亨利·海姆立克：世界上拯救生命最多的人

        话说二战期间，有一位年轻的美国海军外科医生名叫亨利·海姆立克，在1945年来到中国战场，被分配到一个秘密小分队，来到战后的戈壁滩上和中国游击队的战士们一起工作。

        战后，他回国继续从医，在美国泽维尔大学临床医学院工作。

        1972年一个宁静的周日，他正在家里看《纽约时报》时，读到一篇令人吃惊的文章，文章中说美国死亡人数排列第6的意外事故是异物误入气管造成的窒息，每年有3000人因此死亡。

        他赶紧查看急救手册上关于窒息抢救的建议，发现造成这一悲惨结果的原因竟是抢救手法上的错误。书上的建议是“用手掌猛击后背，再用手指抠喉咙”。他是专门研究食道和吞咽的外科医生，他明白那样只会使异物在气管里越陷越深。于是他决定帮助人们改正这一错误的做法，并寻求一种实用可靠的急救手法。

        经过反复实验，他找到了最简单实用的方法：救人者站在病人身后，两手抱住病人腰部，用手对腹部进行快速冲击，重复这一动作，直到异物从气管中排出。

        在对这一急救法进行测试后，他给《芝加哥每日新闻》的编辑施耐德寄去了说明报告。这个结果一经公布，全美上百家报纸便进行了转载。

        News article helps prevent achoking death

        A Hood Canal woman is alive today because of an article in some Sunday editions of The Seattle Times... Isaac Piha... said he read the article twice Saturday night... while in his cabin on Hood Canal. It told of Dr. Heimlich's method of forcing a piece of food out of the wind pipe.

        Piha..a retired restaurateur,... was interested... because of the number of instances patrons have choked to death on pieces of meat.... Piha.. and members of his family were enjoying a Father's Day gathering Sunday after noon when Edward Bogachus ran from his nearby cabin calling for help for his wife, Irene. Piha, his son, David, 26, and his niece, Diane Rood, 20, ran to the Bogachus cabin and found Mrs. Bogachus slumped at the dinner table and beginning to turn blue." I thought about heart attack and about that article in The Times while I was running to the cabin." Piha said."When I saw that they'd been eating dinner, I knew it was food lodged in her throat..." (Seattle Times)

        一星期后，一位内科医生寄给海姆立克医生一份《西雅图时报》，报纸的的头版的醒目位置报道了一位老先生救活了被鸡肉卡住的奄奄一息的邻居。而他用的正是从施耐德的专栏上学到的方法。这是我的技术救活的第一个生命!