Latest choking Stories

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nation's emergency physicians are warning parents about the dangers associated with young children swallowing objects like small batteries, coins and even magnets. Not only do they serve as potential choking hazards, but these foreign objects can cause severe internal damage as they pass through a child's body. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100616/DC22034LOGO-d) "Items like these are small and shiny and...

According to a new study, one in 16 adolescents in the U.S. are playing a risky game that is known as the "choking game." The game involves putting pressure on the neck with a towel or belt to cut off someone's oxygen supply, giving the participant a "high" sensation. The researchers surveyed eight graders in Oregon in 2009 to determine that the one-in-16 figure is in line with other U.S. states, as well as other countries. Two-thirds of the study participants reported that they have...

Nearly one out of seven college students surveyed at a Texas university has participated in the Choking Game, a dangerous behavior where blood flow is deliberately cut off to the brain in order to achieve a high, according to a study by The Crime Victims' Institute at Sam Houston State University. The Choking Game, also known as the Fainting Game, Pass Out, or Space Monkey, is played individually or in groups and involves manually choking oneself or others, applying a ligature around the...

NATICK, Mass., June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- That's the message of Drs. Roya Sayadi and Joel Herskowitz. They are a wife-husband team from Natick, Massachusetts, who are spreading the word that swallowing problems are everywhere - and they can be deadly! "Many people these days know about the dangers of falling in the elderly," said Dr. Sayadi, a speech-language pathologist with the Natick Visiting Nurse Association. "Caregivers are on the alert and do many things to prevent falls. But not many...

Though airway obstructions in young children occur less often than other types of injuries, the death rate is higher, according to new research from Children's National Medical Center. The findings are published in the April issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, an affiliate of the Journal of the American Medical Association.The study, led by pediatric otolargyngologists Sukgi Choi, MD, and Rahul Shah, MD, found that airway obstructions in young children had a low...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is cautioning users of personal emergency response buttons worn around the neck of a potential choking hazard. The FDA said it received six reports between 1998 and 2009 of serious injury or death, including four deaths in the United States, from choking after the cord on the Philips Lifeline Personal Help Button became entangled on other objects worn around the neck. There are more than 750,000 users of these devices in the United States, the FDA said...

DALLAS, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As you gather with family to celebrate your rich cultural heritage during Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), the American Heart Association encourages you to learn to save the life of a loved one or someone in your community: Get instructions on administering Hands-Only CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) via a free, Spanish-language online video. The video, recently created by the American Heart Association, is available in English and...

An elderly Canadian woman in Nova Scotia says she owes her life to her neighbor's dogs who alerted their owner she was choking on her backyard deck. Gert Mombourquette, 76, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. she was alone late Saturday night eating some homemade chocolate squares when she choked and couldn't breathe or make a sound. Her neighbor Kevin Murphy, a sergeant with the Halifax Regional Police, was using his break to return home to walk his two dogs as the woman was choking. The...

DALLAS, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Emergency information is just one touch away with the American Heart Association's new Pocket First Aid & CPR application for the Apple iPhone.  This is the association's first iPhone application. Users can download the application to review first aid procedures, anytime, anywhere. First aid instructions are available even when out of cell-phone range.  Powered by Jive Media, the application is available for download at Apple's...

Kelly Breslin, the daughter of journalist and author Jimmy Breslin, has died at the age of 44, a spokeswoman for New York's Bellevue Hospital Center said. The New York Post said Breslin died Tuesday night after collapsing early Friday at a Manhattan restaurant where she had been celebrating a friend's birthday. Kelly Breslin's family told the newspaper she choked while eating at L'Express. Paramedics who were called to the scene found she wasn't breathing, gave her CPR and then took her to...