The dilemma

The man claws at his throat, red and silent, nothing coming up. Her hand clamps on your wrist. 'Do not hit him. I am a nurse. It is stuck in his food pipe, not his airway, he can still breathe, you will only crack a rib.' He is staring at you, and you cannot tell if that is air he is dragging in or just panic. Every second you spend deciding is a second he does not get back. Standing still is not neutral here, it is one of the ways this ends.

Your options

1. Do not stake a life on a stranger's word. Get behind him and start the thrusts now.
2. Keep your hands off him and let the nurse work, trained hands are his best chance.
3. Get in his face in the next second and find the one thing that settles it, can he cough, can he make any sound at all.