Pembroke Pines police recall anti-choking device from officers after FDA backlash
A popular anti-choking device is being shelved by Pembroke Pines police following federal government claims that it’s not as safe to use as advertised.
The Food and Drug Administration admonished the creator of the LifeVac Rescue Suction Device — Long Island entrepreneur Arthur Lih, who released the plunger-like suction tool in 2016 — in a September letter for forgoing a required review process before stocking the device on its website, in medical supply stores and donating it to law enforcement agencies.
“Your firm’s continued unauthorized marketing and distribution of the LifeVac Rescue Suction Device may put the public health and safety at risk...” reads the letter. “There are reports describing problems with the use of unauthorized anti-choking devices — including failure to resolve a choking incident due to lack of suction, bruising around the face, lips, and mouth, and scratches in the back of the throat.”
The FDA considers the anti-choking tool a Class III device, meaning it’s the highest-risk device regulated by the agency and requires that a “premarket approval application” be submitted for the FDA to clear it for commercial use.
Months later, the Pembroke Pines Police Department — which purchased the devices — is nixing its departmental use and opting for traditional rescue efforts in the meantime.
“After the FDA document was reviewed by our Fire Department and the city’s legal team, the decision was made to recall the LifeVac devices from our officers until they receive approval through the FDA,” PPPD spokesperson Amanda Conwell told the Pembroke Pines News on Feb. 11.
PPPD was unable to confirm when the LifeVacs were purchased, nor the number of devices the department bought.
Pembroke Pines police say no officers used the LifeVac while on the field prior to the FDA recall, and instead are trained to use “abdominal thrusts, back blows or other life-saving techniques for choking incidents” before resorting to backup anti-choking devices. The FDA recommends similar measures.
PPPD distributed the device to sworn personnel and held trainings on how to use it during a choking incident in December of 2024, according to an Instagram post by the agency.
“When I saw this device, I got one at my house and I was like, ‘You know what, this needs to be in every single patrol vehicle,’” Sgt. Michael Matthis told trainees in the video .
Using the device is supposed to be as simple as “place, push and pull,” according to the company’s website. It’s intended to be used as a backup to save a choking victim when other methods fail.
Once the tool’s mask is held down over the victim’s face and a seal is created, the person administering aid must push the LifeVac’s handle down and then pull it upward in a “short, swift motion” to dislodge what’s stuck.
But a 2023 National Institutes of Health study — which tested the device using choke risk foods such as saltines, grapes and cashews on a human cadaver — showed it failed to live up to its claim as being “simple, safe and life-saving.”
The LifeVac was only able to dislodge the saltines, with researchers concluding it “may cause significant pressure and injury to the oral cavity in a clinical setting.”
LifeVac was first contacted about its regulation issue in spring of 2023, says the FDA, and instructed to stop marketing and distributing the device in June of 2025. The company is accused of making no effort to stop by the time the agency issued the Sept. 18 letter.
Pembroke Pines police’s discontinuation of the LifeVac follows that of other agencies, such as the Sarasota and Pensacola police departments, reported WFTS Tampa Bay 28 on Feb. 10 .
“LifeVac is intended to be an additional tool and does not replace proper training or traditional lifesaving methods taught by the department,” a spokesperson for the Tampa Police Department, which received a donation of 300 devices in June, told the news station.
