Comment by sliverstorm | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sliverstorm | Hacker News Reader

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It sounds cold, but if you are not a trained professional, they are in deep water, and you cannot throw them something, you run the very (very) real risk of having you BOTH drown and die if you try to save them while conscious. In case you didn't read the article, if they get a hand on you they will climb you like a tree and have the strength of a million doses of adrenaline.

What solution do you propose instead?

It's not unprecedented either. In CPR training, you are taught the Heimlich. You are also taught that you have to ask someone who is choking if they want help (or you will be sued, regardless if you save them). If they say no, they don't want help, you can either leave them to die, do it anyway and get sued for all you are worth (don't count on mercy, the law is 1000% against you), or wait until they pass out and then do it anyway (you are then protected by the Good Samaritan law)

Unless you are a medical professional (and you are acting in that capacity (a 3 hour CPR course doesn't count)), you don't need to obtain "consent to treat." And even if you are a medical professional, Implied Consent would be a pretty easy argument to make in the case of a non-verbal patient.

Good Samaritan laws are 1000% in favor of the rescuer (especially if that rescuer is a lay person).

TL;DR; If you are familiar with the Heimlich Maneuver, and you see someone who is choking (can't speak or cough, clutching their throat, etc), _please_ don't hesitate to act.

If someone can say no, they do not need the Heimlich -- at worst, they have a partially occluded airway, in which case using a finger to try to sweep the object out, or turning the person face down so the object falls out, is the correct course of action. (of course, if someone is non-verbally communicating no, then what you say applies, but I'd still be getting into position, and gesturing either sweep the mouth themselves, or use a convenient chair to do it.)

I was referring to when they are using non-verbal communication. Of course you do not do the Heimlich when they can still talk, that is Heimlich 101.

I was under the impression that you were taught to ask if they wanted help to determine if they were legitimately choking to death or not. Is it possible for someone who is truly choking to respond to a question about if they want help or not?

That's part of it -- if they're able to respond, or if they're coughing, they're still breathing.

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