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
Jay A. Levy Outstanding Research in Immunology Award. American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Abbott Laboratories Jay A. Levy Jay A. Levy, M.D. (born November 21, 1938, Wilmington, DE) is an AIDS and cancer research physician. He is a Professor of Medicine with specialties in virology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Levy received his B.A. degree with high honors from Wesleyan University (Connecticut) in 1960 and subsequently his M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1965. He conducted research for a year on regeneration in planaria at the Université de Paris (Paris, France) on