Henry Heimlich Heimlich's medical assistant in China. The design of the valve allows air and blood to drain from the chest cavity in order to allow a collapsed lung to re-expand. The invention was credited with saving the lives of hundreds of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. Heimlich first published his views about the maneuver in a June 1974 informal article in "Emergency Medicine" entitled, "Pop Goes the Cafe Coronary". On June 19, 1974, the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" reported that retired restaurant-owner Isaac Piha used the procedure to rescue a choking victim, Irene Bogachus, in Bellevue, Washington. From 1976 to 1985, the
Henry Heimlich grandparents were Russian Jews. He graduated from New Rochelle High School (NY) in 1937 and from Cornell University (where he also served as drum major of the Cornell Big Red Marching Band) with a B.A. in 1941. At the age of 23, he received his M.D. from the Weill Cornell Medical College in 1943. At the time, the Flexner recommendations hadn't been implemented; thus, it was possible to graduate from an American medical school in two years. After medical school Heimlich served with the U.S. Navy in China during World War II, he developed an innovative treatment for victims of