markabilly
3rd February 2011, 18:46
Today is the birthday of Henry Heimlich, best known in most of the world as the "inventor" of the way to make a person choking on food, spit it out and live.......made known about 1974 or so
born, feb. 3, 1920.
However, an even more important contribution was the Heimlich Valve that he developed after observing the death of a Chinese soldier in World War II. He thought about that event and he finally formulatted the solution to what he had seen so many times, someone dieing from a "sucking chest wound" before anything could be done to save their lives, even while at a medical hospital.
Funny is that the man was and remains a national hero in Vietnam, while almost unknown in the USA, except for that moniker which has now more or less been replaced by the term "abdominal thrust" (no Roamy, not related to the purpose of the "Elvis thrust").
Indeed the Heimlich valve is now referred to as the "Flutter Valve"--Many of the problems of the valve have been reduced or removed by improvements.....
anyway, it was something that i learned to use that was a savior for many who in ww2 would have died from their chest wounds. It is also used (or a variant) in many hospitals today when dealing with all sorts of lung and related medical issues
Vietnam is the only country in the world where he is better known for one of his other medical advances than the Heimlich Manoeuvre - the Heimlich chest drain valve.
Haunted by the image of a Chinese soldier who died on the operating table after being shot in the chest in 1945 Dr Heimlich developed a valve to drain blood and air out of the chest cavity.
The device was given to soldiers to carry with them in case they got shot in the chest and the Quakers supplied the devices to the Vietnamese.
"The most moving thing in my life was in 1993 when I went to Vietnam with 25 chest surgeons. I was introduced as 'Dr Heimlich, whose name is known by everyone'.
"I thought it was because of the Heimlich Manoeuvre, but then the man introducing me said it was because of the chest drain valve which saved tens of thousands of lives in Vietnam.
"The Quakers had kept them supplied with the valves.
"He said 'Dr Heimlich, you live in the hearts of the Vietnamese people".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2825971.stm
:D
as with any, he is not without his share of controversy....using malaria to treat AIDS,... his choking manuver has been challenged as unsafe except when only used in certain situations with caution and so forth, and other claims, even by his own son:
[SIZE=-1]
In Spring 2002, my wife Karen and I began researching the career of my father, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich of Cincinnati, famous for the "Heimlich maneuver" choking rescue method. To our astonishment, we inadvertently uncovered a wide-ranging, unseen 50-year history of fraud. Our research revealed my father to be a spectacular con man and serial liar, undoubtedly one of history's most prolific - and destructive - medical humbugs.
For decades, he relentlessly promoted a string of crackpot medical treatments that resulted in serious injuries and deaths, including children. Most bizarre is "malariotherapy" - a quack cure that consists of infecting for AIDS, cancer, and Lyme Disease patients with malaria. My father also promotes the Heimlich maneuver as a cure-all for drowning, asthma, cystic fibrosis, even heart attacks.
All these treatments have been thoroughly discredited by medical experts and my father has no legitimate evidence to support his ideas. He just made them up.
Nevertheless, armed with considerable charm, an instinct for public relations, and fueled by a ravenous need for attention and adulation, my father used the media to pass himself off as a medical genius/inventor and humanitarian, eventually being crowned "America's most famous doctor" (The New Republic). Facts prove that contrary to his self-cultivated public image, he was an incompetent surgeon who appropriated ideas from other doctors and attached his name to them. The procedure known as "the Heimlich maneuver" is probably no exception. Facts indicate that the only thing my father ever invented was his own reputation
http://medfraud.info/
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=117641501297291300
:confused:
At the end of the day, I don't know what is truth or fiction, but I know the little valve worked well enough, no matter who may have actually invented the thing, so here is to you, Dr. Heimlich or whoever you really are
:beer:
born, feb. 3, 1920.
However, an even more important contribution was the Heimlich Valve that he developed after observing the death of a Chinese soldier in World War II. He thought about that event and he finally formulatted the solution to what he had seen so many times, someone dieing from a "sucking chest wound" before anything could be done to save their lives, even while at a medical hospital.
Funny is that the man was and remains a national hero in Vietnam, while almost unknown in the USA, except for that moniker which has now more or less been replaced by the term "abdominal thrust" (no Roamy, not related to the purpose of the "Elvis thrust").
Indeed the Heimlich valve is now referred to as the "Flutter Valve"--Many of the problems of the valve have been reduced or removed by improvements.....
anyway, it was something that i learned to use that was a savior for many who in ww2 would have died from their chest wounds. It is also used (or a variant) in many hospitals today when dealing with all sorts of lung and related medical issues
Vietnam is the only country in the world where he is better known for one of his other medical advances than the Heimlich Manoeuvre - the Heimlich chest drain valve.
Haunted by the image of a Chinese soldier who died on the operating table after being shot in the chest in 1945 Dr Heimlich developed a valve to drain blood and air out of the chest cavity.
The device was given to soldiers to carry with them in case they got shot in the chest and the Quakers supplied the devices to the Vietnamese.
"The most moving thing in my life was in 1993 when I went to Vietnam with 25 chest surgeons. I was introduced as 'Dr Heimlich, whose name is known by everyone'.
"I thought it was because of the Heimlich Manoeuvre, but then the man introducing me said it was because of the chest drain valve which saved tens of thousands of lives in Vietnam.
"The Quakers had kept them supplied with the valves.
"He said 'Dr Heimlich, you live in the hearts of the Vietnamese people".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2825971.stm
:D
as with any, he is not without his share of controversy....using malaria to treat AIDS,... his choking manuver has been challenged as unsafe except when only used in certain situations with caution and so forth, and other claims, even by his own son:
[SIZE=-1]
In Spring 2002, my wife Karen and I began researching the career of my father, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich of Cincinnati, famous for the "Heimlich maneuver" choking rescue method. To our astonishment, we inadvertently uncovered a wide-ranging, unseen 50-year history of fraud. Our research revealed my father to be a spectacular con man and serial liar, undoubtedly one of history's most prolific - and destructive - medical humbugs.
For decades, he relentlessly promoted a string of crackpot medical treatments that resulted in serious injuries and deaths, including children. Most bizarre is "malariotherapy" - a quack cure that consists of infecting for AIDS, cancer, and Lyme Disease patients with malaria. My father also promotes the Heimlich maneuver as a cure-all for drowning, asthma, cystic fibrosis, even heart attacks.
All these treatments have been thoroughly discredited by medical experts and my father has no legitimate evidence to support his ideas. He just made them up.
Nevertheless, armed with considerable charm, an instinct for public relations, and fueled by a ravenous need for attention and adulation, my father used the media to pass himself off as a medical genius/inventor and humanitarian, eventually being crowned "America's most famous doctor" (The New Republic). Facts prove that contrary to his self-cultivated public image, he was an incompetent surgeon who appropriated ideas from other doctors and attached his name to them. The procedure known as "the Heimlich maneuver" is probably no exception. Facts indicate that the only thing my father ever invented was his own reputation
http://medfraud.info/
http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=117641501297291300
:confused:
At the end of the day, I don't know what is truth or fiction, but I know the little valve worked well enough, no matter who may have actually invented the thing, so here is to you, Dr. Heimlich or whoever you really are
:beer: