The Enquirer screw-up could have been avoided if it had reported what it long has known about iconic Dr. Henry Heimlich’s unflinching advocacy in the face of expert opposition and doubts about his evidence of success.

A clarification came two days later. It should have been a correction. In it, the paper acknowledges the controversy, says CPR is the preferred first response but suggests the Heimlich maneuver is an alternative. Also, the note directing readers to the correct version misleadingly says the original graphic included “procedures not universally accepted.” Almost “universally condemned” is more accurate.

The Enquirer can’t claim ignorance. It has known about the controversy for years. For months the maneuver has been a focus of The Dean of Cincinnati, a blogger who is no stranger to the paper’s editor, on cincinnatibeacon.com. The Dean sometimes is aided by Heimlich’s younger son, Peter, who also communicates with local journalists in his national campaign to discredit the maneuver as a near-drowning response.

Ironically, the cock-up opens the long-closed Enquirer door to Peter Heimlich and his allies. The question is not whether Enquirer artists, who produced the “info-graphic,” will be scapegoats but whether the Enquirer will publish a savvy story about Henry Heimlich’s persistent promotion of his maneuver as the appropriate first response to near-drownings.

Steinman adds, “The Heimlich maneuver is almost certain to cause the victim to aspirate (vomit and inhale) stomach contents, which can gain entry into the lungs and cause severe damage, perhaps making subsequent resuscitation impossible. In a fresh water drowning, very little water gains entry into the lungs, and what does is rapidly absorbed. Thus, contrary to what Heimlich claims, the victim’s airway is not filled with water.”