Subject: Re: Independent Press Standards Organisation - Our reference [IPSO: #06293-17#]

From: "Peter M. Heimlich" <peter.heimlich@gmail.com>

Date: 5/10/2017 5:20 PM
To: Lauren Sloan <Lauren.sloan@ipso.co.uk>
CC: Isabel.Keith@Express.co.uk, vikki.julian@ipso.co.uk

Lauren Sloan
Complaints Officer
Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)
Gate House
1 Farringdon Street
London EC4M 7LG UK

Dear Ms. Sloan,

Thank you for your e-mail yesterday (copied below my signature) in response to my 17 April 2017 complaint
(attached) re: false information about actor Halle Berry that was reported in the Daily Express's 24
December, 2017 obituary about my father.

You wrote:

You are entitled to request that the Executives decision to reject your complaint be reviewed by
IPSOs Complaints Committee. To do so you will need to write to us in the next seven days,
setting out the reasons why you believe the decision should be reviewed.

This is to request that the Executive's decision to reject my complaint be reviewed by IPSO's Complaints
Committee. In the event that the Committee agrees with the Executive's decision, this is to request that I be
provided with a detailed explanation describing how the Committee arrived at that determination.

1) Reviewing the facts, here's the error in the Express's article: https://tinyurl.com/z5o5su9

Via the 14 August 2014 Hollywood Reporter article, How Dr. Heimlich Maneuvered Hollywood Into
Backing His Dangerous AIDS "Cure" by Seth Abramovitch: https://tinyurl.com/kuk8c4c

Via your e-mail:

We noted your concern that the article was inaccurate in breach of Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the
Editors Code of Practice, because Halle Berry had denied ever being saved by the Heimlich
manoeuvre. The article was an obituary of Henry Heimlich, which reported various information
about his life and work. As part of this, the article included a list of people said to have been saved
by the manoeuvre. In the context of an obituary, and where you accept that it had been previously
reported that Halle Berry had been saved by the manoeuvre, it was not significantly misleading for
the article to state that she was said to have been saved, regardless of any public denial. Your
complaint did not raise a possible breach of Clause 1 (Accuracy).

Perhaps a scholar with expertise in the writings of Lewis Carroll would comprehend the above paragraph,
but you lost me.

Among other questions, it's unclear how you determined that by publishing false information, the Express
was not misleading readers, "significantly" or otherwise. I
It's also unclear by what standard IPSO measured the "significance" of the error. For example, since Ms.
Berry informed the Hollywood Reporter that the claim was bogus, presumably she thought it was
significant.

Further, per my complaint, I made best eforts to ask the Express to fix the error and never received a reply,
therefore their position was unknown to me. However, yesterday Isabel Keith from the Express's legal
department thanked you for the Executive's decision (see her e-mail below my signature in red text)
thereby confirming that the Express is aware that their newspaper published false information.
Nevertheless, to my knowledge the Express has provided no indication that they intend to correct the error.
In other words, it appears they have chosen to intentionally mislead readers.

If IPSO accommodates that, your organization might wish to review its standards.

2) Per my complaint, the New York Times's 19 December 2017 obituary of my father included the identical
error and, in response to my request, the paper published this correction on 1 February 2017:
https://tinyurl.com/k6yeor3

Same goes for BuzzFeed's response to my corrections request for the identical error in their 17 December
2016 obituary for my father. Via https://tinyurl.com/lyct7fa

Therefore, based on the Executive's decision, my understanding is that IPSO holds its member
organizations to a lower editorial standard than the New York Times and BuzzFeed. Using this example,
this is to request that the Committee review this and provide me with a determination whether or not my
understanding is accurate.

I'll also point out that, by failing to publish a correction to the error, the Express has confirmed that it
adheres to a lower editorial standard than the New York Times and BuzzFeed.

Thanks for your continued time/attention and I look forward to receiving the Complaints Committee's
response to my requests.

Finally, I think this could make a lively item for my blog, so I'm looping in IPSO's Press and
Communications Officer Vikki Julian.

Cheers, Peter

Peter M. Heimlich
3630 River Hollow Run
Peachtree Corners, GA 30096
ph: (208)474-7283
website: http://medfraud.info
blog: http://the-sidebar.com
e-mail: peter.heimlich@gmail.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/medfraud_pmh

cc: Isabel Keith, Vikki Julian

On 5/9/2017 6:25 AM, Isabel Keith Isabel.Keith@Express.co.uk wrote to Lauren.sloan@ipso.co.uk and

peter.heimlich@gmail.com
>
> Received with thanks.

On 5/9/2017 6:19 AM, Lauren Sloan wrote to peter.heimlich@gmail.com and cc:

Isabel.Keith@Express.co.uk

Dear Mr Heimlich,

I write further to our earlier email regarding your complaint about an article headlined Lives
remembered: Henry Heimlich (1920-2016) Doctor who invented the Heimlich manoeuvre, published by
Daily Express on 24 December 2016.

On receipt of a complaint, IPSOs Executive reviews it to ensure that it falls within our remit, and
discloses a possible breach of the Editors Code of Practice. The Executive has now completed an
assessment of your complaint under the terms of the Code. Having considered the points you have raised
in full, we have concluded that your complaint does not raise a possible breach of the Code.

We noted your concern that the article was inaccurate in breach of Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors
Code of Practice, because Halle Berry had denied ever being saved by the Heimlich manoeuvre. The article
was an obituary of Henry Heimlich, which reported various information about his life and work. As part of
this, the article included a list of people said to have been saved by the manoeuvre. In the context of an
obituary, and where you accept that it had been previously reported that Halle Berry had been saved by the
manoeuvre, it was not significantly misleading for the article to state that she was said to have been
saved, regardless of any public denial. Your complaint did not raise a possible breach of Clause 1
(Accuracy).

You are entitled to request that the Executives decision to reject your complaint be reviewed by IPSOs
Complaints Committee. To do so you will need to write to us in the next seven days, setting out the reasons
why you believe the decision should be reviewed. Please note that we are unable to accept requests for
review made seven days after the date of this email.

We would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider the points you have raised, and have
shared this correspondence with the newspaper to make it aware of your concerns.

Best wishes,

Lauren Sloan

Cc Daily Express

Lauren Sloan
Complaints Officer
IPSO
Gate House
1 Farringdon Street
London
EC4M 7LG
Tel: 0300 123 2220
Website: www.ipso.co.uk

IPSO is the independent regulator of the newspaper and magazine industry. We exist to promote and
uphold the highest professional standards of journalism in the UK, and to support members of the public in
seeking redress where they believe that the Editors Code of Practice has been breached. We are able to
consider concerns about editorial content in newspapers and magazines, and about the conduct of
journalists.
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Independent Press Standards Organisation (CIC), Gate House, 1 Farringdon Street, London EC4M 7LG

Attachments:

2017 April 17 PMH-IPSO complaint re Expess Halle Berry error REDACTED.pdf 22.2 KB
From: Peter Heimlich <peter.heimlich@gmail.com>
Sent: 17 April 2017 01:00
To: complaints@ipso.co.uk
Subject: Independent Press Standards Organisation - Our reference [IPSO: #06293-17#]

Your complaint
Date story was published: 12/24/2016 5:00:00 AM
Publication: Daily Express (Northern & Shell PLC)
Publication has been contacted?: Yes
Publication headlines: Headline: Lives remembered: Henry Heimlich (1920 - 2016) Doctor who invented
the Heimlich manoeuvre
URL:
1 - Click here to view this attachment

How the Code has been breached

Clauses breached

1 Accuracy

To whom it may concern: Per my e-mails to the Express (please see the attached pdf), the following is
a factual error in the article: https://tinyurl.com/z5o5su9 "Among those said to have been saved by (the
Heimlich manoeuvre) are...(actor) Halle Berry." Per the following published reports, the above statement
has been proven to be false. Via: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-dr-heimlich-maneuvered-
hollywood-725352 "(In) his memoir, Heimlich's Maneuvers: My Seventy Years of Livesaving Innovation,
published earlier this year, (Dr. Heimlich) includes those of Cher, Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry among
(lives being saved by the Heimlich maneuver). Berry has denied being saved by the maneuver..." Via:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/pageoneplus/corrections-february-1-2017.html?_r=1 "Because
of an editing error, an obituary on Dec. 19 and in some editions on Dec. 18 about Dr. Henry J. Heimlich,
who developed the Heimlich maneuver, erroneously included one person among those who have said
they were given the maneuver. While it had been widely reported that it was performed on the actress
Halle Berry, she herself has denied this." Per the attached pdf, I repeatedly brought this information to the
attention of the Express. I have never received a reply and the error is uncorrected, hence this complaint.
Thanks for your time/consideration and I look forward to your reply. Sincerely, Peter M. Heimlich 3630 River
Hollow Run Peachtree Corners, Georgia 30096 USA ph: (208)474-7283 website: http://medfraud.info
blog: http://the-sidebar.com e-mail: peter.heimlich@gmail.com twitter: @medfraud_pmh

About you
Name: Mr Peter Heimlich Email: peter.heimlich@gmail.com Phone number: 208-474-7283 Address:
3630 River Hollow Run
Peachtree Corners
Georgia
Postcode: 30096 USA