Choking is the partial or complete obstruction of the airway by a foreign body. This is a medical emergency because the patient will lose consciousness and experience cardiac arrest after a period of lack of oxygen to the body. For a conscious patient with an airway obstruction, you should do manual chest or abdominal thrusts, referred to as the Heimlich maneuver, to dislodge the obstruction. If the patient becomes unconscious, they must be eased to the floor and manual thrusts continued. Airway assessment should be done and attempts made to remove the obstruction and to ventilate the patient as outlined by the American Heart Association training.