Overview
- Emergency clinicians report predictable spikes in urgent care on New Year’s Eve with a lull after midnight followed by a 5:00–6:00 a.m. surge as revelers return home.
- Doctors flag choking as a leading holiday hazard linked to grapes, nuts, sweets and large meat pieces, with small children and older adults at highest risk.
- Red Cross protocol distinguishes partial from complete obstruction and calls for encouraging coughing, then five back blows and abdominal thrusts, alternating until relief or starting CPR if unconscious.
- Pediatric services advise quartering grapes and avoiding high‑risk snacks for young children, with tailored maneuvers for infants under one year and Heimlich‑based steps for older children.
- INE data show choking and drowning as the third leading external cause of death in Euskadi with 123 deaths last year, underscored by recent local fatal cases cited by regional media.