Dr. Henry Heimlich At 96 Used Own Maneuver To Save A Woman From Choking

Dr. Henry Heimlich, the surgeon who gave his name to a simple but powerful procedure used to save people from choking saved a woman's life using his own maneuver (Heimlich maneuver) at the age of 96.

Heimlich was enjoying his steak in the dining room of the Deupree House, a senior living community in Cincinnati, Ohio when he suddenly noticed a woman next to him started choking. "She had all the signs of it because, as I say, her lips were puffed out, and she obviously wasn't breathing," Heimlich said.

According to a report by CNN, the doctor reached his arms around the choking woman's body and did what he does best: grasped his left fist in his right hand and thrusted quickly and upward. He continued doing this until a piece of hamburger was dislodged from the woman's throat.

The Guardian also reported that the retired chest surgeon via a telephone interview on Friday said it was a "gratifying" moment for him. "That moment was very important to me. I knew about all the lives my maneuver has saved over the years and I have demonstrated it so many times but here, for the first time, was someone sitting right next to me who was about to die."

After initial reports, Heimlich and his son Philip said that this was the first time the retired surgeon had used his own technique to help someone who was choking, Medical Daily reported. According to Heimlich's educational institute, the maneuver has been adopted all over the world as the standard response to a choking situation.

Perry Gaines, maître d' for the Deupree House, told Cincinatti.com, a USA Today affiliate, that everyone was amazed to see Dr. Heimlich performed the Heimlich maneuver himself. "When I saw Dr. Heimlich doing his own maneuver, I knew it was historic," Gaines said. "At his age, that's a very physical type of activity. To see him do it is a fascinating thing. The whole dining room, you hear a needle drop."

The woman was Patty Gill Ris, an 87-year-old resident who had just moved to the community in March and was dining with Heimlich for the first time. Ris expressed how thankful she saying, "Oh gosh am I lucky that I sat there," she wrote in a thank you card for the doctor. " And God put me right there at that table right next to Dr. Heimlich."