conducting controversial "malariotherapy" experiments on cancer patients. Click here and here.

Lifetime gratitude from my wife Karen M. Shulman & me to Robert S. Baratz MD PhD, Elizabeth Woeckner PhC, Paul Bronston MD, Tom Francis, and to the many journalists and others who contributed.

For more information, contact me and/or my brother Phil Heimlich, longtime vice president of Cincinnati's Heimlich Institute. Click here for many of the organization's annual IRS filings -- PMH 

UCLA, Dr. Xiaoping Chen, and the Heimlich Institute
10/2/02 investigation request Karen and I wrote (using the pseudonym "Dr. Bob Smith") and filed with UCLA that triggered the "malariotherapy" investigation of John Fahey MD and other university staff
Researchers' possible link to malariotherapy scrutinized by Edward Chiao and Jeyling Chou, Daily Bruin (UCLA), November 21, 2002 Two UCLA researchers cleared in investigation, The Daily Bruin, January 7, 2003
New evidence leads to reopening of malariotherapy case by Jeyling Chou, The Daily Bruin, February 10, 2003
Scientists Linked to Heimlich Investigated by Robert Anglen, Cincinnati Enquirer (Sunday front page), February 16, 2003
UCLA Reopens Probe of Two Researchers - New information suggests they took part in experiments to inject AIDS patients with malaria-tainted blood, university says by Rebecca Trounson and Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2003
Therapy's value challenged by Jeyling Chou, The Daily Bruin, February 23, 2003
Malarial Treatment for Chinese AIDS Patients Prompts Inquiry in US by Donald G. McNeil Jr, New York Times, March 4, 2003
Heimlich Maneuvers into AIDS Therapy by Denna Beasley, Reuters via CNN.com, April 14, 2003:
UCLA ties doctor to lab misconduct - Statement determines researcher's involvement in outlawed human testing Jeyling Chou, Daily Bruin, April 15, 2003
Researcher Violated Rules, UCLA Says by Rebecca Trounson and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2003
Board rebukes AIDS evaluator - Doctor had helped Heimlich associate by Robert Anglen, Cincinnati Enquirer, April 18, 2003
Institute Performs AIDS Testing by Janet Liao, Cornell Daily Sun, April 30, 2003
Son of Henry Heimlich questions UCLA researchers' involvement in his father's controversial malariotherapy study by Naheed Rajwani and Alessandra Daskalakis, The Daily Bruin, May 6, 2013

Hollywood celebrities donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the Heimlich/Chen AIDS experiments
How Dr. Heimlich Maneuvered Hollywood Into Backing His Dangerous AIDS "Cure" by Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, August 14, 2014
When 'Chicago Hope' Dealt in Heimlich, Malariotherapy and AIDS by Seth Abramovitch, The Hollywood Reporter, August 14, 2014

Dad gets kicked out of international AIDS conference
Heimlich May Discuss Malaria Therapy for AIDS by Anita Wadhwani, Nashville Tennessean, October 30, 2004
Conference Uninvites Doctor Advocating Malaria Therapy for AIDS by Anita Wadhwani, Nashville Tennessean (front page), October 30, 2004

My 2013 letter to St. Louis University re: Chen
Saint Louis University defends Chinese malaria research linked to discredited AIDS study by Alan Scher Zagier, Associated Press, August 21, 2013
St. Louis University Under Fire for Work with Doctor Who Infected AIDS Patients with Malaria by Sam Levin, Riverfront Times, September 9, 2013

2008 Congressional race TV ads tie candidate to Heimlich Institute's "malariotherapy for AIDS" experiments
Democratic Congressional Candidate's Ties to Bizarre AIDS Research by Joseph Rhee, ABC News, July 3, 2008

Dangerous experiments: a cover-up: Steve Black for Congress, OH 2nd District U.S. Congressional race, Democratic primary, Spring 2008

Victoria Victoria Wulsin -- Not Exactly Your Good Doctor: Jean Schmidt for Congress, OH 2nd District U.S. Congressional general election, October 2008

Efforts by Karen and me to bring the information to public attention
Outmaneuvered Parts I & II by Thomas Francis, Radar Magazine, November 10-11, 2005
Heimlich family maneuvers - Famed doctor plans Portland visit; Son says he's dangerous, works to discredit him by Peter Korn, The Portland (OR) Tribune, April 13, 2007
Is Dr. Heimlich Really a Savior? by Brian Ross, ABC 20/20, June 8, 2007

UPDATE: Son of famed New Rochelle doctor asks for Walk of Fame reconsideration by Lisa Reyes, Local12 TV News (Westchester, NY), May 8, 2017:

The son of a New Rochelle doctor credited with creating the Heimlich maneuver says inducting his father into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame would be a mistake.

Dr. Henry Heimlich, part of the New Rochelle High School class of 1937, is world-famous for developing the anti-choking method that bears his name. This year, the city is honoring him by inducting him into its Walk of Fame.

Dr. Heimlich's son, Peter, sent a letter to the city urging officials to reconsider the designation.

"My father was involved most of his career promoting a bunch of crackpot medical ideas that resulted in the significant loss of life," he says.

Click here to direct download a copy of my letter.

January 2, 2017

Via the April 12, 2007 Portland Tribune:

"I think some of his (Henry Heimlich's) ideas are delusional," said Robert S. Baratz, physician president of the Massachusetts-based National Council Against Health Fraud...

Perhaps my father's recollection of Dr. Jacobson was one of those delusions? In any event, do you think Cliff's article should be updated with the information that she was his business partner in the Heimlich Medical Group?

2) “One night as the war was coming to an end in 1945, a Chinese soldier was brought to me with a chest wound,” (Dr.) Heimlich said. “I operated on him. But he died in my hands.

“The next day, I was feeling terrible.” Hoping to lift his spirits, he went for a ride on one of the horses assigned to the 12 American GIs. As he rode toward a nearby town, the Navy surgeon crossed paths with an oxcart.

“The cart was carrying the remains of that Chinese soldier,” Heimlich said. His voice quaked with emotion 68 years after the first seeing that cart.

“I never forgot that sight,” he said. “And, I never forgot how he died in my hands.” He wondered if he could have done more. He worried that if he had known more about draining chest wounds, the man might have lived.

Via Polarizing Doctor by Lucy May, WCPO Insider Monthly, March 2014:


As widely reported, my father had a career history of providing false information to reporters. For example, you may recall that last May he got caught lying to reporters Kevin Grasha at the Enquirer, Christine Hauser at the New York Times, and Scott Wegener at WCPO-TV News.

Given my father's credibility problems, do you think Cliff's article should be updated to reflect Fred Webster's recollections?

3) Via Henry J. Heimlich, inventor of lifesaving technique for choking victims, dies at 96 by Sindya H. Bhanoo, Washington Post, December 17, 2016:

Dr. Heimlich zealously promoted lifesaving procedures and techniques he invented or refined. Besides the first-aid rescue maneuver introduced in 1974, these advances included a...surgical procedure he helped develop in the 1950s for people with severe esophageal damage

...In later decades, a dispute arose over whether Dr. Heimlich had purposely underplayed the contribution of a Romanian surgeon who performed the procedure on a person before he did. That doctor, Dan Gavriliu, called Dr. Heimlich a “liar and thief” when the Cincinnati Enquirer contacted him in 2003 for an investigative story about Dr. Heimlich’s career.

Cliff's article includes no mention of the esophagus operation or my father getting busted by Enquirer. (As you know, Robert Anglen's 2003 expose was based on research by my wife and me.) And last May the Enquirer again reported the information. Therefore, to some readers, Cliff's failure to report the information may seem conspicuous by its absence.

What's your opinion?

4) The Red Cross’ inclusion of the back slaps offended Heimlich. So, in 1976, he asked the organization to remove his name from their first-aid literature for choking. That’s why the term “abdominal thrusts” is used.

That last sentence is contradicted by published information from the American Red Cross (ARC), so I'm trying to verify the accuracy of Cliff's assertion. Who at the ARC provided him with the information and on what date?

5) From data complied by the Cincinnati-based Heimlich Institute, the (Heimlich maneuver) has saved the lives of more than 100,000 choking victims...

My wife and I have been researching my father's career since 2002 and we've never heard of the Heimlich Institute compiling any such data. Would you please ask Cliff if he has any more information and, if not, would you please ask him or another Enquirer staffer to contact the Heimlich Institute to substantiate what specific data was collected (the data sources?, during what years?, etc.) and let me know the results?

6) Per former Enquirer reporter Ben Kaufman's December 22, 2016 Cincinnati CityBeat media watch column:

The (Enquirer's) headline called (Dr.) Heimlich a "Cincy native.” He was born in Wilmington, Del.

Via: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/native


Cliff managed to get it right in the text...

Before coming to the Queen City, the Wilmington, Delaware native...

...so presumably it was the headline writer's goof. In any event, do you think the online headline should be corrected?

7) The Lasker Awards, dubbed, “America’s Nobels” recognize scientists, including the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver, “who have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure and prevention of human disease.”

In what years were the Wright Brothers and George Washington Carver awarded the Lasker?

8) Who was the supervising editor on Cliff's article?

Believe it or not, there are other problems with the article, but I don't want to take up more of my time or yours. (If you're curious, just ask and I'll fill you in.)

Big thanks for your time/attention and I look forward to receiving your answers. If you can get back to me by Friday, that would be great, but if you need more time, please advise and I'll do my best to accommodate.

Cheers, Peter

Peter M. Heimlich
Atlanta
ph: (208)474-7283
website: http://medfraud.info
blog: http://the-sidebar.com
e-mail: peter.heimlich@gmail.com

cc:

Robert S. Baratz MD PhD
Ben Kaufman
Lucy May
Cindy Capitani, New Rochelle Daily Voice
Maya Brainard PhD, Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation
Joanne Lipman, Senior Vice President and Chief Content Officer, Gannett Inc.
Brent Jones, Standards Editor, USA Today

Via Heimlich family maneuvers by Peter Korn, Portland Tribune, April 12, 2007:

"(Dr. Heimlich's) ideas are insane," (said Robert Baratz MD PhD, president of the National Council Against Health Fraud). "Some of his ideas are delusional. He has been experimenting on human beings for most of his career, and he's no different than the Nazi experimenters. There isn't one iota of scientific basis for this except that Heimlich said so."

Per this screenshot from the website of Cincinnati's Heimlich Institute, for decades my father has been recommending that the Heimlich maneuver (aka abdominal thrusts) be used to revive unconscious choking victims.

source

I've been unable to locate any published research studies supporting that treatment recommendation. (If you know of any, please send me citations.)  

Via the website of the affiliated Heimlich Heroes first aid training program:


Click here for a page on the organization's website listing dozens of cities and towns where kids have been or will be trained. The list doesn't identify who conducted the training or at what facility or school.

Via this clip from training videos posted on their website, Heimlich Heroes is teaching kids around the country to "Heimlich" unconscious choking victims:



According to her LinkedIn bio, Heimlich Heroes program director Terri Huntington has no medical training and her last job was working for a multi-level marketing company called The Pampered Chef.

When I asked her for any evidence supporting the use of "the Heimlich" to revive unconscious choking victims, she instructed me to go away.

Eric Perez MD is an emergency medicine specialist at Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital in New York City who reviews medical treatments posted on the website of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (under the aegis of the National Institutes of Health).

Via a January 6, 2015 e-mail, he wrote me:

To my knowledge, there is no definitive evidence for or against performing abdominal thrusts in unconscious patients.

Via Heimlich maneuver on unconscious persons causes controversy by Nick Kammerer, Rambler Newspapers, Irvine, TX, November 24, 2014:

Certain entities, such as the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, do not recommend using the Heimlich maneuver on unconscious patients......Heimlich Heroes, a Cincinnati-based first aid program developed partly by Henry Heimlich, is teaching students to perform the Heimlich maneuver on unconscious choking victims. This means that school children are being taught a medical practice that is not recommended by the American Heart Association or Red Cross, two highly credible public health organizations.

Based on the above, unless I'm missing something, Heimlich Heroes appears to be using young people around the country to circulate an experimental, unapproved medical treatment.

The program was also recently tagged by the National Institutes of Health for circulating false information.

Here's a claim that, until recently, was posted on the Heimlich Heroes website's FAQ page:


Via a recent FOIA request I filed with the NIH:



The Heimlich Heroes FAQ web page has since changed the claim to:


I'll fact-check that claim with those three organizations and report the results.


This item has been slightly revised for clarity.