Is the Heimlich maneuver usually successful in drowning rescues?
The maneuver’s 97 percent success rate speaks for itself, Heimlich said. Jeff Ellis & Associates’ lifeguards work at public pools and theme parks across the country, and they succeeded in 147 of 152 drowning rescues when the maneuver was their first step in 1995-99. “But we don’t have any data to show that it worked any better than the traditional model did,” Ellis consultant Lawrence Newell said in 2001, a year after Ellis lifeguards began using the maneuver only if rescue breathing fails. Nor has Ellis’ data been scrutinized independently. The American Red Cross reviewed 18 drowning studies addressing the Heimlich maneuver for a report in 2000. Seven of the studies made recommendations — all for the rescue breaths and chest compressions of CPR. Only five recommended the Heimlich, even if something solid blocks the victim’s airway. How safe and effective is CPR in drowning rescues? Heimlich’s source for the poor 58 percent success rate of breathing-first rescues is a 1980s study of Se
