Henry Jay Heimlich was born in 1920. He was a trained cardiothoracic surgeon He realized that choking was an important cause of death in the USA. He wanted t do something to save lives of those who had choked.
He was a keen observer. He had observed that abdominal thrusts helped the dogs to get rid of the material on which they had choked - that would dislodge from the throat and come to the stomach. He therefore attempted to try the same thing in the human beings - apply pressure on the chest and see whether the material blocking the throat would come to the stomach. Soon he realized that it was the pressure to the diaphragm that was really needed.
Heimlich suggested the use of a fist - placing the thumb against the patient's upper abdomen and grasping it with the other hand from the back with quick upward thrusts. He published the technique and its advantages in Emergency Medicine in June 1974. The article was titled "Pop goes the Cafe Coronary" Within weeks, he started receiving reports as to how the technique was saving lives. JAMA was so impressed with this technique that they renamed it as Heimlich Maneuver.
From 1976 to 1985, the American Heart Association and the Red Cross recommended guidelines on choking nicknamed as "the five and five"- 5 back slaps and if that failed 5 Heimlich Maneuvers. However in 2006 the term Heimlich maneuver was replaced by 'abdominal thrusts'. The drowning rescue guidelines regarded it as not only not useless but also as potentially harmful because it could facilitate vomiting and choking on the vomit. There is no doubt that Heimlich Maneuver saved millions of lives.
Heimlich was not a one trick pony. He has contributed many other inventions to Medicine. In 1960 s he devised a simple inexpensive unidirectional valve in the Vietnam war which helped to remove blood from the chest of injured soldiers and saved thousands of lives.
In 1950 s he devised a surgery wherein he replaced the damaged part of the esophagus with a portion of the normal stomach in patients whose esophagus was damaged and resulted in the difficulty for the patient to swallow. He claimed that they were happy and could enjoy normal meals with the family.
In 1980 s he devised a Micro-trach transtracheal catheter to deliver oxygen more efficiently
Heimlich went on to claim that his technique would even help the patients with severe asthma. His adversaries however argued that though it helped remove blocked secretions, it did not help relief from the asthma in any other way.
His unusual experiment in China where he tried to induce Malaria -Malariotherapy- to therapeutically benefit patients with Lyme disease and AIDS by allegedly 'strengthening the immune system' was severely criticized and he was even labelled as a fraud by some .
His worst critic was his own son Philip Heimlich who later became the county commissioner of Hamilton County, Ohio, always held the view that the real discoverer of the maneuver was a doctor by name Henry Patrick and Henry Jay Heimlih only stole the idea fro him!
Whatever the controversy may be, there is no doubt that the maneuver saved millions of lives. In 2002, George Bush, then the President of USA survived choking. Tennessee William, a Pulitzer prize winner who choked on the cap if an eye drop bottle and Marshall Subrato Mukherjee , India's first chief Air Marshall who choked on fod in a Tokyo restaurant were not so lucky. Both died of choking!
He was a keen observer. He had observed that abdominal thrusts helped the dogs to get rid of the material on which they had choked - that would dislodge from the throat and come to the stomach. He therefore attempted to try the same thing in the human beings - apply pressure on the chest and see whether the material blocking the throat would come to the stomach. Soon he realized that it was the pressure to the diaphragm that was really needed.
Heimlich suggested the use of a fist - placing the thumb against the patient's upper abdomen and grasping it with the other hand from the back with quick upward thrusts. He published the technique and its advantages in Emergency Medicine in June 1974. The article was titled "Pop goes the Cafe Coronary" Within weeks, he started receiving reports as to how the technique was saving lives. JAMA was so impressed with this technique that they renamed it as Heimlich Maneuver.
From 1976 to 1985, the American Heart Association and the Red Cross recommended guidelines on choking nicknamed as "the five and five"- 5 back slaps and if that failed 5 Heimlich Maneuvers. However in 2006 the term Heimlich maneuver was replaced by 'abdominal thrusts'. The drowning rescue guidelines regarded it as not only not useless but also as potentially harmful because it could facilitate vomiting and choking on the vomit. There is no doubt that Heimlich Maneuver saved millions of lives.
Heimlich was not a one trick pony. He has contributed many other inventions to Medicine. In 1960 s he devised a simple inexpensive unidirectional valve in the Vietnam war which helped to remove blood from the chest of injured soldiers and saved thousands of lives.
In 1950 s he devised a surgery wherein he replaced the damaged part of the esophagus with a portion of the normal stomach in patients whose esophagus was damaged and resulted in the difficulty for the patient to swallow. He claimed that they were happy and could enjoy normal meals with the family.
In 1980 s he devised a Micro-trach transtracheal catheter to deliver oxygen more efficiently
Heimlich went on to claim that his technique would even help the patients with severe asthma. His adversaries however argued that though it helped remove blocked secretions, it did not help relief from the asthma in any other way.
His unusual experiment in China where he tried to induce Malaria -Malariotherapy- to therapeutically benefit patients with Lyme disease and AIDS by allegedly 'strengthening the immune system' was severely criticized and he was even labelled as a fraud by some .
His worst critic was his own son Philip Heimlich who later became the county commissioner of Hamilton County, Ohio, always held the view that the real discoverer of the maneuver was a doctor by name Henry Patrick and Henry Jay Heimlih only stole the idea fro him!
Whatever the controversy may be, there is no doubt that the maneuver saved millions of lives. In 2002, George Bush, then the President of USA survived choking. Tennessee William, a Pulitzer prize winner who choked on the cap if an eye drop bottle and Marshall Subrato Mukherjee , India's first chief Air Marshall who choked on fod in a Tokyo restaurant were not so lucky. Both died of choking!
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