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Food Asphyxiation in Hospitalized Patients
Richard S. Irwin, MD;
Jean K. Ashba, MD;
Sidney S. Braman, MD;
Ho Yong Lee, MD;
William M. Corrao, MD
JAMA. 1977;237(25):2744-2745.
Abstract
During a five-year period, food asphyxiation caused 1.3% of all deaths of patients who came to autopsy at a hospital for chronic diseases. Patients died suddenly, during or shortly after meals. Acute myocardial infarction was mistakenly diagnosed in eight of the 14 patients until autopsy was performed. Sedation, old age, and poor dentition predisposed to aspiration.
Food asphyxiation is a common problem whenever and wherever people eat. To minimize its occurrence in hospitalized patients, sedatives should be prescribed judiciously, and diets ordered appropriately. Physicians should learn the simple methods of extracting inhaled food.
(JAMA 237:2744-2745, 1977)
Author Affiliations
From the Division of Pulmonary Diseases, Department of Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, and Brown University Division of Biological and Medical Sciences, Providence, RI (Drs Irwin, Ashba, Braman, and Corrao), and the Department of Pathology, the General Hospital of the Rhode Island Medical Center, Cranston, RI (Dr Lee).
Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Medicine, Brown University Program in Medicine, Rhode Island Hospital, 593 Eddy St, Providence, RI 02902 (Dr Irwin).
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