# MASH: the hemostat test **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454 "2021-04-05T18:53:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454/1 "2021-04-05T18:53:08Z")
I remember a scene from MASH in the swamp in which one of the doctors attached a hemostat to the edge of his hand and tightened it in order to assess the sufficiency of his inebriation. Was this from the movie or the TV series? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454/2 "2021-04-05T19:16:02Z")
I have no cite, but I’m 99% certain it’s from the TV show, and about 80% certain it was BJ’s hand they attached the hemostat to. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454/3 "2021-04-05T19:16:09Z")
TV, and it was Hawkeye testing the new arterial clamp Zale made for them. It didn’t work. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454/4 "2021-04-05T19:18:07Z")
I think that was a different episode - Zale made the clamp, Hawkeye attached it to his hand to test it, then was in extreme pain and couldn’t get it off. The episode **eschereal** is referring to was just a regular clamp, and they were deciding if they were drunk enough by whether or not they could feel the hemostat at all. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454/5 "2021-04-05T19:40:41Z")
Could very well be, if the episode in question was from one of the last seasons. I don’t watch reruns of The Alan Alda I’m Such A Sensitive Guy Show. But the Zale bit just popped into mind from the OP’s description. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454/6 "2021-04-05T19:45:33Z")
Took me a while but I vaguely remember this episode now. I _think_ Hawkeye & Trapper had just made a new batch in their still and were testing the quality. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mash-the-hemostat-test/939454/7 "2021-04-05T19:49:13Z")
I am pretty sure it had to be an earlier episode, because my memory of it is from a very long time ago. By the mid seventies, the show had taken on a sort of preachy tone that would have made the hemostat test kind of out of place.