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RIP Dr. Henry Heimlich, Inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver (bbc.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the 96-years-young dept.

tomhath quotes the BBC: Dr Heimlich died at the age of 96. He invented the lifesaving technique, which uses abdominal thrusts to clear a person's airway, in 1974. In May he used the technique himself to save a woman at his retirement home. He dislodged a piece of meat with a bone in it from the airway of an 87-year-old woman, telling the BBC: "I didn't know I really could do it until the other day."

51 comments

  1. Frosty by Hognoxious · · Score: 0, Redundant

    *cough* *splutter* psot!

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I was going to post under my real name, but I choked.

  3. Um, what? I'm not dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Still here. Who wrote this crap!?

  4. Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by footNipple · · Score: 0

    Oh God, please don't...

    1. Re:Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by DamonHD · · Score: 1

      RTFA

      --
      http://m.earth.org.uk/
    2. Re:Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No.

      I'm not 20 years old anymore; ain't nobody got time for that shit.

    3. Re:Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heresy!

    4. Re:Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RTFA

      That sound you're hearing the joke flying over your head.

    5. Re:Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by bigwheel · · Score: 2

      FTFA: "Dr Heimlich died at a hospital in the US city of Cincinnati early on Saturday following complications from a heart attack he suffered on Monday, his family says."

    6. Re:Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RTFA

      WHOOSH

    7. Re:Please don't tell me he choked to death!! by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

      I was fully expecting the article to say he choked to death.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
  5. Lulz... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    she was chocking on her chicken.

  6. A true hero by Zibodiz · · Score: 2

    RIP. While I don't know much about his life, that one brilliant idea has saved so many lives. That makes him a hero in my books -- and I don't bandie that term about casually.

    1. Re: A true hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Latest science finding say its mostly bad people that choke.

    2. Re:A true hero by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Absolutely agreed.

      From the article: notable people saved by this maneuver include former President Ronald Reagan, pop star Cher, former New York mayor Edward Koch and Hollywood actors Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, Walter Matthau, Carrie Fisher, Jack Lemmon and Marlene Dietrich. An estimated 100,000 people have been saved in the US alone. Heimlich even saved a woman with the technique himself once. He said that he always wondered if he'd be able to perform the maneuver himself.

      It's nice to know his name is forever linked with helping to save so many lives. RIP, and condolences to his family.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    3. Re:A true hero by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      It does work like a charm. I've only done it once, but it's simple and effective.

    4. Re: A true hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There was a Dollop about him. I didn't know much of anything about him either, but it was definitely worth a listen. http://thedollop.net/wp/episode-95-smollop/

    5. Re:A true hero by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2

      RIP. While I don't know much about his life, that one brilliant idea has saved so many lives. That makes him a hero in my books -- and I don't bandie that term about casually.

      Bullshit, His son runs a website debunking the effectiveness of the Heimlich maneuver. Why risk damaging internal organs without first trying a few good thumps on the back?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    6. Re:A true hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "It does work like a charm. I've only done it once, but it's simple and effective."

      Me too. And I didn't even like the guy. But there he was, bluely attempting to breathe and failing, because he had a wiener larger than he was accustomed to, stuck in his gullet. (A Polish Sausage, to be exact. BTW, get your minds out of the gutter.) He was pretty fat, so I doubt that I broke a rib.
      The thing is... since the age of Eight or so, I have been thoroughly indoctrinated in the Red Cross way of doing things. There was this Drowning Incident... I actually found it quite pleasant, gazing up, slowly fading, up through all that water, at all those very silly faces. And then all hell broke loose.

      First Aid, along with Triage, is a _very_ recent notion. It is actually now possible, for the average person with minimal training, to save a Life. This is no longer an area of "God's Will". Well, not very often.
      Yes, the CPR Classes are preposterous. Guidelines changed all the time over the decades, and those chosen to teach them are those rarely chosen to implement them. This is also true for the Heimlich Maneuver. Couldn't they have chosen a better term? It sounds like something out of Rommel's North Africa Campaigns.

      But through all this, is this: _Do_ _Something_. Doing Nothing is surrendering.
      Never surrender.

      BTW, Screw "God's Will".

    7. Re:A true hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Credit where it's due, of course. But also, of interest, Heimlich was quite unethical about some of his other "medical" endeavours. see malariotherapy http://www.radiolab.org/story/...

    8. Re:A true hero by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

      Why risk damaging internal organs without first trying a few good thumps on the back?

      Because thumps on the back risk dislodging the obstruction when it may be pulled, by gravity or attempted inhalation, further into the airway, lodge more firmly there, and then be UNremovable by the maneuver or other methods that might be applied in time, and/or result in damage to the lung.

      I recall the early days of publicity of the maneuver, when the Red Cross published instructions in which they'd added three sharp thumps on the back of an erect victim before performing the chest thrust. Heimlich had to go on publicity tours in an attempt to correct that misinformation and avoid needless death.

      If further research has shown Heimlich was wrong about this, I'd appreciate a pointer to it.

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    9. Re:A true hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suggested years ago to a friend, that Heimlich should have received a Nobel in medicine. IMO. Now the haters will "find" a reason to destroy his reputation.

    10. Re: A true hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "That worked! Holy shit, I just said that to graze boobs back in the day. Who knew it wasn't bullshit".

    11. Re:A true hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A few years ago a young woman choked on a hot dog at Wrigley Field and died. They thought she was having a heart attack.

      So remember, if you're choking, before you pass out, the universal signal for "I'm choking" is to point or clutch at your throat while sticking your tongue out in a "gagging" expression!

  7. Horrible news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm all choked up over it.

    1. Re:Horrible news by Megahard · · Score: 2

      Actually, thanks to him, a lot of people are not choked up.

      --
      I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
  8. Tails of the Heimlich Maneuver by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2
    From the Eddie Izzard concert, Dress to Kill:

    The Heimlich Gesture

    Also, if you're in a restaurant and you're choking to death, you can say the magic words, "Heimlich maneuver." If you're just coughing and got some, you say, "Heimlich maneuver," and all will be well. The trouble is, it's very difficult to say "Heimlich maneuver" when you're choking to death. Yeah.

    ( mumbling and coughing )
    "Your hymen’s been removed?"
    "No no. ( more mumbling and coughing )
    "You need it removed? Right"

    I don't know how you remove a hymen... But yeah. No, Heimlich maneuver,developed by Dr. Heimlich who woke up one night, obviously, and went,

    "A fist, a hand, hoocha hoocha hoocha... lobster! Yes, Hilda! Hilda! Wake up, Hilda!"
    "Oh, what is it, Dr. Heimlich?"
    "Why are you calling me Dr. Heimlich? I'm you're husband, for fuck's sake! Loosen up, don't be so bloody Prussian."
    "Well, what is it, Günther?"
    "I have invented a maneuver!"
    "What are you, a bloody tank commander now?"
    "No! My name is going to be famous in restaurants!"

    I don't think he actually did it that way. I don't think it was ( snaps fingers ) a wing and a prayer, I think he must have experimented. He was German, organized.

    ( German accent ) "Ok, Hans, I want you to swallow this golf ball..."
    ( choking and coughing ) “I cannot breath."
    “I know you cannot breath. I will now make you breath with the cunning use of..." ( muffled shot)
    “I still cannot breath."
    "Ok, maybe not, maybe this will ( muffled shot )
    “Jesus fucking Christ!”
    "Ok, then maybe with a frying pan..." Pow!
    ( Hans coughing throughout, as Dr Heimlich smacks him )
    "Must be a combination. No, ok "
    "Ok, two frying pans Frying pan in the bollocks Bollocks stop
    "Frying pan"
    ( Hans collapses to the floor )
    "Oh, he's dead."

    Other doctors are going,

    "How's it coming along, Dr. Heimlich?"
    "Well, not very well at the moment. It's not really a maneuver at the moment. It's more of a gesture."

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re: Tails of the Heimlich Maneuver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Delete your account

    2. Re: Tails of the Heimlich Maneuver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I 2nd this

  9. One of those guys I thought died long ago. by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    One of those guys I thought long ago. I thought that the Heimlich maneuver was pretty obvious and had to have been invented in a more distant past.

  10. Thank you Dr Hiemlich by MobileC · · Score: 1

    I used this on myself and am happy to report that it worked.
    That's the closest to death I've been...

    --

    Fran
    :):):)
    1st 1st Poster of the new Millennium!

  11. Such a .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... dirty man ! LOL.

    I bet he made up that manouver after sexually assaulting a granny ! LOL.

  12. He didn't, did he? While nobody was around to? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, a heart attack.

    1. Re:He didn't, did he? While nobody was around to? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Well, he was in a hospital, and the odds of living after a code blue in the hospital are about 25%. Even less outside a hospital, so make sure you have your advanced medical directives all filled in. There are some things (such as being a semi-vegetable from brain damage) that are worse than death.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  13. Like every field scientist ever. by Chas · · Score: 2

    Scientist: Man! I was TOTALLY shocked. It actually worked!

    Guinea Pig: What? Do you mean to tell me you didn't KNOW that would work?

    Scientist: Well, I had a theory. But it's nice to see it work in practice.

    Guinea Pig: Oh. I feel SO much better now...

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  14. Used it this past May? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    The most interesting part of this summary was that he used his manoeuvre the first time in May, on an old lady no less. I mean I get that he invented it but it's interesting to me for two reasons:
    1) The Heimlich is no longer taught and not recommended as a way to stop someone from choking. Instead favouring leaning a person forward and giving them a really hard smack between the base of their shoulder blades.
    2) One of the reason the Heimlich is not preferred is due to the damage it causes to the body ... which old people are especially susceptible of. I'm actually surprised someone at 87 years old survived the manoeuvre.

    In any case this man has saved countless lives. RIP.

    1. Re:Used it this past May? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IIRC from the first aid course that I took it's situation dependent whether it's the best option or not. However, now that you make me try to remember the criteria, I realize that I probably should repeat some of what I was taught (in Finland and the course content might of course vary from country to country). The certification seems to last longer than my memory :/

    2. Re:Used it this past May? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You hit them between the shoulder blades. Hard. Put an arm around the front so they don't fall over.
      If that doesn't work you try the abdominal thrusts. You might kill them, but hey, what's to lose?
      (this is official training... I did it last week)

  15. The True Story by Greyfox · · Score: 2

    Here's the story of how the maneuver was developed.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  16. Thanks, It Works! by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    I had a friend who used to show off her fellatio skills. While we all laughed, she showed off her skills with a banana, when it broke. Everyone was shocked when the piece lodged and couldn't be coughed out. I gave her the maneuver, which popped out broken banana across the floor. The laughter reignited, and no one died.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
    1. Re: Thanks, It Works! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes, "the maneuver"... It is quite effective.

      While she distracted by choking and imminent death, just quickly pull her panties down and take your tongue and lick the hell all directly over her butthole. Get that junk all kinda up in there and what not. Guaranteed she'll cough up whatever it is.

      It's the new and improved version called the "hindlick maneuver."

  17. Compasionaterant Liberal here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just wanting to remind you that he was in fact:

    1) Old
    2) White
    3) a Nazi (as evidenced by his german sounding name).

    Therefore it is incumbent on us liberals to remind the world that everyone who is not a racist wife beater should hate him. If he did manage to do some good, this good is countermanded by all the evil he did in the world by him owning slaves and being white. If he hadn't gobbled up all the credit for the Heimlich maneuver (what an arrogant cunt he must have been to name himself after this life saving medical procedure) think how many more African American Female transvestites could have invented even better manoeuvres that did not see the light of day thanks to this man's evil.

    We must all hate him. I understand this asshole even voted for trump.

    Let's find his kids and kill them.

    I

    1. Re:Compasionaterant Liberal here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's find his kids and kill them.

      I'm for that

    2. Re:Compasionaterant Liberal here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He was old, white and jewish.
      And it's not german, but hungarian.

  18. 40% by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's the maneuver to get your head out of your ass that's mostly needed here.

  19. Medical Recommendations Often Wrong by Nehmo · · Score: 1
    I'm old now (62), and when I was a kid, the recommended procedure was to slap the choking person on the back. I'm not sure. Do people still do that?

    A separate issue: American schools are so prudish, that when demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver, they never use a cute girl as the choking victim and a guy as the one who applies the procedure.

    --
    (||) Nehmo (||)
    1. Re:Medical Recommendations Often Wrong by ledow · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Slapping is the first stage.

      "Encourage the patient to cough" is also in there.

      But Heimlich - because of the possibility of causing internal damage - is the last resort when, if you don't try it, they are going to die anyway. It's literally the thing you do in the knowledge that if it doesn't work, they're dead anyway and there's nothing more you can do.

      And it's not prudish - demonstrating Heimlich is rife with hands reaching blindly into places and causing damage if you're too rough. It's like CPR (again, last resort), you NEVER actually demonstrate the force of CPR that you would do to a real patient - CPR smashes broken ribs into lungs but that's better than dying.

      As such, demoing with big rough guys on tiny waifs of girls is potentially dangerous, especially if there's larking about.

      As anyone who runs martial arts or first aid clubs will tell you, it's not the experienced people who will hurt you. It's the novice that has no idea the power, extension or force of their movements, and no control over them.

  20. I can't believe it by Cyryathorn · · Score: 1

    Oh man, I was so surprised when I read this headline, that I almost choked on my donut!

  21. he will be missed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the maginot line never stood a chance

  22. I saved somebody 4 days ago with this. by The_Dougster · · Score: 1

    My friend started choking on a chili dog and I luckily knew what to do. I had to do the Heimlich three of four times, but she spit out an onion chunk and survived! Thanks Dr. Heimlich!

    --
    Clickety Click ...
  23. I was surprised. by sabbede · · Score: 1
    The Heimlich Maneuver is so ubiquitous, so famous, that I had just assumed that it had been around for a long time. So long, that I wasn't surprised the inventor had died, I was surprised he just died. If someone had told me that the maneuver was 96 years old, I'd have believed it. Still trying to wrap my head around the idea that it's only a few years older than I - that my parents wouldn't have been able to use it had someone started to choke at their wedding.

    I guess that is a testament to Heimlich's brilliance.