The dilemma

The man claws at his throat, red and straining, 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 over the noise of the room you cannot tell if that is air he is dragging in or just panic. Her grip does not loosen, his face is going darker, and every second you spend deciding is a second he does not get back.

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.