Summary A noted California doctor performed emergency life-saving tracheotomy with knife and pen.
BAKERSFIELD, California (AP) - A noted California doctor armed with just a pocket knife and a pen performed an emergency life-saving tracheotomy on a diner who was choking on a piece of meat.
Dr. Royce Johnson, Kern Medical Center s chief of infectious diseases, cleared the airway of Pauline Larwood at The Mark restaurant in Bakersfield, California, the Bakersfield Californian (http://bit.ly/16pAFWU) reported Tuesday.
Some of the nation s top doctors and other area leaders who were in town for a symposium on valley fever also were in the restaurant.
Johnson is the chief of infectious diseases at the Kern Medical Center in Bakersfied. Larwood is a Kern Community College District board trustee.
A Bakersfield assemblywoman, Shannon Grove, said she and her husband were seated at a table with Larwood and her husband when she started choking on Monday.
Grove said her husband ran to Larwood and tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver. He called for a doctor and Johnson attempted the technique as well.
"She had already started turning a real like blue, her fingers and her lips," Grove said.
After the Heimlich failed to open Larwood s airway, Grove called emergency dispatchers and said she watched in amazement as Larwood was laid back in a chair and Johnson used a friend s pocket knife to make an incision in her throat.
"He didn t scream; he just said, I need a knife, " Grove said.
As several physicians gathered around Larwood, someone called for a pen which Johnson then broke in half and inserted the hollow cylinder to use as a breathing tube.
The procedure was successful as Larwood was rushed to a hospital. Her son said Tuesday that Larwood was doing fine.
