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It took me months of e-mails and phone calls, but last Thursday I had a half-hour phone call with outgoing US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin about her office's policy on the best way to respond to a choking emergency.

Via the June 18, 2013 Houston Chronicle:

There has been an ongoing debate about the Heimlich maneuver and whether or not (the Heimlich maneuver) is the most effective method (for responding to a choking emergency). In 1985, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said, “Millions of Americans have been taught to treat persons who are choking with back blows, chest thrusts and abdominal thrusts. Now, they must be advised…and I ask for the participation of the Red Cross, the American Heart Association and public health authorities everywhere…that these methods are hazardous, even lethal.”

The American Heart Association and American Red Cross criticized Dr. Koop, but later followed suggested guidelines by only teaching the Heimlich. In 2005, the AHA and ARC changed their position by stating that “back blows, abdominal thrusts and chest compressions are equally effective” treatments for responding to a choking emergency.

The Red Cross stated that there is no clear scientific evidence to say that one technique is more effective than the others when treating a choking victim.

Per my June 10 letter to Dr. Benjamin, I've been trying to find out if the Office of the Surgeon General still stands behind Dr. Koop's outdated claims.

During our call I found Dr. Benjamin to be down to earth and easy to talk to. She explained that current governmental procedures are more complicated than in Koop's day -- no surprise there -- and that evaluating and processing new recommendations required months of reviews by committees.

But she did tell me that my inquiry "sparked out interest to start thinking about it...I certainly think it's an interesting topic that probably needs to be looked at."

Next week is her last week on the job, but she offered to share the information with the Acting Surgeon General, so we'll see where that goes.

Edward A. Patrick MD PhD (via the BMJ)

I also explained my concerns about the evidence on which Koop said he relied -- unpublished research by Dr. Edward A. Patrick, my father's shady 30-year crony whose one-of-a-kind, full-page obituary in the March 13, 2010 British Medical Journal sounds like a character from The Simpsons.

Two 1985 news reports about Koop's "pro-Heimlich" statement (Washington Post, Pittsburgh Press) identify Dr. Patrick as a professor at the University of Cincinnati. 

Dr. Benjamin asked me to send along that information, which I did in the following letter which raises obvious questions about Dr. Koop's due diligence.

Beyond that, as I told Creator's Syndicate columnist Lenore Skenazy in 2007:

"Koop was an old friend of my father's, and he did it as a buddy favor."

Note: I've revised this item a few times.  

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VIA THE HI's MOST RECENT IRS-990 (2011)

Vincent Davis and my father, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich

A story by reporter Erin Murphy in last week's Dubuque (IA) Telegraph Herald, Email links Obama to embattled nonprofit, broke some interesting new ground in the ongoing Save-A-Life Foundation (SALF) scandal about the once high-flying, politically-connected organization now under investigation by the Illinois Attorney General.

Before getting to that, check out this clip from The Maneuver Part I, the November 2006 ABC7 Chicago expose by investigative reporter Chuck Goudie that first pried the lid off the SALF can of worms:



The big fella who leads SALF founder/president out of the room and tells the ABC7 crew to "show yourselves out" was Vincent Davis, SALF's "Director of Operations and Military Affairs."

Here's an e-mail Davis received from Eric Brandmeyer, who for years was involved with SALF. The date is about a week after Goudie's fourth and (so far) last ABC Chicago report about SALF aired on May 30, 2007. ("Carrie" is undoubtedly Carrie Viehweg of Staunton, IL, who ran SALF's Springfield office.)

And Davis's response: 

Imagine my surprise to find myself and Chuck Goudie being trashed by Davis as he assures Brandmeyer that Mr. Obama, then a United States Senator, will be shoring up SALF's finances!

As for Davis's June 2007 prediction that Goudie "will likely be out of a job soon," six years later, according to his LinkedIn:


Meanwhile, six months later, via Davis's LinkedIn:



Interestingly, Davis's "Obama e-mail" came to light courtesy of a June 19, 2013 subpoena filed by the defense in the Cook County Criminal Court case, Illinois v. Annabel Melongo, the former SALF employee who in October 2006 was charged with tampering with SALF's computer files after she left the company.

As it happens, the subpoena was issued to ABC7 Chicago (WLS-TV).

This past Wednesday: SOURCE Fundraiser held the previous day for San Diego D.A. Bonnie Dumanis by investment manager/media commentator Brent Wilsey: SOURCE Click here for a compilation of broadcast and print reports about Spizzirri and the Save-A-Life Foundation.

Dr. Xiaoping Chen (source)

Click here to download a copy of my letter to Father Biondi.



Note: After posting, I re-wrote this item's headline.

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Also see my May 28, 2013 item, What's the U.S. Surgeon General's recommendation for treating choking victims? I can't get an answer, so my congressman Rob Woodall is trying to find out.







Note: After posting, I changed the headline of this item -- PMH

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Via a September 30, 1985 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services press release:

Surgeon General C. Everett Koop today endorsed the Heimlich manuever, not as the preferred, but as the only method that should be used for the treatment of choking from foreign body airway obstruction.

Dr. Koop also urged the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association to teach only the Heimlich Manuever in their first aid classes. Dr. Koop urged both organizations to withdraw from circulation manuals, posters and other materials that recommend treating choking victims with back slaps and blows to the chest.

..."The best rescue technique in any choking situation," Dr. Koop said, "is the Heimlich Manuever."

After about 20 years of teaching only the Heimlich maneuver for choking children and adults, the American Red Cross and the American Heart Association now recommended back slaps and chest thrusts as effective treatments.

So does the Surgeon General's office continue to stand by Dr. Koop's statment?

Since February, that's what I've been trying to find out.

Click here to view a string of inquiries I've sent to a string of employees in the office of Surgeon General Regina Benjamin.

Surgeon General Regina Benjamin (source)

I never received a reply so last month I wrote to Dr. Benjamin.

No reply from her either, so last week I asked my congressman, Rob Woodall (GA-7th District), to assist.


Here's his response (which included a copy of my inquiry to Dr. Benjamin):