Dr. Heimlich Fighting the Red Cross over Maneuver
Latest update: January 23rd, 2013
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The Heimlich maneuver
Photo Credit: Yori Yanover
In 1974, Dr Henry Heimlich announced the maneuver that carries his name. Until then, when a person choked on food, it was generally accepted that forcefully slapping the victim’s back would fix the problem, when, in reality, slapping often causes the lodged bits to drop deeper into the throat, making things worse.
In 1974, Dr. Heimlich wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association that applying upward pressure to the diaphragm, under the choke point, might force the blockage to pop out, like a cork from a champagne bottle. Within weeks he began hearing from doctors who had used the maneuver to save lives, and within months Dr Heimlich and his Heimlich maneuver became famous around the globe.
I have performed the Heimlich maneuver several times in picnics and dinner parties, actually saving lives—not something many journalists can boast.
And yet, as USA Today reports (today, obviously), the American Red Cross’ first-aid procedure still recommends five back slaps and then five abdominal thrusts to deal with choking.
Heimlich says he’s perplexed by this recommendation, seeing as “there has never been any research saying the back slap saves lives.” On the other hand, he continued, “We know the Heimlich maneuver works. So it comes down to a matter of life or death.”
According to the National Safety Council, choking is America’s No. 4 cause of accidental death, after poisoning, driving, and falls. In 2010, choking claimed 4,700 lives, a 4 percent increase over 2009.
“I don’t want to fight the Red Cross,” Heimlich says, “But I don’t want people dying needlessly.”
He kind of fights them, though, bless his heart. He has challenged the Red Cross to produce research showing the effectiveness of back slaps over his own maneuver.
The Red Cross has gone back and forth over the years on endorsing the Heimlich maneuver, and so Heimlich has asked the organization to remove his name from any of its literature and training procedures on choking.
“When they started calling for back slaps first and then the Heimlich maneuver, I wouldn’t let them use the Heimlich name.” he told USA Today. ” Why? Because patients were going to die.”
Dr. Richard M. Bradley, a member of the Red Cross’ Preparedness, Health and Safety Services advisory council and an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said: “To the best of my knowledge, after doing a pretty thorough literature search, no controlled studies exist comparing back blows to abdominal thrusts or anything else.”
How exactly would you go about conducting such a test – generating spontaneous choking? And who would volunteer to be in the control group?
William Terry Ray, director of the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing’s Nurse Anesthesia program said he looked at 40 years of research, and concluded that “the literature says there is no one definitive treatment to relieve an obstructed airway on a conscious person.”
In his view, “a person may have to use the back blows as well as abdominal thrusts to relieve the obstruction, depending on what caused the person to choke.”
According to NNDB, Dr Heimlich had his first opportunity to actually perform the Heimlich Maneuver only as late as 2000, when he heard a ruckus in a restaurant, and turned around to see a stranger choking. “I did the Heimlich maneuver,” said Heimlich, “and got it out and then went on and had my lunch.”
I checked eBay for “bit lodged by Dr. Heimlich performing the Heimlcih maneuver” and found nothing.
tell a friendAbout the Author: JewishPress.com Senior Internet Editor Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published two fun books: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.
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There is another manoeuver and it is called the Valsalva Manoeuvre (VM) of which we all do every day including athletes who are in the best physical condition; yet, many people die from it every year including the athletes. Elvis Presley died from the VM and it was not just from the drugs he was taking. (google it and learn) The person in my synagogue got a stroke from doing the VM while playing the shofar and he was incapacitated for almost a year. He got it again the next year from playing the shofar. I warned him not to do it but he did not take my advice. I caught myself many times from doing the VM which caused me to pass out next to the Kotel wall and on the standard which saved me from hitting the hard stone floor. A talk show hostess called up three strong men from the audience to blow up some balloons for her and they all passed out on stage. She didn’t know what was happening until someone mentioned to her what was happening and she gave up that part of the show. My advice to everyone is to learn about it, and be aware and beware of Valsalva Manoeuvre.
The Red Cross? I would never listen to a thing they said. I don't know why anyone would.