Choking alone (without back blows) to assist a choking victim, is referred to as "The Heimlich Maneuver." The purpose of abdominal thrusts is to create pressure that will expel any object lodged in the airway upwards to relive the obstruction. The Heimlich Maneuver specifically excludes back blows; its inventor, Dr. Henry Heimlich, believed that back blows were likely to cause an airway obstruction to become more deeply lodged in the victim's airway. So, while abdominal thrusts are part of other choking victim protocols, the Heimlich Maneuver uses only abdominal thrusts to attempt to dislodge airway obstructions. The American Red Cross recommends
Henry A. Smith Henry A. Smith Dr. Henry A. Smith (1830 – August 16, 1915) was a physician, poet, legislator and early settler of Seattle, best known today for his flowery translation of a speech by Chief Seattle (or Sealth or Si'ahl) that is still in print. In 1852, Dr. Smith traveled from Wooster, Ohio to Portland, Oregon Territory in a wagon train with his mother (Abigail Teaff Smith, b. 1792) and sister. In 1853, he settled at the north end of Elliott Bay, at what came to be known as "Smith's Cove" (later Smith Cove), deciding that it was a likely spot