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A 61 year old nursing home resident was given a hotdog to eat on a Saturday. She had two prior choking incidents (on toast) but was not ordered to be on a mechanically altered (soft or pureed) diet. She was missing either the top or bottom of her dentures. She was seated near the nurses station during the lunch hour.
She started flailing, waving her arms and pointing to her neck/throat. The staff came over and performed the Heimlich Maneuver, but it did not work so they put her on the floor and called 911 for an ambulance and tried the Heimlich from the floor position without success either.
When EMTs arrived within 8 minutes, they used an instrument to remove a large piece of hotdog from her throat which was blocking her airway. She was taken to the emergency room where she was intubated but was pronounced dead.
She is survived by two grown children. No autopsy was performed. A suit has been filed. The nursing home denies liability. They are expected to say she was not at risk for choking and had proper supervision during this lunch, the food was not inappropriate, and that the resident did not choke to death but had a cardiac arrest (heart attack or stroke) which caused the hotdog to be lodged in her pharynx.
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