# Dune Movie Heart Plugs: Possible or Not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953 "2010-12-13T04:22:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/1 "2010-12-13T04:22:51Z")
In the _Dune_ movie and video games, the Harkonnens implant “heart plugs” in their minions. If the minions screw up, their bosses can just pull out the plug and kill them. My question is: With our current medical technology, could we actually implant a heart plug in a person? That is, could we put a hole in someone’s heart and attach a plug to it such that the person would survive normally unless or until the plug was pulled out? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/2 "2010-12-13T08:11:40Z")
I think a hole in the side of the heart itself would be a problem mechanically, because it would be hard to plug it with something artifical and have it seal properly. It would be easier to slip a loop of wire around the aorta and attach this to a hande that is outside the body. I think there’s a lobe of lung overlaying most of the heart, which might complicate the pre-plug-pulling operation. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/3 "2010-12-13T08:46:04Z")
Even if you could get it to seal properly, I still don’t picture this thing working in the real world. If the boss pulls the plug, the minion isn’t going to immediately fall down and die. Without assistance he or she will probably stay conscious for at least 10 or 15 seconds, and all the minion has to do to stop from dying is stick their finger in the hole to stop all of their blood from leaking out. I can also picture a lot of minions accidentally getting the handle of their heart plug caught on something and having the plug ripped out. If you cover up the handle so that the plug can’t easily get caught on something then the boss can’t easily grab it to rip it out either. ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/4 "2010-12-13T10:13:47Z")
I’ve never read the book in question but it would be a very messy death with a lot of blood, screaming and just enough time to think of some really insulting last words! Would it work better if a sort of small grappling hook was inserted into a heart chamber? the cable could go out through a metal tube which would be easier to seal and surgeon types already put metal joint replacements in today. _rushes to patent office_ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/5 "2010-12-13T12:08:51Z")
Those folks had some pretty advanced tech. Instead of a literal plug like a bung in a barrel, how about a “plug” which was a small electrical device which would send the heart into fibrillation when triggered? On the outside you just need a switch, which could be in the physical shape of a plug you pull out or away from the body. When you pull the plug: the device fires, the heart fibrillates, blood pressure drops to zero, and the errant minion is unconscious in 3-5 secs. Heck, it could also be a very small explosive; I’d bet a mere firecracker going off inside a heart full of thick liquid (blood) would do a fatal amount of damage due to hydrostatic shock. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/6 "2010-12-13T12:37:17Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve never read the book in question but it would be a very messy death with a lot of blood, screaming and just enough time to think of some really insulting last words! It’s not in the book, as the OP properly implies. It’s one of those innovations for the Lynch film, like the Weirding Modules or the bushy eyebrows on the Mentats, or Baron Vladimir’s near-terminal acne that upsets some of the fans. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/7 "2010-12-13T13:23:15Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Without assistance he or she will probably stay conscious for at least 10 or 15 seconds… Nope. A free draining hole in the ventricle means blood pressure = air pressure. Loss of consciousness would be near instantaneous. I’m guessing you are assuming that the victim has to lose enough blood to be rendered unconscious, but it’s much faster than that > [@](#): > > and all the minion has to do to stop from dying is stick their finger in the hole to stop all of their blood from leaking out. There might be something to that. but I doubt if they would remain conscious long enough to manage it. > [@](#): > > I can also picture a lot of minions accidentally getting the handle of their heart plug caught on something and having the plug ripped out. If you cover up the handle so that the plug can’t easily get caught on something then the boss can’t easily grab it to rip it out either. Well it was a silly movie in many ways. > [@Jaguars](#): > > I’ve never read the book in question … Gak. Heresy. That nonsense was never in the book. > [@](#): > > Would it work better if a sort of small grappling hook was inserted into a heart chamber? the cable could go out through a metal tube which would be easier to seal and surgeon types already put metal joint replacements in today. _rushes to patent office_ It would work better just to shoot them. If you want to be able disable somebody fast, you carry a gun. If a servant is going to try to kill you, they won’t let you attack their most vulnerable point, and trying to grab a tiny ring in a fight is almost impossible. If you really want to fuck around with complex surgery, you disable the natural pacemaker and implant a synthetic one, with a remote control built in. That way you don’t need to get within half a mile to stop their heart. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/8 "2010-12-13T13:24:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Instead of a literal plug like a bung in a barrel, how about a “plug” which was a small electrical device which would send the heart into fibrillation when triggered? Heh. Great minds. And no, your post wasn’t their when I started writing mine. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/9 "2010-12-13T13:53:16Z")
I thought the “plug” just referred to the surface patch that sealed the surgery. The actual killing device was a length of shiga wire looped around the heart. One quick tug and the wire cuts the heart in half. I wonder if the Harkonnen troops had these installed. It seems like a bad idea to install a quick-kill tab on a fighting man in a world where combat is hand to hand. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/10 "2010-12-13T14:23:55Z")
Reminds me of a story I heard from a diving buddy of mine. Apparently he was doing some work in Scotland, experimenting with breathing heliox mixtures under pressure. Their test subjects were a heard of goats, which for some reason deemed suitable. I’ll leave his description of two people caught in a pressure chamber with one very ill mannered and highly nitrogen narced goat to your collective imaginations. In any case, he told me that they modified the goats to have one of their jugulars exposed outside the skin for easy blood samples. With time, he told me, the blood vessel would pretty much heal and get a thin layer of skin on top, complete with fur and all. Now, when the goats got to fighting, as goats tend to do, a horn caught in the wrong place could have rather messy results. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/11 "2010-12-13T14:26:56Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > If you really want to fuck around with complex surgery, you disable the natural pacemaker and implant a synthetic one, with a remote control built in. That way you don’t need to get within half a mile to stop their heart. How about getting them addicted to a drug which can only be produced by hairless cats? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/12 "2010-12-13T15:12:49Z")
> [@Jaguars](#): > > I’ve never read the book in question but it would be a very messy death with a lot of blood, screaming and just enough time to think of some really insulting last words! That’s more or less how it was portrayed in the David Lynch movie. Not so much of the screaming and parting shots, but lots of blood and obvious dread of death on the part of the victim, apparently much to the delight of the Baron. re: the OP’s question, I’d guess it might be technically challenging to have a plug in the wall of the heart that is also affixed to the chest wall; the relative movement between the heart muscle and the chest wall could be problematic. IANAD, but it seems like it would be easier to attach it to the aorta a short distance away from the heart, where there’s not so much movement. ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/13 "2010-12-13T22:21:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s not in the book, as the OP properly implies… So he did. I’ve never seen the movie either, the OP Title just grabbed my imagination for some reason. I think I might put the book on my list for my next library visit. 🙂 For a literal plug and socket from chest to heart could a slightly bigger hole be made and some other tissue grafted between the heart and socket to act as a sort of flex between the socket and heart? ---
**Author:** ![Enochian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b77776/32.png) [@Enochian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enochian)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/14 "2012-11-30T04:31:55Z")
I thought I would revive this thread after reading an article discussing the topic of hacking pacemakers… It reminded me of the heart plugs the Harkonnen had in the movie Dune… Heart plug confirmed… Hack attack: Now your pacemaker is vulnerable Warning issued over dangers from medical devices In the demonstration, Jack showed how he could remotely cause a pacemaker to suddenly deliver an 830-volt shock, which could be heard with an audible pop. He was able to do it by breaching the security of the wireless device and reprogramming it using a laptop. > **[Hack attack: Now your pacemaker is vulnerable](https://www.wnd.com/2012/11/death-by-pacemaker-scary-possibility/)** > > Imagine a person typing on a laptop in an airport. A common sight in today's world of telecomputing. Across the way at a gate, a passenger getting ready to board a plane suddenly grabs his chest and collapses. The businessman closes his laptop and... ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/15 "2012-11-30T05:20:14Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > I wonder if the Harkonnen troops had these installed. It seems like a bad idea to install a quick-kill tab on a fighting man in a world where combat is hand to hand. One reason why I’d never, ever have a nipple ring. Not that I’m much of a fighter anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/16 "2012-11-30T06:31:27Z")
I recall a news story I read years ago, about a kid who fell on a pencil and impaled his heart with it. Fortunately his mother was a nurse who kept her head (probably not easy under the circumstances), saw the pencil moving in and out with her son’s heartbeat, and called emergency rather than yanking the pencil out. So we have an actual heart plug scenario, although an inadvertent one. So personally I’d say it’s quite possible, although impractical for the various reasons people have already mentioned. With modern medical technology though I doubt we could make one that wouldn’t kill you in relatively short order anyway by a blood clot or scar tissue in the wrong place. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/17 "2012-11-30T16:13:09Z")
The concept was used in an episode of **The Outer Limits** from 1963: “It Crawled From the Woodwork.” It used technology available at the time, too. While it required a monster to work back then, I think it would be technically feasible to make it work today: the minions would all be people dependent on pacemakers, and an EMP would mess them up. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/18 "2012-11-30T16:36:24Z")
Note that we can put a [porthole](http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930504&slug=1699346) into the [side](http://mkburton.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/fistulated-cows/) of a [cow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY4QkhwQMRA). (That last link is video). ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/19 "2012-11-30T17:35:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > One reason why I’d never, ever have a nipple ring. Not that I’m much of a fighter anyway. At least with a nipple ring, if you knew you were going into battle tomorrow, you could take it out. I admit, ambushes would still be a problem. I do find it amusing that it’s on your list of reasons not to have a nipple ring, though. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953/20 "2012-11-30T17:46:45Z")
Ever since I saw _Airheads_. Admittedly it appears well below “why the hell would I want one in the first place?” on the list. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-movie-heart-plugs-possible-or-not/563953.md?page=2)