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in collaboration with
Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)
Medical validation:
March 03, 2023
On Wednesday evening, a man in his fifties died of choking on a piece of meat while having dinner surrounded by his friends. How to react in such a situation? Advice from Dr. Kierzek.
It’s a tragedy that shook the whole city. In Le Havre, a man in his fifties choked on a piece of meat. He died around 8:30 p.m.
A deadly misdirection
The victim, born in 1968, died of choking on a piece of meat while she was simply seated at the restaurant with her friends.
“He had ordered a flank steak, as usual. He ate a first piece of meat. He talked with his friends. Then he took a second piece. There he suddenly tipped back“, testifies the owner of the restaurant, questioned by our colleagues from the daily Paris-Normandy.
Faced with the urgency of the situation, the owner of the establishment tried to help the 50-year-old by practicing heimlich maneuver. The panicked man then rushed out of the restaurant to get some fresh air.
He finally lost his life soon after,”surrounded by his friends“, according to the local newspaper.
“When we saw that a sheet had been placed over the body, we understood that he was dead. We were told he took a wrong turn“, says another restaurateur in Paris-Normandy.
On the spot, the firefighters – who managed to get the piece of meat out – failed to resuscitate the victim.
Partial or complete obstruction: what actions to take?
First important point: it is necessary to distinguish partial obstruction, where the victim can still speak and the air to pass, from complete obstruction, where the air can no longer circulate at all.
Then, some emergency actions must be performed:
“My first piece of advice is obviously, at the table, to cut your food well and to eat only small bits. It is necessary to avoid “gobbling”. Then, in the event of choking: either the person coughs, speaks and breathes, and in this case the victim must be watched without intervening – untimely gestures aggravate the obstruction – or the obstruction is total, and in this case it is appropriate immediately call for help, giving, in parallel, five big slaps on the victim’s back (with the flat of the hand, between the shoulder blades, editor’s note). Then, the Heimlich maneuver must be performed: it consists of placing your fist in the pit of the victim’s stomach and palming it with the other hand, then applying pressure backwards and upwards. If that doesn’t work, we repeat the cycle of slaps on the back while waiting for help..”