This article is part of the series "A Moment in History" where we honor those who have contributed to the growth of medical knowledge in the areas of anatomy, medicine, surgery, and medical research.

Henry J. Heimlich, MD (1920 - 2016). A thoracic surgeon, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich was born in 1920 in Wilmington, DE; and died in Cincinnati on December 17, 2016. He studied Medicine at Cornell University and served in the US Naval Reserve. In the early 1960's he designed a one-way valve to allow for the slow drainage of a pneumothorax or a pneumohemothorax. He is best known for the creation and world-wide known "Heimlich maneuver" to clear the upper respiratory pathways in the case of choking victims.

In 1969 Dr. Heimlich became director of surgery at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, he was also a professor of clinical sciences at the Xavier University in Cincinnati and president of his namesake Institute.

Sadly, the memory of Dr. Heimlich is slowly dissapearing, as the Deaconess Institute no longer publishes the pages for the Heimlich maneuver and his biography. The Internet Archive still maintains a copy of this website here. More information can be found on Wikipedia.

Although it is our policy to not provide personalized medical information, here is a website where you can read about how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver.