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Via the posted comments under Detainee dies after choking on food in Saitama police station cell, Japan Today, November 5, 2018: 

Janet Heimlich Nov. 8 05:15 pm JST



Peter M. Heimlich Nov. 9 01:12 am JST

I caught a factual error and a half-truth in my sister Janet Heimlich's post. I've also posted links to a first-rate 2009 Australian Broadcasting documentary re: the history of our father's namesake anti-choking treatment and a thought-provoking recent blog item by a U.S. cardiologist.

The American Heart Association (and most first aid agencies worldwide) recommend back blows as an effective treatment for responding to a choking emergency. More via this page on my website http://tinyurl.com/hnuxyxs "One study shows that back blows can drive an object deeper into the throat."

Janet -- a former journalist who edited our dad's 2014 memoir http://tinyurl.com/yau8h6nd -- is presumably referring to the now-tainted study by the late Richard Day L. MD et al of Yale published by the journal Pediatrics in 1982.

Research by my wife Karen M. Shulman and me revealed that our dad, the late Henry J. Heimlich MD, clandestinely funded the study.

Prior to 2005, AHA guidelines included citations of the Day study. That year I shared our research with Jerry Potts, PhD, Director of Science at the AHA's ECC Programs. The citation has not appeared in subsequent AHA guidelines.

Because of the Yale connection, I also shared our research with veteran medical reporter Abram Katz at the New Haven Register which resulted in this 10/23/06 report http://tinyurl.com/zvesjs9

Also see this 6/7/82 thank-you letter from dad to Dr. Day which I obtained from the Yale archives http://tinyurl.com/j3n8jbk "The Heimlich manoeuvre" by Aviva Ziegler, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 7/27/09 http://tinyurl.com/y92fwr6w "A Call To Reconsider The Heimlich Experiment: Let’s Scientifically Determine The Best Approach To Choking Victims" by Anthony Pearson MD, The Skeptical Cardiologist (Dr. Pearson's blog), 8/15/18 http://tinyurl.com/ybnxkqvs 


BelCanto Nov. 9 12:26 pm JST

I'm liking where this comment section is going! 


Peter M. Heimlich Nov. 13 10:51 am JST

As Sidebar readers know, medical authorities in New Zealand and Australia don't recommend the Heimlich maneuver (aka abdominal thrusts) for responding to a choking emergency.

Per Aviva Ziegler's 2009 documentary, in the Land Down Under my dad's namesake treatment is considered unproven and potentially harmful.

That opinion was echoed in the American Heart Association's 2005 guidelines which state, "Life-threatening complications have been associated with the use of abdominal thrusts."

Instead Kiwi and Oz first aid experts recommend back blows and chest thrusts.

The latter treatment was first proposed in a 1976 study by my friend Dr. Chuck Guildner of Everett, Washington. Click here for more about that and related information.

Yesterday, Radio Live New Zealand aired Do you know what to do when a child is choking? which included this clip of first aid instructor Billy Doyle explaining the back blows followed by chest thrusts protocol. To my knowledge it's the first time the chest thrusts treatment has been described in a video.



As it happens, "the Heimlich" has been credited with saving choking victims when, in fact, the rescuer performed -- yep -- back blows and chest thrusts.

For example, in January a dashcam video of a dramatic choking rescue in Rochester, NY, was picked up by numerous news outlets.

Via the original YouTube video, here's the description:

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Here's the video:

Erienne Lette (source)

Via Step up and save a life: why you need to do a Basic Emergency Life Support course by reporter Erienne Lette, published May 12, 2014 by PerthNow, a newspaper owned by News Corp Australia, "Australia’s number one media company" according to the company's website.














Sound like a story worth looking into by U.S. reporters?

It does to me, but, to my knowledge, it's never been reported anywhere except in the Land Down Under and here at The Sidebar.

FYI, "St John" in the article refers to St John Ambulance, "Australia’s leading provider of first aid services," according to their web site.

Click here for the organization's "non-Heimlich" recommendations for responding to a choking emergency.

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Want to learn more?

I'd suggest starting with The Heimlich manoeuvre, a half-hour Australian Broadcasting audio documentary by Aviva Ziegler that first aired on July 27, 2009 and includes interviews with these notables and yours truly:


Another news hook for interested journos?

Happy anniversary!

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From Abdominal Thrust, a Helena, Montana TV news report that aired yesterday:

In tonight's your Health Report, Beartooth NBC’s Jessica Hoppe shows how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver properly and why it's so important....This year April 8 through April 14 is designated as National Heimlich Maneuver Week to celebrate the technique and educate others about it.

Based on this newspaper article last year, it's unlikely the celebration will ever catch on in the land down under (emphasis/asterisk added).

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.

He proved his devotion to teaching and developing resuscitation techniques when he became a member of the Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) 21 years ago.

In that time, Stephen has been involved in developing guidelines, policies and training materials for the council of which he is now chairperson for the Queensland branch.

..."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.

Aviva Ziegler (source)

And from Aviva Ziegler's "Heimlich manoeuvre" audio documentary, first aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in July 2009, and which you owe it to yourself to check out because it's terrific (emphasis/asterisks added):

Aviva Ziegler: (You) might be shocked to learn that the Heimlich manoeuvre appears to have never been accepted practice in Australia. We are one of the only countries in the world where it's not officially on the books. This is a typical Australian first aid training course held by the St John Ambulance.

Trainer: The learning outcomes for this session is we should be able to firstly identify a person who is choking, if somebody is gagging with something partially obstructed in the upper airway we should ask the person to relax and encourage them to cough. Our research has been proven on a conscious casualty a good cough is generally better than anything else. Now if the good cough is not effective we then have to hit that person, we give them what we call back slaps, he's leaning forward, in the centre of the shoulder blades in an upwards direction I would give him five nice solid slaps. If that is unsuccessful we should place a hand in the centre of the back on the sternum and we just press down sharply five chest thrusts and if that is unsuccessful we alternate between the two.

...Aviva Ziegler: As you will hear later, the assertion that back slaps are dangerous is probably only in Dr Heimlich's mind. But anecdotally it seems that the Heimlich manoeuvre can save lives. So if we are the only country not using it, who's right, them or us? Professor Ian Jacobs from the University of Western Australia is Chair of the Australian Resuscitation Council and a member of the International Liaison Committee in Resuscitation.

Professor Ian Jacobs (source)

 Ian Jacobs: There is actually very little or no evidence to support the Heimlich manoeuvre and the literature is awash with reports of harm and this includes things such as fractured sternums, ruptured livers and other serious consequences of this Heimlich manoeuvre.*

 ...Apart from a few case reports there is no other evidence to support what Henry Heimlich has advocated. There's no published data of any substantial nature except for a few case reports and lots of TV programs and there were substantial reports in the literature of harm.

Trainer: A question that often comes up in our courses is to why we don't do the Heimlich manoeuvre in Australia. So are you all aware of that where they get that sort of a bear hug squeeze from behind? OK, the reason it's not taught is the simple fact that research conducted here in Australia and also overseas has proven that it can be dangerous because there's a risk of damaging internal organs such as the spleen, the liver, pancreas etc.* We follow the policy statements as laid down by the Australian Resuscitation Council, they are saying that if there was any clinical evidence to prove that it was effective they'd put a policy on it and we would have it in our book. Any other questions?

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Note: A previous version of this item included the case report articles in a different format. I changed it to this embedded Scribd document for ease of updating.