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 trachoma, a previously incurable bacterial infection of the eyelids that was causing blindness throughout Asia and the Middle East. His approach – a mixture of an antibiotic ground into a base of shaving cream – proved effective, and it was used successfully on hundreds of patients. In 1962, Heimlich invented the chest drainage flutter valve (also called the Heimlich valve) and in 1969 was granted a patent for the device. He said his inspiration came from seeing a Chinese soldier die from a bullet wound to the chest during World War II, a claim that was disputed by Frederick Webster,