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Henry Heimlich has died

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21–27 of 27 posts

Re: Henry Heimlich has died

#21
post #2

""As a young surgeon, Dad was the first American to devise and perform a total organ replacement. Later, he came up with a device that saved thousands of soldiers' lives during the Vietnam War. The Heimlich Chest Drain Valve is still used worldwide for patients undergoing chest surgery." Clearly Heimlich should be known for more than the HM.

It's also mechanically incredibly simple[0], to the point where you can fairly easily DIY it (or a variation of it) if you ever need it.

My dad (a doctor) did so once decades ago, while working in a hospital in Ghana. His patient was a man with a collapsed lung. IIRC, he took a surgeon glove, cut off the tips of two fingers, attached one to a tube, and made a knot in the wrist (so it became kind of like a balloon with two openings). The tube was attached to the lung, to drain fluid. The glove was partially submerged in a bucket of water, so it now functioned like a valve: when the patient breathed out, air and fluid could escape from the glove. When he breathed in, the suction plus water pressure would "seal off" the glove.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flutter_valve

Re: Henry Heimlich has died

#22
post #3

The Heimlich maneuver is one of those things that's much more recent than I imagined. (Another is the bicycle, the modern design of which is only from the late 1800s, just a few decades before the automobile and airplane.)

See also: Ciabatta Bread. I always assumed it had deep historical roots in Italian culinary tradition, but turns out it was invented by some Italian baker in the 1980s who was envious of the French and their baguettes.

Wow, thanks for the example. It turns out ciabatta is about the same age as the bakery I get it from (!).

Re: Henry Heimlich has died

#23
post #12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the comments section: http://andrewgelman.com/2016/10/09/heimlich/#comment-325017 > Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is stranger than truth. Andrew’s next-to-last sentence links to: > “(The Heimlich manoeuvre) has never been used in Australia. Despite the claims of the extremely charismatic Dr. Heimlich, Australian resuscitation experts believe that there isn’t enough scientific evidence to support it…

This was on HN some time ago - apparently there is some sort of research that states that patting/whacking on the back was in fact as affective as Heimlich manoeuvre.

Especially if the object still has air passing by it since the Heimlich manoeuvre only works if there is a tight seal.

A secretary at my workplace had a piece of pork rib stuck but there was still air getting by. An ambulance was called and the medic walked over and slapped her back to remove the food.

Re: Henry Heimlich has died

#24
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Standard advice in Australia is: > Bend the person well forward and give five back blows with the heel of your hand between their shoulder blades – checking if the blockage has been removed after each blow. > If unsuccessful, give five chest thrusts by placing one hand in the middle of their back for support and the heel of the other hand on the lower part of their breastbone – checking if the blockage has been remov…

In Med school here (Australia) we are specifically cautioned against using the Heimlich manoeuvre and we're told to use the above techniques

My wife is a US trained physician and she saved someone using the Heimlich maneuver, so there's that.

Re: Henry Heimlich has died

#25
First, a fun fact:

I was in a class teaching the Heimlich Maneuver yesterday afternoon. The teacher notes that Heimlich is, in fact, still alive at 96 years old. Not five minutes later someone holds up their iPhone -- "hey, I just got the craziest news alert..."

Second:

According to the same teacher, as well, some lawsuits on the part of Heimlich or his family have caused the American Heart Association to now recommend using the term "abdominal thrusts" instead of "Heimlich maneuver." Which the teacher considered sad because it would cause the name of the doctor to be forgotten over time. I'm having a hard time finding an online reference to this -- so curious if anyone else has heard something along these lines.

Re: Henry Heimlich has died

#27
post #2

""As a young surgeon, Dad was the first American to devise and perform a total organ replacement. Later, he came up with a device that saved thousands of soldiers' lives during the Vietnam War. The Heimlich Chest Drain Valve is still used worldwide for patients undergoing chest surgery." Clearly Heimlich should be known for more than the HM.

It's also mechanically incredibly simple[0], to the point where you can fairly easily DIY it (or a variation of it) if you ever need it. My dad (a doctor) did so once decades ago, while working in a hospital in Ghana. His patient was a man with a collapsed lung. IIRC, he took a surgeon glove, cut off the tips of two fingers, attached one to a tube, and made a knot in the wrist (so it became kind of like a balloon wit…

"It's also mechanically incredibly simple"

Holy cow, hats off to your Dad for this. Everything is simple in theory, putting it into practice on a critically ill person is something else.

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