After hearing about a 7-year-old who choked on a grape, (LifeVac inventor Arthur) Lih searched for something as good as or better than the Heimlich maneuver...“I went to the hardware store and I saw a plunger, put it on my face, gave it a pull,” Lih said. “I could feel it was going to be good. I refined it to what it is today.I. The Jasmine Lapsley case
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| Eric Banagan (source) |
Via Tragic little girl's life 'could have been saved by one simple device' by Tom Belger, Liverpool Echo, November 5, 2017:
The heartbroken dad of a girl who choked to death on a grape on holiday said one simple device may have saved her life.
Jasmine Lapsley was just six years old when one of every parents’ worst nightmares began to unfold on a family holiday in North Wales in August 2014.
Parents Rob and Kathy Lapsley, from Anfield, did abdominal thrusts and hit her back after she started choking, but to no avail and paramedics could not save her.
Now her dad, 43, is urging a government watchdog to allow a new anti-choking device to go on general sale in the UK.
He said he was convinced the hand-held LifeVac suction tool was “easy to use, effective and cheap” and should be in every home, school, hospital and restaurant.
...Eric Banagan, a (Devon-based) spokesman for LifeVac, claimed his product had already saved lives, and that the community in the area where Jasmine died were also unhappy at being denied the devices.Via Grieving parents in plea to medical chiefs by Alex Jones, Cambrian News, November 9, 2017:
(Kathy Lapsley said), "If there is something that can be used that has already saved lives when someone is choking, are you not going to use that and try to save someone’s life or are you going to watch them die too?Via Petitioning Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency: Relax the restrictions on the use of Lifevac, the anti-choking device by Robert Lapsley, Liverpool, UK, Change.org, November 2, 2017:
“Living the life I now live and the pain and trauma I live with every single day I know I would want to have a LifeVac to be available to be used when standard protocol has been followed without success.”
Her husband Rob Lapsley accused the (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) of “needlessly putting people at risk”.
“LifeVac is a portable suction device that can be used when a person is choking and when other forms of first aid have failed to remove the blockage,” he said. “Currently its use and sale is restricted by the MHRA, meaning it can only be sold to health professionals.
“This means that the device can’t be sold to schools and other places such as restaurants where choking can pose a severe risk. LifeVac has already saved eight lives and, by restricting its use, the MHRA is needlessly putting people at risk.
“The restrictions only apply in the UK and the device is freely available in other countries and many schools in the USA now have LifeVac.”
Video accompanying the Change.org petition featuring Keith Johnson MD of Venice, Florida:
II. The Audi Anderson case
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| Bryant Clerkley (source) |
Two Men Say Anti-Choking Device Could Have Saved a Boy’s Life by staff reporter, WKRG-TV News,
Mother Of Audi Anderson Says Lifevac Could Have Saved His Life by ,
LifeVac promotional video about the Anderson case:
