# You ever save a life? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105 "2005-10-20T17:12:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/1 "2005-10-20T17:12:17Z")
I claim one. I gave that anti-choking thing to a guy in the mess hall once. Oh, I have given some first aid in pretty exciting cases, but who’s to say if I saved a life? How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/2 "2005-10-20T17:17:56Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > I gave that anti-choking thing to a guy in the mess hall once. I also gave a guy the Heimlich one time — outside of a restaurant. Coughed up a hunk of chicken the size of two fingers. I was torn between thankfulness for my Red Cross First Aid training and complete revulsion. I couldn’t eat properly for a week. Oh well - anyways maybe I saved him, maybe I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Meaty\_Beaty\_Big\_and\_Bouncy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meaty_Beaty_Big_and_Bouncy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/3 "2005-10-20T17:57:41Z")
I did the Heimlich on my (ex)sister-in-law in 1986. My Mom was trying to do it, but my sister-in-law was so fat Mom couldn’t get her arms around her. She was just starting to lose consciousness when I walked in the door. Good thing I came home when I did. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/4 "2005-10-20T18:03:26Z")
I’ve donated at least a few gallons of blood over the years, so who knows? –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/5 "2005-10-20T18:05:16Z")
Saved a life? I’m a nurse, so I more prevent death than save lives. I have lots of training and equiptment and experience. I clear airways all the time, but I’m expected to, part of the job. I stop bleeding and observe trends and act to intervene before things get bad. I give previous posters my admiration for acting when most people would hesitate. Most people don’t act quickly enough, if at all. I’ve pushed my way through frozen and gawking adults to get to a choking baby, but I know most people don’t want to cause more harm and hesitate to act because of that. I wear the unifrom, wear the badges and ID and they know this is my duty. Your actions were given freely through your own personal goodness, courage and compassion. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/6 "2005-10-20T18:35:13Z")
What she said. I have saved my daughter’s life–she was choking on a homemade teething biscuit. But since I work critical care, I can’t count the number of grim reapers I’ve headed off at the pass. Don’t know that I’d want to dwell on it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/7 "2005-10-20T20:41:30Z")
Three Heimlichs – one to my former father-in-law at his house, two in restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/8 "2005-10-20T20:46:22Z")
Do dogs count? I gave doggie heimlich to one of my pugs when a too-large kibble got stuck in her airway. She couldn’t breathe and her tongue was turning blue. I straddled her across my arm, facing her away from me, and elevated her butt in the air. I gave her a couple of firm thwacks between the shoulders and the kibble flew out. She got smaller kibble or canned food after that. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/9 "2005-10-20T21:01:23Z")
On one occasion, I was hiking with a group of friends inj the Inyo National Forest. We came across one of those families that has the brilliant idea of trying to get a picture of someone standing next to a wild black bear. To that end, the children were trying to feed candy bars to the bear. We explained to these folks that this isn’t such a good idea. Did we save a life or two? Probably not. Most black bears run away from humans in that situation (as opposed to grizzlies, which are much more likely to attack). But nevertheless black bear attacks can happen, so it’s better safe than sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/10 "2005-10-20T21:05:23Z")
I once saw a guy lurch into the street, fall down, and go into convulsions during morning rush hour. I went into the road and started directing traffic to go around him. The thirteenth car, an SUV, stopped and put on his emergency lights. The driver got out and told me to get out of the road before someone hit me–a possibility I never even considered at the time. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/11 "2005-10-20T21:05:30Z")
I give blood on a fairly regular basis, so maybe I’ve helped someone. I’ve saved **lots** of kitty lives as a foster mother. For a woman without much of a maternal instinct, I do pretty well getting furbabies to nurse on a bottle. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/12 "2005-10-20T21:07:43Z")
Never have, but I’ve had to try more than once. Dammit. I would really like to be succesful one of these times. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/13 "2005-10-20T21:39:59Z")
During my brief stint as a hunky lifeguard at the public pool, I was responsible for peeling a couple kids off the bottom of the deep end after they jumped in and realized that they had no idea how to swim. They were never in any particular danger as I was in the pool and grabbing them within a few seconds. Then I would laugh at them. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/14 "2005-10-20T22:11:32Z")
I saved my kid from drowning when he was about 2 years old and somehow ended up in the middle of the pool. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/15 "2005-10-21T00:30:00Z")
Five documented over a 35 year career. Only one said thanks. Such is life. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/16 "2005-10-21T00:43:38Z")
I was lying awake at home one night around 2:00 a.m., and thought I heard someone calling for help. I woke my husband at the time (he was a volunteer fireman), and had him go check outside. The guy next door had discharged a shotgun (somehow) into one of his kidneys. We were able to get an ambulance out to the site pretty quickly and he lived through it. If I hadn’t been awake, nobody would have heard him. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/17 "2005-10-21T01:06:54Z")
A few times, the closest call being extracting a person from a “face under” ankle entrapment in rapids. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/18 "2005-10-21T12:58:25Z")
I gave blood once, maybe I got lucky and helped more than one person. I am also an organ donor so I can hope for a postmortem goal. Ankle-down what? I knew a girl who could do that. I think. ---
**Author:** ![MrPeabody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@MrPeabody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrPeabody)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/19 "2005-10-21T14:48:51Z")
I was a parent volunteer at a week long camp for my sons 5th grade class. We were with a group of 8 kids with 3 parents. The kids were fishing off a lake pier when a girl fell in the water. We all waited to see her come to the surface so we could pull her up but she didn’t. Everyone stood around for what seemed like a very long time but I am sure it was only a second or so. The next thing I know I am jumping in the water. The water was very dark and murky I think she was confused and swimming down. I had jumped in where she fell and after a sec caught her by the shirt. I pulled her up and got her to the side of the dock, after she puked she was fine. It is one of the things I am most proud of but It was done with no real thought. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105/20 "2005-10-21T15:17:09Z")
None so far but I keep trying. A few have arrived at the hospital with pulses after I performed CPR and shocked them but nobody has made it out of the hospital. It is not like TV or movies. Once your heart stops it doesn’t start again very often. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-save-a-life/327105.md?page=2)