re: Have you ever known anyone who died by choking on food?

My uncle choked to death at Ruth’s Chris’ in metry 40 years ago...

One of my sons, at age 2, came very close to dying. Was eating hamburger steak at the dinner table, and began coughing - which caused him to inhale the food.

We had never heard of the Heimlich maneuver - tried everything else (hitting him on the back, etc.), then in desperation (as he turned blue) squeezed his stomach with two hands. Out popped the food.

His pediatrician had been treating him for seasonal allergies and the cough that the allergies caused. Took him back to the pediatrician the next morning and told him to get the cough stopped - no matter what it took.

I was choking pretty bad as a kid and my dad heimlich'd it out of me. Not sure if I was about to die but it was pretty terrifying.

quote:

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Mama Cass

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That’s a myth.

Cousins step dad and also

TLDR: I choked on chicken sandwich

I was 17 and had developed lock jaw and couldn’t open my mouth more than enough to get my thumb in my mouth but up to the first knuckle( what I always remembered , never pulled the tape).

I was landscaping and was eating a chicken sandwich from a place on lake oconee. I’m in the backseat of an extended cab t100 Toyota riding down the road. There are four people in the vehicle. Best friend ,B, is driving with a Mexican named Daniel behind him. I am in the back, behind an older black gentleman named Breyer.

I begin choking on the chicken sandwich I was eating and realized that I wasn’t going to be able to get it up. So a started taping on B’s shoulder not being able to speak which I should’ve started earlier. He starts joking asking, wth, not knowing the seriousness of the situation. Daniel the Mexican has figured it out but doesn’t speak English, so he’s going 90 to nothing in Spanish when B turns and figured out what was happening and pulls off the road. Which is the last thing I remember. They said as soon as the back door of the truck opened I feel to the ground. B said I tried to stand back up facing him in the driver seat and was purple when I fell back down on my hands and knees. At this point Breyer jumps from the truck and and lands a very successful slap to middle of my back that dislodged the obstruction and sent me collapsing to the ground. They next thing I remembered was them telling me just to sit on the back of the truck while they finished up.
After the incident I remember feeling completely drained and my throat was very sore from trying to clear it myself.

I was at a speaker's dinner at Ruth's Chris in New Orleans and one of the speakers had to get a Heimlich. Restaurant employee did it like a pro.

Idk if I know of anyone that died, but I know multiple people who have saved people from choking (I teach CPR for the Red Cross as part of my job). We use something slightly different than the hemlich now though.

We had an elderly neighbor die from choking within the last two months. He was eating with several adult children and they could not dislodged it. Pretty traumatic event for all involved.