CINCINNATI, Ohio — Dr. Henry Heimlich, who developed his namesake maneuver that has saved the lives of countless choking victims over the years, recently got to use the emergency technique for the first time.
The retired 96-year-old surgeon was in the dining hall at his senior living facility in Cincinnati when an 87-year-old woman began choking on a piece of hamburger.
Heimlich told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he has demonstrated the well-known maneuver many times since developing it in the 1970s, but had never before used it on a person who was choking.
“When I used it, and she recovered quickly,” he said, “it made me appreciate how wonderful it has been to be able to save all those lives.”
His son, Phil Heimlich, said his father regularly meets people who were either saved or saved somebody else.
“Just the fact that a 96-year-old man could perform that, is impressive,” he said.
