Dr. Henry Heimlich, creator of the Heimlich Maneuver, passes away at 96
10 replies, posted
[quote=BBC]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.
Dr Heimlich 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."[/quote]
[url]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38351903[/url]
[quote=AP]Heimlich said the maneuver is very effective when used correctly, but he did not approve of American Red Cross guidelines calling for back blows followed by abdominal thrusts in choking cases that don't involve infants or unconscious victims. Red Cross officials said evidence shows using multiple methods can be more effective, but Heimlich said blows can drive obstructions deeper into a windpipe. The American Heart Association backs abdominal thrusts.
Neither organization supports Heimlich's view that using the maneuver to remove water from the lungs could save drowning victims. They recommend CPR.
Heimlich was proud of some of his other innovations, such as a chest drain valve credited by some with saving soldiers and civilians during the Vietnam War. But he drew sharp criticism for his theory that injecting patients with a curable form of malaria could trigger immunity in patients with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Medical experts have said injecting patients with malaria would be dangerous and have criticized Heimlich for conducting studies involving malariotherapy on HIV patients in China.
Heimlich mostly brushed off critics.
"I'll be the first to admit that a number of my ideas are controversial and in some ways unorthodox," Heimlich told the AP. "But I have enough guts to know that when I am right, it will come about as the thing to do, even if others do the wrong thing for a time."
One of his most vocal critics has been his son, Peter Heimlich. The younger Heimlich split with his father years ago over a personal rift. He initially circulated anonymous criticisms of his father before openly speaking out against him online and in media interviews.
Peter Heimlich has called many of his father's theories dangerous and spent years challenging many of his claims and trying to discredit them. The elder Heimlich maintained that his relationship with his son was a family matter refused to comment on it to the media.[/quote]
[url]http://www.wfsb.com/story/34079458/henry-heimlich-life-saving-maneuver-creator-dies-at-96[/url]
at least he got to use it before he died, holy hell 2016 is a bad year
didnt know the shitty bit about dodging ethics in china to experiment on people based on absurd gut theories
We have to call it the J maneuver now, because apparently training people calling it the Heimlich accrues royalties.
[QUOTE=Sableye;51543949]at least he got to use it before he died, holy hell 2016 is a bad year
didnt know the shitty bit about dodging ethics in china to experiment on people based on absurd gut theories[/QUOTE]
He was 96, so I'd like to think he lived a long and happy life, although I don't know enough about him to be sure. I wouldn't chalk up his death to 2016 being a terrible year.
Either way, this man indirectly saved my life, as my dad had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on me when I was younger because I started choking on a piece of rice krispies square.
Didn't he have some other kind of medical complication earlier in the year? He lived a damn long and good life, and saved another himself (plus countless ones with his technique), doesn't get much better than that.
A legend saving people even until the end. RIP Henry.
[QUOTE=wallyroberto_2;51544089]We have to call it the J maneuver now, because apparently training people calling it the Heimlich accrues royalties.[/QUOTE]
I've been told by my CPR instructors that its because people kept trying to sue him when they failed to do abdominal thrusts correctly
[QUOTE=Kylel999;51544960]I've been told by my CPR instructors that its because people kept trying to sue him when they failed to do abdominal thrusts correctly[/QUOTE]
those people should go preform the valsalva manuver then
Some say he choked to death.
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