I would guess that’s as much about making sure you don’t try to perform the Heimlich on someone who doesn’t actually need it, but would probably cover OP’s concern
I would guess that’s as much about making sure you don’t try to perform the Heimlich on someone who doesn’t actually need it, but would probably cover OP’s concern
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is absolutely the primary reason why people are taught to do this. If they’re having something like an anaphylactic reaction, heimlich could complicate things or delay care long enough they die. As a bonus, it can also help with the legal repercussions after the fact too, but that’s secondary to its role in emergency treatment.
There’s another one that’s taught in the same spirit: if someone needs an epi-pen you should put it in their hand and “help them” inject themselves. As I understand it this one does also offer useful legal protection, since very few places with Good Samaritan laws have extended them to cover administration of medication, ut primarily it’s a good way to get nonverbal consent to treatment. Either you were helping them treat themselves, or they were so weak they couldn’t prevent you from helping them thus you were helping an incapacitated person to the best of your ability.