Warning on anti-choke device but firm cries ‘smear campaign’

An ‘anti-choking’ device that Britain said cannot be marketed for use in schools is being spruiked for sale in Australia.

An “anti-choking” device that British authorities have said cannot be marketed for use in schools or any public place over concerns it is insufficiently tested has been supported in Australia by a celebrity doctor and actively marketed for use on babies and children.

But the group selling the LifeVac product in Australia says, rather than pushing a dangerous device, it is the victim of an elaborate “smear campaign” being run by US-based Peter Heimlich, the son of the creator of the famous Heimlich manoeuvre.

Britain’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in August last year asked LifeVac — and Dechoker, another company selling a similar product — to cease marketing the devices as for use on “children, in schools” and other public places.

“One of our main concerns has been a lack of sufficient data demonstrating effective use of this ­device and we understand that due to the nature of the device, clinical trials would be extremely difficult,” the MHRA wrote to the companies, after it was contacted by Mr Peter Heimlich.

The LifeVac product attracted more attention here after TV and media personality Sam Hay — who appears on Channel Nine’s Today show as the “resident doctor” and who is known as Dr Sam — wrote an article, published late last month, that encouraged parents to buy the device. In the article, which appeared on the website Kidspot, owned by News Corporation Australia, which also publishes The Australian, Dr Sam said the product “works” and ­“operates like a fancy drain plunger”. “I’d encourage parents to consider having one handy, and definitely giving it a go after first-aid techniques have failed and the ambulance is on its way,” he wrote.

The ‘anti-choking’ device.

Yesterday Dr Sam said he came across the product because his editor at Kidspot had asked him to write an article about it, and he had never had any contact with anyone from LifeVac.

LifeVac Australia owner Simon Gould, a former paramedic and current clinical educator, said he had been “harassed” by Mr Heimlich, who he said was running a “smear campaign” against the product. “The product has saved 11 lives and there have been no reported injuries,” Mr Gould said. “Mr Heimlich is a blogger who has no clinical experience whatsoever but who has made it his life’s mission to try and find problems (with devices).”

Mr Heimlich was unavailable for comment yesterday. Mr Heimlich, who runs a website called medfraud.info, has made a name for himself by attacking the famous manoeuvre of his father Henry Heimlich. He has attacked his father, who died in 2016, as a charlatan who made false claims.

The Heimlich manoeuvre has more broadly been criticised as having been pushed by a “slick” Henry Heimlich and as being not based on science. However, the ­action, which involves grabbing a choking person from behind and squeezing them to dislodge the object causing the choking, is said to have saved thousands of lives.

A spokeswoman from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration said there had been “no evidence in Australia of adverse event reports” associated with Life­Vac. Mr Gould said the key problem facing LifeVac was the near impossibility of conducting clinical trials. He said the product had been tested on a cadaver and on models of humans and had been found to be very effective. Testing on animals was not ­an option for LifeVac. “You’d have to choke the animals, which is unethical — unless Peter wants to volunteer?” Mr Gould said.