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Drowning experts question use of Heimlich maneuver
Friday, September 01, 2006
Other drowning researchers have repeatedly asked Dr. Henry Heimlich for medical reports and witness names from the examples he gives of successful drowning rescues using the Heimlich maneuver. In one exchange of letters, Heimlich asked how anyone could be expected to remember names from so long ago.
"They're pretty shaky," said Dr. Robert Baratz, president of the National Council Against Health Fraud.
Extras
In a 1981 Dallas, Pa., case, for example, Heimlich wrote of a 2-year-old boy who was rescued from a pool after being under water and not breathing. The Aug. 12, 1981, Dallas (Pa.) Post described the same incident.
Heimlich said the boy had "no vital signs" and "dilated and fixed" pupils after 10 minutes under water. The boy expelled "about two cups of water" after the Heimlich maneuver and recovered fully after 10 to 15 minutes of CPR, he wrote.
In the newspaper account, the boy's uncle and rescuer said he was missing "for just a couple of minutes" and "was OK when we got him to the hospital" by ambulance. The article said nothing of vital signs, dilated pupils, expelled water or the Heimlich maneuver.
"All I did was do some CPR on the boy," said the uncle, Robert Besecker, an emergency medical technician.
Meanwhile, Dr. James Orlowski has collected about 30 cases of Heimlich maneuvers leading to bad results in drowning rescues, usually because of vomiting. Orlowski, a prolific researcher, directs pediatric intensive care, pediatrics and medical ethics at University Community Hospital in Tampa and teaches at the University of South Florida.
He wrote 19 years ago in The Journal of the American Medical Association about what should have been the "routine resuscitation" of a 10-year-old boy who'd been submerged for less than two minutes. But given the Heimlich maneuver, the boy vomited extensively, damaging his lungs and impeding a lifeguard's and doctor's efforts to give him CPR. The boy died after seven years in a coma.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2129 or klamb@DaytonDailyNews.com.
