Henry Heimlich, the doctor credited with saving thousands from choking to death with the Heimlich Maneuver, has passed away.
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| Photo Henry Heimlich via Wikipedia / Fair Use |
Dr. Henry Heimlich perfected the method back in 1974 and
thousands of lives have been saved in the process. Now the sad news has been
reported by NPR that Dr. Heimlich has died at the age of 96 after suffering a
massive heart attack. According to Bryan Reynolds, the spokesman for Episcopal
Retirement Services, who run the retirement home where Heimlich has lived for
years, the doctor passed away early on Saturday at Christ Hospital in
Cincinnati, Ohio. Reportedly Heimlich experienced complications from the heart
attack he had at the retirement home on Monday.
Henry Heimlich, the surgeon who created life-saving Heimlich maneuver for choking victims, has died https://t.co/Rd19rotQQb pic.twitter.com/NKnAfjNIOS— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 17, 2016
Heimlich Maneuver – a life-saving tool
Since the good doctor invented the Heimlich Maneuver, it has
become not only a life-saving tool, but also a part of modern day culture.
Originally the method was known as “subdiaphragmatic pressure.” Heimlich told
NPR in 1999 that this was the name he had assigned to the method when
describing it in a medical journal in June 1974. However the method soon
changed its name to the more popular version of Heimlich Maneuver, in honour of
Dr. Heimlich.
Reportedly the editors of the Journal of the American Medical
Association called Heimlich to tell him they have found so many lives had been
saved in under two months, they wanted to name the method after him.
Heimlich’s family said in a statement how sad they were to
lose a man who is seen as a hero by many, adding that his legacy will extend
beyond the famous live-saving maneuver. According to the statement, as a young
surgeon, Heimlich was the first American to devise and perform a total organ
replacement. He later invented a device that saved thousands of soldiers during
the Vietnam War and the Heimlich Chest Drain Vale is still reportedly used
worldwide for patients undergoing chest surgery.
As reported by Radiolab, many celebrities have been saved by
the Heimlich Maneuver, including Carrie Fisher, Halle Berry, President Ronald
Reagan and New York Mayor Ed Koch.
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| Image by Evolution and evolvability / CC BY-SA 4.0 |
The life-saving method is relatively easy to perform.
Heimlich once described the maneuver to NPR as follows:
"There are several positions. Now everybody knows where
you stand behind the person, put your thumb inside of your fist just above the
bellybutton — remember, below the chest. And you grasp your fist with your
other hand and you press inward and upward. Now you repeat that until the
object comes out."
"But it also can be done with a person lying down on
their back. You kneel astride their thighs and put one of your hands on top of
the other, and the heel of the bottom hand just above the bellybutton, and
press your weight in. And that's how children have saved their parents. In
addition, its widest use now is to save drowning victims."
As Blasting News reported, Heimlich used his own method for
the first time back in May this year, when he saved the life of an 87-year-old
woman in his nursing home who was choking while eating a hamburger.
