Cincinnati doctor, inventor of anti-choking Heimlich maneuver dies at 96

Credit: HANDOUT

Credit: HANDOUT

Dr. Henry Heimlich, the famed and controversial inventor of a namesake maneuver to help choking victims, died early today in Cincinnati, our media partner WCPO-TV reported.

His family released a statement today that said Heimlich, 96, died at Christ Hospital after complications from a massive heart attack he suffered Monday at his home in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood.

The Cincinnati doctor rose to prominence in the 1970s for his Heimlich maneuver technique to use abdominal thrusts to clear a person’s airway. Heimlich was not without his critics, however, including his insistence the maneuver should be used on drowning victims, the station reported.

It’s also in question whether he invented the maneuver alone. The late Dr. Edward Patrick, an associate of Heimlich’s who died in 2009, said he was the maneuver’s co-inventor, and in 2003 he stated: “I have always viewed that Dr. Heimlich and I worked together to develop what has become known as the Heimlich Maneuver just as the Wright brothers worked together to develop the first flying machine,” WCPO reported.

In May, the 96-year-old said he performed his namesake maneuver for the first time on a live choking victim at the Deupree House senior living facility. This, too, was also not without controversy because there are several published reports from media outlets that show interviews with Heimlich discussing his use of the maneuver to aid choking victims.

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