Isn't applying negative pressure to the lung also a great way to collapse it?
If this thing can apply negative pressure to a lung, the airway isn't totally obstructed.
Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
11–20 of 107 posts
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#12Wow, it seems so obvious now.
That's a hallmark of a great idea.
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#13Simple and smart. I like it and wonder if I should buy one. Seems like cheap insurance.
I wonder, does it work on people with beards? I know this usually causes trouble with sealing masks like this. Even if it doesn't, it's still a really useful device for all the non-bearded people out there, but I have to wonder.
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the idea the article conveys, one of these should be next to every defibrillator (and defibs are seen in so many locations).
Not every restaurant has a defibrillator, but every restaurant may want one of these if it's really that effective.
And they should have it in the bathroom!
I've heard from an EMT friend that most choking deaths happen in restaurant bathrooms. Somebody gets up to excuse themselves to be polite and dies alone beside the dyson hand dryers.
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#15A comment on the article mentions a competitor at http://lifevac.net : "There is another version of this type of device that has been around (FDA approved) for a couple of years now. It's called LifeVac and it has been adopted by several fire departments, schools, skilled nursing facilities and families all across the eastern seaboard as well Europe and Canada. Only costs $69.95 and even that number can come down wit…
Are you saying the article was lying? "There is nothing like Dechoker on the market." ;-)
Looks like the earliest mention I can find of LifeVac is May 15, 2014, while Dechoker is from 2011. I wonder if this is a case of "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", or whether they were independent ideas?
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#16> the instructor told him frankly that the victim would die.
He researched the subject thoroughly and found that there was absolutely no other solution to choking besides the Heimlich maneuver
maybe I've seen too many movies, but what about the old knife and ball pen Tracheotomy?
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#17My brother once chocked with a piece of barbecue meat with farofa (a Brazilian mix of toasted cassava flour) in a restaurant. He was barely breathing, and could not swallow anything. We rushed to the hospital and they were able to save him. Nobody new how to perform a Heimlich maneuver, and I don't know if it would have worked. I wonder if this device would have the suction strength to pull the obstruction in that si…
I took a CPR class several years ago before our first kid was born and within a week I couldn't have told you 100% how to perform a Heimlich. You drill it a couple times and are somehow expected to be able to perform it in an emergency, months (or in my case with a one-off class, years) later. I would attempt it if someone was choking with nobody better qualified around, but I always doubt that many people are going to be effective with this maneuver. I also couldn't imagine me doing much of anything on someone 200+ pounds (I'm all of 155). I'm really glad to hear there's an alternative.
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#18I love the idea, and it's just the kind of thing I'm paranoid enough to own, but the price is a bit up there. Hoping it comes down over time. But if I owned a restaurant, I'd be all over this, in a "Break Glass" kind of case.
I think the price point seems reasonable. It's a patented medical device without much competition. They have a target market that would spend the $150 without thinking twice.
They may eventually want to target individuals and those not in the high-risk area -- in which case the price will need to drop. However, for their current stage and what they're after it makes sense.
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#19For $150, it seems very overpriced to me. I expected this to be in the $30 range.
Am I missing some profound piece of engineering that warrants this price? Or is more of a "I think I can charge $X and make s 9x profit" move (which I don't fundamental object to.)
Re: Dechoker medical device could end deaths by choking
#20> the instructor told him frankly that the victim would die. He researched the subject thoroughly and found that there was absolutely no other solution to choking besides the Heimlich maneuver maybe I've seen too many movies, but what about the old knife and ball pen Tracheotomy?
Do you really trust any significant number of people to do that without killing the person?