Choke on this, dad.

January 27, 2005 11:26 AM

Family ties unraveling. Henry Heimlich, the inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver for choking, has been hounded for more than two years by a persistent critic, who who has used multiple aliases to gather information on Henry Heimlich and his associates. He's used a web site to attack Henry Heimlich's research theories. He's called for investigations by the Ohio Medical Board and the Ohio Attorney General's office.

The critic is Peter Heimlich, the doctor's son.
posted by tizzie (56 comments total)

strange.
posted by delmoi at 11:42 AM on January 27, 2005

And now, the rest of the story...
posted by esch at 11:43 AM on January 27, 2005

This thread does not seem to involve one Alex P. Keaton. Boo.
posted by twiggy at 11:48 AM on January 27, 2005

Interesting stuff. As a side note, as a BLS instructor we couldn't call "his" maneuver the Heimlich. We had to call it "chest thrusts". When I asked why, I was told "because he wants a royalty evertime the term Heimlich Maneuver is used". Never saw it in print, I'm just saying . . .
posted by 6:1 at 11:49 AM on January 27, 2005

Wow, I bet their family dinners are tense.
posted by tommasz at 11:51 AM on January 27, 2005

Wow, must be fun family dinners...
posted by damnitkage at 11:51 AM on January 27, 2005

Wow, dinner with his family must be tense
posted by zeoslap at 11:55 AM on January 27, 2005

(insert family eating dinner joke)
posted by Dean Keaton at 12:00 PM on January 27, 2005

*rushes to put on Eddie Izzard*
posted by Captaintripps at 12:00 PM on January 27, 2005

Wow, they must eat dinner in tents.
posted by LionIndex at 12:02 PM on January 27, 2005

I'm not sure what they even eat for dinner, since Mrs. Heimlich thinks that milk is poison.

There may be a few nuts in the family tree.
posted by tizzie at 12:06 PM on January 27, 2005

Looks like the kid might be a schizo.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:09 PM on January 27, 2005

wigwams and tipis
posted by pmbuko at 12:10 PM on January 27, 2005

For the Eddie Izzard fans out there:
Hilda, Hilda wake up! ... I have invented a maneuver!

Sorry, couldn't resist
posted by rshah21 at 12:16 PM on January 27, 2005

A gathering of the whole family for an event such as a meal of food must be a tense emotionally draining event, due to the past disagreements between the father and son.
posted by Dr_Octavius at 12:28 PM on January 27, 2005

Bah, the Heimlich Maneuver -- kills more people than it saves.

*Grumble* Back in my days...
posted by NewBornHippy at 12:29 PM on January 27, 2005

From the article: "... from an anonymous source named Holly Martins."
That just doesn't make sense. Either it's an anonymous source or it's Holly Martins. A pseudonym is not anonymity.
posted by me3dia at 12:32 PM on January 27, 2005

Maybe Heimlich wants a royalty each time the term is used in print, or in a classroom. I can't imagine how he could get a royalty each time the maneuver is used. Still, it stretches the notion of copyright, and might even be counter-productive in terms of saving lives. What are the precedents for this? Do Lieutenant Henry Shrapnel's kin get royalties each time someone is blown to smithereens with a grenade?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:37 PM on January 27, 2005

i bet there's so much tension at family dinners that people choke on it, and they have to use some sort of maneuver on those people.
posted by lord_wolf at 12:44 PM on January 27, 2005

a maneuver whose name shall not be spoken: for free.
posted by zeoslap at 12:54 PM on January 27, 2005

The Heimlich maneuver is also called abdominal thrusts. Anyone doing chest thrusts was doing it wrong.

The Heimlich Institute's website says:

Heimlich Maneuver is a registered service mark of The Heimlich Institute which reserves all rights to its use.

He certainly can't collect a royalty on the maneuver's use, but he can insist it be marked as a service mark in print. Any IP experts out there want to weigh in with the other consequences of having a service mark on the name?

As for Milk: the Deadly Poison, it's obviously an over-the-top sensationalistic title, but there really are plenty of good reasons to avoid milk (especially for the majority of adults who are lactose intolerant.)
posted by Zed_Lopez at 12:56 PM on January 27, 2005

[...] and they have to use some sort of maneuver on those people.

--which would be yet another cause for tension as the fight over whose maneuver to use.

The last few times I took CPR, they called it "Abdominal Thrusts". "A maneuver developed by Henry Heimlich" followed thereafter.
posted by ThePrawn at 12:57 PM on January 27, 2005

(especially for the majority of adults who are lactose intolerant.)

I want to make sure I'm parsing this right: are you saying that most adults are lactose intolerant?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:01 PM on January 27, 2005

A very prim and proper middle aged woman of my aquaintance once said during dinner with a large group of co-workers; "Better be careful eating, or we'll have to use the Hymen Maneuver on you!"

When she realized her error, her face turned a particularly bright shade of PMS 1797.

I think "Abdominal Thrusts" sounds nastier, though. In a good-name-for-a-band kind of way.
posted by Floydd at 1:01 PM on January 27, 2005

Can somebody tell me what the proper way to save a person choking on a chicken bone is?
posted by sic at 1:02 PM on January 27, 2005

Please hurry, my wife is turning blue.
posted by sic at 1:04 PM on January 27, 2005

Please hurry, my wife is turning blue.
posted by sic at 3:04 PM CST on January 27

I've used Zoloft in the past, but some people like Prozac. Talk therapy helps in some cases, too.
posted by Floydd at 1:07 PM on January 27, 2005

are you saying that most adults are lactose intolerant?
From the Gastroenterological Association:

As many as 75 percent of all African-American, Jewish, Native American, and Mexican-American adults, and 90 percent of Asian-American adults are lactose intolerant.

If not most, many . . .
posted by ThePrawn at 1:09 PM on January 27, 2005

Please hurry, my wife is turning blue.

*snort*
posted by jennanemone at 1:10 PM on January 27, 2005

An African-American, a Jew, a Native American, and a Mexican American walk into a bar. At the end of the bar, they spy an Asian-American sipping a glass of milk. . .
posted by Mid at 1:26 PM on January 27, 2005

I didn't notice it before, but all of those "minorities" have the term "American" appended. . . all of them but Jews. What's this?
posted by ThePrawn at 1:30 PM on January 27, 2005

When I clicked into this thread I almost expected dramatic "dun dun dun" music to be cued as the camera panned to reveal his son's face.

Then, of course, I realized that I do not inhabit a film, and promptly told all of you about it instead.
posted by The God Complex at 1:44 PM on January 27, 2005

That's a pony we could ask for, The God Complex.
posted by tizzie at 1:49 PM on January 27, 2005

One might assume that a dinner involving this family would involve an incredible amount of stress and interfamilial tension; a level of uncomfortableness, I would hazard to guess, that could lead to food being ingested improperly (if at all); and that beyond indigestion, one might logically conclude that the possibility of choking would be rather on the high side, and this possibility, coupled with the family's intimate familiarity with abdominal thrusting maneuvers, would auger well for a dramatic scene in which at least one family member would be saved from death by another by the end of the evening, thus ensuring the survival of the family--if one dare call it a survival, for though it might be true in respect to their bodies, would it not be far worse for their souls, damned as they would be to have been saved by the very technique that divided them; oh, the curse of the Heimlichs, that disaster of knowledge, that destroyer of familial bonds, that gift of fame and curse of fate--would that the fire of Prometheus never alighted on their house!
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 1:50 PM on January 27, 2005

That's a fantastic opening to the story. Good job there, journalist.
posted by painquale at 1:56 PM on January 27, 2005

I didn't notice it before, but all of those "minorities" have the term "American" appended. . . all of them but Jews. What's this?

Um, because those 'minorities' are ethnic groups, while Judaism is a religion? They could've just as easily replaced "Jew" with "Catholic", "Muslim", or "Hindu".
posted by mullingitover at 2:02 PM on January 27, 2005

Peter Heimlich IS Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins.
posted by Otis at 2:04 PM on January 27, 2005

That's a pony we could ask for, The God Complex.

Maybe Rod Stewart would be interested in composing soundtracks for our threads...

Um, because those 'minorities' are ethnic groups, while Judaism is a religion? They could've just as easily replaced "Jew" with "Catholic", "Muslim", or "Hindu".

Isn't it technically both an ethnic group and a religion? I mean, you are a jew if your mother's vagina is jewish, at least according to David Cross.
posted by The God Complex at 2:08 PM on January 27, 2005

(sorry, Rod Steward line is not supposed to be italicized. That makes my comment rather confusing.)
posted by The God Complex at 2:08 PM on January 27, 2005

(Stewart.)

(*Cues dramatic music himself, falls through trap door on stage never to be seen again*)
posted by The God Complex at 2:09 PM on January 27, 2005

are you saying that most adults are lactose intolerant?

Yes. 'cause they are.

Of the world’s population, 75% is estimated to be lactose-deficient. Lactose intolerance is very common among Asian, South American, and African persons.

This gets buried under the American Dairy Association's "Milk is the perfect food" advertising.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 2:25 PM on January 27, 2005

Um, because those 'minorities' are ethnic groups, while Judaism is a religion? They could've just as easily replaced "Jew" with "Catholic", "Muslim", or "Hindu".

I don't see what bearing would "religion" have on milk's effect on the body. Pretty sure they're referring to Jews as an ethnic group.

At any rate, Tom Waits may be a more appropriate composer for the mefi sound track.
posted by ThePrawn at 2:27 PM on January 27, 2005

Symptoms of lactose intolerance include loose stools, abdominal bloating and pain, flatulence, nausea, and borborygmi.

Ahhhhh...
posted by jperkins at 3:20 PM on January 27, 2005

Floydd: I don't think anyone's face has ever turned PMS 1797. That would be a serious sunburn. Perhaps more in the direction of 1775 - I could see that. Or even somewhere in the 220-230 range. Certainly, though, without the Maneuver Previous Known as Heimlich's, you might see a face anywhere in the PMS 2706 - PMS 278 range.
posted by luriete at 3:24 PM on January 27, 2005

Borborygmi would make a great band name.
posted by ssmith at 3:34 PM on January 27, 2005

Never, ever, do the Heimlich maneuver on a mime.
Trust me, it really pisses them off.
How was I supposed to know he wasn't really choking?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 4:01 PM on January 27, 2005

Tom Waits is too grown-up for the Metafilter soundtrack. We need Danny Elfman who does both goofy and dramatic(Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands.)
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:01 PM on January 27, 2005

my username and i are clearly voting for tom waits as the official composer for just about anything.

"how's the maneuver coming along, doctor heimlich?"
"well... it's more of a gesture...
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:46 PM on January 27, 2005

I stand corrected, abdominal thrust. I was tired.
posted by 6:1 at 8:57 PM on January 27, 2005

ssmith: but only if it were a butt-rock band...
posted by nonreflectiveobject at 9:47 PM on January 27, 2005

From the review of "Milk: The Deadly Poison" that tizzie linked to:

Your glass of milk, even low fat, is awash in fat (the equivalent of three slices of bacon)

Oh my God! THREE SLICES of bacon, you say? Why, one should never eat THREE WHOLE SLICES OF BACON!
posted by kindall at 11:29 PM on January 27, 2005

I thought bacon was illegal in the US now.
posted by sninky-chan at 12:43 AM on January 28, 2005

Did anyone read the last link? I thought it was rather fascinating.
posted by agregoli at 6:56 AM on January 28, 2005

Thanks, Agregoli. I think the whole story is fascinating. The Heimlich family is quite respected in Cincinnati - not just Henry. His wife, Jane, is well known as a nutritionist. Not all of her views are as radical as the "milk is poison" thing, but I'd say she's one of the most outspoken advocates of vegetarianism in the city. Their son Phil (not that rascally Peter) is a Cincinnati city councilman.
posted by tizzie at 10:18 AM on January 28, 2005

No problem. I found it rather bizarre that this thread was entirely people making a boring joke over and over again. I didn't know anything about this Heimlich guy! Thanks for posting.
posted by agregoli at 11:42 AM on January 28, 2005

Can somebody tell me what the proper way to save a person choking on a chicken bone is?

I'm sorry, that question is better suited for AskMe.
posted by Vidiot at 9:09 PM on January 28, 2005