Dr. Henry J. Heimlich, the thoracic surgeon and medical genius who developed the anti choking technique that has been credited with saving an estimated 100,000 lives, died on 17th Dec 2016.
He passed away at the age of 96.
He developed and held patients on a score of medical innovations and devices, including:- Mechanical aids for chest surgery well known in the Vietnam war
- Procedure for treating chronic, long standing lung diseases and methods for helping the stroke victims relearn to swallow.
- He also promoted a technique for replacing the damaged oesophagus that a Romanian surgeon has been using for years.
He was a professor of clinical sciences at Xavier University in Cincinnati and president of the Heimlich Institute.
The Heimlich manoeuvre was first proposed in the 1970s when choking on food or foreign objects were the sixth leading cause of accidental death in America. State and federal authorities endorsed the technique.
The Heimlich Institute holds that 50,000 lives were saved in the US alone.
The American Medical Association, which endorsed the technique in 1975 and gave it the name Heimlich manoeuvre, says it saves unknown thousands annually.
In 1984, Dr Heimlich won the Albert Lasker Public Service Award, one of the nation’s most prestigious medical science prizes.
About Henry Heimlich- Full name: Henry Judah Heimlich
- Born: Feb 3, 1920.
- In 1955, Dr. Heimlich proposed a method of restoring a patient’s lost ability to swallow.
- In the early 1960s Dr. Heimlich invented a device to drain fluid from an open chest wound.
Written works: - “Dr. Heimlich’s Home Guide to Emergency Medical Situations” (1980),
- “Heimlich’s Maneuvers: My Seventy Years of Lifesaving Innovations” (2014).
- His animated series for children, "Dr. Henry’s Emergency Lessons for People," won an Emmy in 1980s.
