Thoracic surgeon and medical researcher Henry Heimlich, noted for promulgating abdominal thrusts, claimed that back slaps were proven to cause death by lodging foreign objects into the windpipe. A 1982 Yale study by Day, DuBois, and Crelin that persuaded the American Heart Association to stop recommending back blows for dealing with choking was partially funded by Heimlich’s own foundation. According to Dr. Roger White of the Mayo Clinic and American Heart Association (AHA), “There was never any science here. Heimlich overpowered science all along the way with his slick tactics and intimidation, and everyone, including us at the AHA, caved in.”
Heimlich’s son, Peter M. Heimlich, alleges that in August 1974 his father published the first of a series of fraudulent case reports in order to promote the use of abdominal thrusts for near-drowning rescue.
In May 2016, Henry Heimlich, then age 96, claimed to have personally used the maneuver to save the life of a fellow resident at his retirement home in Cincinnati. It was alleged to be either the first or second time Heimlich himself used his namesake maneuver to save the life of someone in a non-simulated choking situation. According to Heimlich’s son, Peter M. Heimlich, “both ‘rescues’ were bogus.”
…well, damn.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Heimlich started trying to discredit back blows without any evidence and was being kinda a dick about it, so the Red Cross renamed the “Heimlich Maneuver” to “Abdominal Thrusts.”
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Sounds like the title of a weird and intense Grey’s Anatomy fanfic