Heimlich's Maneuvers

  In my own city, the University of Cincinnati (UC) is partnering with a Chinese university in opening the International College of Medicine in Chongqing in Sichuan Province. The new school promises to create opportunities in research and clinical studies for both countries, since professors from UC and China will teach there. In addition, the school will allow students from both countries to study and come up with medical innovations together.6 Most of the international students at UC come from China. According to Xuemao Wang, dean and university librarian of the University of Cincinnati Libraries, approximately 1,200 Chinese students were enrolled in 2013.7

  With the economic and educational resources that both the United States and China will gain from these kinds of ventures, both countries can partner to help the rest of the world. Specifically, China and the United States can join together to help impoverished countries improve their economies and educational opportunities. In doing so, the countries receiving these resources would be less likely to engage in wars that plague this world.

  If the United States and China were to see each other as partners in giving back together, we will be on our way to being a caring world.

  I myself, have been on the receiving end of care throughout the world. In 1997, I collapsed at a public event. While I was being hospitalized, the hospital switchboard was overloaded for several days. Television and radio programs, as well as newspapers, carried the story. For months afterward, people came up to me and sent me letters, asking how I was feeling. I had no idea that so many cared about me as a person.

  I have lived a long and wondrous life. I have seen the world as a son, a student, a soldier, a physician, a celebrity, and a humanitarian. I think back to my appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Was my trading jokes with Johnny and other publicized moments just entertainment? I think not. Yes, it gave many a chuckle, but I know that my celebrity status has helped others to learn about my medical innovations, giving them a power they might not have known they possessed—the power to save a life, perhaps their own life.

  It’s been estimated that I’ve indirectly saved hundreds of thousands of lives over the seventy years of my medical career. So, perhaps, that is my way of giving back.

  When you save a life, you help save a world. And you know what? I’m not done yet.

  Anyone can be a Heimlich Hero with his or her very own superpower: the power to save a life.

  Approximately five thousand people choke to death in the United States each year, and the simplest first-aid action—proven to prevent a choking death—is the Heimlich Maneuver.

  The Heimlich Heroes online training program can be used in a classroom, in an organization or a club, or in a group atmosphere. Your donation to the Heimlich Heroes program allows us teach the following to young people nationwide:

  recognize the signs of choking

  understand how to respond properly with the Heimlich Maneuver

  learn ways to help minimize the risk of choking

  FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

  Heimlich Heroes

  330 Straight Street

  Suite 330

  Cincinnati, OH 45219

  www.heimlichheroes.com

  [email protected]

  (513) 559-2468

  CHAPTER 1. HEEEEERE’S HEIMLICH!

  1. “Medical Student Wins Safety Council Award,” New York Times, September 25, 1941.

  CHAPTER 2. MY BEGINNINGS

  1. Stefan Riedel, “Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination,” Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings 18, no. 1 (January 2005): 21–25, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/ (accessed September 10, 2013).

  CHAPTER 4. MEDICAL-SCHOOL CHALLENGES AND A STRANGE INTERNSHIP

  1. “Hans Bethe—Biographical,” Nobelprize.org, Nobel Foundation, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1967/bethe-bio.html (accessed October 16, 2013).

  2. Chief of Naval Personnel Randall Jacobs to Lieutenant (jg) Henry J. Heimlich, navy orders memo, December 15, 1944, Heimlich family papers.

  CHAPTER 5. EN ROUTE TO CHINA

  1. Chief of Naval Personnel Randall Jacobs to Lieutenant (jg) Henry J. Heimlich and three others, navy orders memo, February 13, 1945, Heimlich family papers.

  CHAPTER 6. A HEALTH CLINIC IN THE GOBI DESERT

  1. The tenth man did, in fact, survive. “Berserk Sailor Kills Nine Men,” The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), April 23, 1946, p. 21.

  2. “Sailor Killer Ends Own Life,” Lima (OH) News, August 2, 1947, p. 10.

  3. Destination Gobi, Twentieth Century Fox, directed by Robert Wise, released March 20, 1953.

  CHAPTER 8. SAVING A LIFE AND FINDING LOVE

  1. Jane Heimlich, Out of Step (Wilmington, OH: Orange Frazer Press, 2010), p. 63.

  2. Ibid.

  CHAPTER 9. RESTORING THE ABILITY TO SWALLOW: THE REVERSED GASTRIC TUBE OPERATION

  1. Henry Heimlich, MD, and James Winfield, MD, “The Use of a Gastric Tube to Replace or By-Pass the Esophagus,” Surgery 37, no. 4 (April 1955): 549–59.

  2. Lawrence Galton, “Mrs. Dennis and the Miraculous Meal,” Cosmopolitan, August 1960, p. 131.

  3. “Along with Hot Controversies, Some Hot Medical Discoveries,” Life, July 7, 1961.

  4. “7 Operations Save Infant’s Life,” TEMPO no. 1 (Fall 1968): 7.

  5. Henry J. Heimlich, MD, “Esophagoplasty with Reversed Gastric Tube: Review of Fifty-Three Cases,” American Journal of Surgery 123, no. 1 (1972): 80–92.

  CHAPTER 10. PERFORMING THE REVERSED GASTRIC TUBE OPERATION BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

  1. James Winfield, MD, and Henry Heimlich, MD, “The Use of a Gastric Tube to Replace or By-Pass the Esophagus,” International Abstracts of Surgery 101 (1955): 358–59.

  2. Mary Tanenbaum, “County Surgeon Finds Reds Ailing,” Westchester News, [date unknown].

  3. “Amazing Surgery in Romania Described to Bergen Doctors,” Bergen Evening Record, December 12, 1956.

  4. Henry J. Heimlich, MD, “The Use of a Gastric Tube to Replace the Esophagus as Performed by Dr. Dan Gavriliu of Bucharest, Rumania; a Preliminary Report following a Visit to Bucharest, Rumania,” Surgery 42, no. 4 (January 18, 1957): 693–95.

  5. Henry J. Heimlich, MD, “Esophageal Replacement with a Reversed Gastric Tube,” Diseases of the Chest 36, no. 5 (November 1959): 3.

  6. “Dr. Heimlich in Film,” Rye (NY) Chronicle, July 6, 1961.

  CHAPTER 11. A PROMISE TO A DEAD SOLDIER KEPT: THE HEIMLICH CHEST DRAIN VALVE

  1. Lieutenant Bradley to Dr. Henry Heimlich, January 24, 1966.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Gerald A. Baugh, MD, of the US Air Force, to Becton Dickinson and Company, April 11, 1966.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Edgar F. Berman, MD, personal physician to the vice president, to Mrs. Catherine H. Bradley, July 14, 1966.

  6. “On the Scene Report: Medicine Battles the Odds in Vietnam,” Medical World News, November 18, 1966, p. 112.

  7. “News from the World of Medicine: Live-Saving Valve,” Reader’s Digest, September 1967.

  8. Ed May, BD Echo (newsletter), December 2006.

  9. Alyssa Jeff of Becton Dickinson, e-mail message to Karen Carmichael, June 5, 2013.

  CHAPTER 12. A BOY NAMED HAYANI

  1. “Arab Lad Is Pet at Jewish Hospital,” Medical World News, March 19, 1971, p. 71.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Jane Heimlich, “Making a House Call in Morocco,” Cincinnati Post, October 19, 1972, p. 61.

  4. Ibid.

  CHAPTER 13. SAVING THE LIVES OF CHOKING VICTIMS: THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER

  1. For President Ronald Reagan and Nicole Kidman, see Lenore Skenazy, “Maneuvering over Heimlich,” New York Sun, February 21, 2007, http://www.nysun.com/new-york/maneuvering-over-heimlich/48992/ (accessed November 3, 2013). For Elizabeth Taylor, see “An International Incident with a Happy Ending,” Barker (official publication of Variety Clubs International) 14, no. 2 (November 1971): 15. For Goldie Haw
n, see “Food Choking: The Heimlich Maneuver Isn’t a Gag,” Dr. John Hong, September 22, 2012, http://www.drjohnhong.com/blog/2012/food -choking-the-heimlich-maneuver-isn’t-a-gag/ (accessed November 3, 2013). For Jack Lemmon, see Roger Ebert, “Walter Matthau: A Laugh-Filled Life,” RogerEbert.com, July 2, 2000, http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/walter-matthau-a-laugh-filled-life (accessed November 3, 2013). For Cher, see “Cher Describes Choking Incident,” Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA), January 12, 1982, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19820112&id=U6VdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HF0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1238,1391416 (accessed November 3, 2013). For Carrie Fisher, Ellen Barkin, Halle Berry, Dick Vitale, Ed Koch, and John Chancellor, see Stacy Conradt, “The Quick 10: 10 Celebrities almost Felled by Food,” Mental Floss, September 29, 2008, http://mentalfloss.com/article/19718/quick-10-10-celebrities-almost-felled-food (accessed November 3, 2013). And for Joan Nathan, see Marisa McClellan, “Tom Colicchio Uses Heimlich Maneuver to Save Cookbook Author’s Life,” Slashfood, January 19, 2009, http://www.slashfood.com/2009/01/19/tom-colicchio-uses-heimlich-manuver-to-save-cookbook-authors-li/ (accessed November 3, 2013).

  2. Henry J. Heimlich, MD, “Pop Goes the Café Coronary,” Emergency Medicine 6, no. 6 (June 1974): 154–55.

  3. Arthur Snider. “New Method Offered to Save Food-Chokers,” Chicago Daily News, June 11, 1974, p. B1.

  4. “News Article Helps Prevent a Choking Death,” Seattle Times, June 1974.

  5. Twila Van Leer, “State Honors Team That Saved Tot from Near-Certain Death,” Deseret News, September 23, 1986.

  6. Thomas Carlile, MD, “Self-Administered Heimlich Maneuver,” Journal of the American Medical Association 249, no. 23 (June 17, 1983): 3175.

  7. “Simple Method Relieves Café Coronary,” Journal of the American Medical Association 229, no. 4 (August 12, 1974): 746–47.

  8. Henry J. Heimlich, MD, “A Life-Saving Maneuver to Prevent Food-Choking,” Journal of the American Medical Association 234, no. 4 (October 27, 1975): 398–401.

  9. “Statement on the ‘Heimlich Maneuver,’” Journal of the American Medical Association 234, no. 4 (October 27, 1975): 416.

  10. Woody Allen, “A Giant Step for Mankind,” New Yorker, June 9, 1980, pp. 36–38.

  11. “Voices: Seventies Speak,” Life, December 1979, p. 16.

  12. Sarah Hardee, “Heimlich Honors an Older Brother for Saving Little One,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 14, 2013, sec. C.

  CHAPTER 14. THE AMERICAN RED CROSS AND BACK BLOWS

  1. Jean Carper, “Beware the Back Slap If You’re Choking to Death,” Washington Post, April 22, 1979, p. C1; Henry J. Heimlich, MD, “First Aid for Choking: Back Blows and Chest Thrusts Cause Complications and Death,” Neo Reviews 70, no. 1 (July 1, 1982): 120–25.

  2. S. Boussuges, “Use of the Heimlich Maneuver on Children in the Rhône-Alpes Area,” abstract, Archives francaises de Pediatrie 42, no. 8 (1985): 733–36.

  3. “Our Federal Charter,” American Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history/federal-charter (accessed July 19, 2013).

  4. Ibid.

  5. “Take a Class,” American Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org/take-a-class (accessed July 17, 2013).

  6. Ed Grabianowski, “How the American Red Cross Works,” HowStuffWorks.com, http://money.howstuffworks.com/american-red-cross3.htm (accessed July 17, 2013).

  7. G. F. Tucker Jr., “Report of the Committee for the Prevention of Foreign Body Accidents,” Trans Am Bronchoesophagol Assoc 49 (1969): 181.

  8. David Montoya, MD, MCFP, FRCPC, “Management of the Choking Victim,” Canadian Medical Association Journal 135, no. 4 (August 15, 1986): 305–11.

  9. Henry J. Heimlich, MD, “A Life-Saving Maneuver to Prevent Food-Choking,” Journal of the American Medical Association 234, no. 4 (October 27, 1975): 398–401.

  10. Charles Wayne Guildner, Doug Williams, and Tom Subitch, “Airway Obstructed by Foreign Material: The Heimlich Maneuver,” Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians 5, no. 9 (1976): 676.

  11. International Medical News Service, “Heimlich Calls Modification of ‘Maneuver’ Dangerous,” Pediatric News (October 1976): 20.

  12. Archer S. Gordon et al., “Emergency Management of Foreign Body Airway Obstruction,” in Advances in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, ed. Peter Safar (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1977), pp. 39–40.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Guildner, Williams, and Subitch, “Airway Obstructed by Foreign Material.”

  15. B. R. Fink, “Biomechanics of Upper Airway Obstruction” (lecture, National Research Council Emergency Airway Management Conference, Washington, DC, 1976).

  16. Carper, “Beware the Back Slap If You’re Choking to Death.”

  17. Richard L. Day, Edmund S. Crelin, and Arthur B. DuBois, “Choking: The Heimlich Abdominal Thrust vs. Back Blows: An Approach to Measurement of Inertial and Aerodynamic Forces,” Pediatrics 70, no. 1 (1982): 117–18.

  18. Cristine Russell, “Heimlich Maneuver Endorsed,” Washington Post, October 2, 1985, p. A9.

  19. Ibid.

  20. C. Everett Koop, MD, ScD, “The Heimlich Maneuver,” Public Health Reports 100, no. 6 (November/December 1985): 557.

  21. “The American Red Cross Unveils Innovative New First Aid and CPR/AED Training Programs,” American Red Cross, news release, April 4, 2006, http://web.archive.org/web/20060429202036/http://www.redcross.org/pressrelease/0,1077,0_314_5262,00.html (accessed July 17, 2013).

  22. Robert A. Berg, “2010 American Heart Association and American Red Cross Guidelines for First Aid,” Circulation 122 (2010): S696.

  23. “Conscious Choking,” American Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org/flash/brr/English-html/conscious-choking.asp (accessed July 17, 2013).

  24. Joan Nathan, “A Heimlich in Every Pot,” New York Times, February 4, 2009, p. A31.

  25. A. Soroudi et al., “Adult Foreign Body Airway Obstruction in the Prehospital Setting,” abstract, Prehospital Emergency Care 11, no. 1 (2007): 25–29.

  26. Liam Thorp, “Woman Dies after Choking on Food at Royal Balti House in Farnworth,” Bolton News, July 24, 2013, http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/10567426.Woman_dies_after_choking_on_food_at_Indian_restaurant/ (accessed July 30, 2013).

  27. Carper, “Beware the Back Slap If You’re Choking to Death.”

  CHAPTER 15. THE GIFT OF BREATH: THE HEIMLICH MICROTRACH

  1. “FAQs,” National Lung Health Education Program, http://www.nlhep.org/Pages/FAQS.aspx (accessed July 19, 2013).

  2. Thomas L. Petty, MD; Robert W. McCoy, BS, RRT; and Dennis E. Doherty, MD, “Long Term Oxygen Therapy (LTOT),” National Lung Health Education Program, http://www.nlhep.org/Documents/lt_oxygen.pdf (accessed July 19, 2013).

  3. Henry Heimlich, MD, “Respiratory Rehabilitation with Transtracheal Oxygen System,” Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology 91, no. 6 (November/December 1982): 644.

  4. H. J. Heimlich, “Oxygen Delivery for Ambulatory Patients. How the Micro-Trach Increases Mobility,” Postgraduate Medicine 84, no. 6 (November 1, 1988): 68–73.

  5. Thomas Stuber, interview by Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, The Real Me, Good Life TV, November 16, 1999.

  6. Ibid.

  7. John Kosowatz, “‘I Call It the Heimlich Miracle,’” Bridgeport Telegram, April 30, 1982, p. 4.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Gwen Kelly, “Illness, Surgery Fail to Delay Determined Couple’s Wedding,” Shreveport Times (March 3, 1990).

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ned Martel, “Heimlich’s Next Maneuver,” Naples Daily News, May 28, 1991, pp. D1, D4.

  12. Ibid.

  13. B. S. Bloom et al., “Transtracheal Oxygen Delivery and Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease,” Respiratory Medicine 83, no. 4 (1989): 281–88.

  14. Milan Korcok, “Delivering Oxygen Transtracheally May Be a Boon for COPD Patients,” Journal of the American Medical Association 248, no. 2 (July 9, 1982): 153–54.

  15. Ibid.

  16. H. J. Heimlich and G. C. Carr, “The Micro-Trach. A Seven-Year Experi
ence with Transtracheal Oxygen Therapy,” Chest 95, no. 5 (May 1989): 1008–1012.

  CHAPTER 16. MAKING THE MOST OF GOOD IDEAS

  *When we performed the malariotherapy research in China, all patients involved in the study, as in all of our research studies at the Heimlich Institute, granted their permission to participate. We chose China as a location partly because there was a readily available source of malaria there, which was not found in the United States. Official approval for carrying out the study was granted by the Municipal Department of Health of Guangzhou, by the Provincial Department of Health of Guangdong Province, and by the Provincial Committee of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province. On June 8, 2000, Steven A. Masiello, director of the Office of Compliance and Biologics Quality in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration, sent me a letter by certified mail stating that “regulatory authorities in the People’s Republic of China . . . is the appropriate authority for oversight of such foreign research, not a United States based IRB [Institutional Review Board].”

  1. Lou Carlozo, “Heimlich Maneuvers into Safety Hall of Fame,” Chicago Tribune, October 5, 1993, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-10-05/news/9310050180_1_heimlich-maneuver-henry-j-heimlich-mrs-dole (accessed November 13, 2013).

  2. Arthur Snider, “New Hug Can Save Drowning Victim,” Chicago Daily News, August 24, 1974, pp. 1, 6.