June 1: The Heimlich Maneuver

Henry Heimlich, director of surgery at the Jewish Hospital of Cincinnati, published a description of the “Heimlich Maneuver” in Emergency Medicine on this date in 1974. Heimlich endorsed using abdominal thrusts to save people who are choking on food or other windpipe obstructions — the sixth leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. His article followed several years of experimentation with dogs and was widely report in the media. This raised public consciousness about the symptoms and treatment of choking and turned Dr. Heimlich into a national hero. The American Medical Association approved the Heimlich Maneuver in 1975, and the incidence of death by choking began to fall precipitously. Heimlich received the Albert Lasker Public Service Award in 1984.

“I can do more toward saving lives in three minutes on television than I could do all my life in the operating room.”—Henry Heimlich