# Movies death pronuncements **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869 "2016-10-27T18:18:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/1 "2016-10-27T18:18:01Z")
In most movies, TV programmes whenever a persons life signs are to be tested they feel a pulse in the wrist or the neck, for a few seconds and pronounce them dead. I find it impossible to get my own pulse in a few seconds without testing various areas on the wrist. Could not find neck pulse without atleast 10 attempts. So isnt it plain bullshit what they do in screen as the Pulse of another person is difficult to find with your own fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/2 "2016-10-27T18:27:40Z")
I think in TV and movies it is just plot shorthand - they don’t bother to check the pupils and the other signs of death. But it is not all that difficult to detect/count a pulse on someone else, either on the throat or the wrist. So no, I wouldn’t say it was bullshit. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/3 "2016-10-27T18:57:13Z")
I would also think a doctor has to pronounce, not some random cop or EMT. IRL, wouldn’t they keep doing CPR and mouth to mouth until the MD tells them to stop? What about an obvious catastrophic injury…say a horrific car crash where the driver is cut in two? ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/4 "2016-10-27T20:15:20Z")
It may vary on some people but I can find my neck and wrist pulse within a couple seconds on and with both hands, so that part isn’t BS… especially if you’re practiced at doing it and know where to feel +/- a quarter inch or so and how hard to press (which I imagine those responsible for checking vital signs should be). Depending on what show you’re watching though there often is a BS factor in that that’s sometimes all the person does before pulling a sheet over the body. If it’s part of your professional job duties, it can be very embarrassing (if not job-threatening) to accidently say someone’s dead when they’re not. So I’d say in any sort of a situation where someone feels compelled to check vitals (I doubt they do so to a decapitated or dismembered person) they’ll do it thoroughly and in several forms, not just a quick 5-second run-through. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/5 "2016-10-27T21:14:41Z")
“Get Smart” lampshaded this trope back in the sixties. Max and 99 come across a body of a man lying on the ground: Max: “Do you think he’s dead?” 99: “Yes. What do you think?” Max: “Yes, I’m afraid so.” Body on the ground: “No!” Max: “Well, that’s two for and one against.” ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/6 "2016-10-27T21:23:59Z")
You’re not pressing hard enough. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/7 "2016-10-27T21:30:07Z")
As I’ve discussed in other threads, I have a visible pulse in both wrists. You wouldn’t even need to feel for it, you could just look to see if it was still there. Of course, it’s also simple to find it with your fingers – you just look for the throbbing vein and put your finger on it. Just tested for my neck pulse. Got it on the first try, and it’s not even visible. Of course that doesn’t change the fact that movies use shorthand all the time for procedures that would be boring to watch – at least more boring than moving on to the next dramatic development. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/8 "2016-10-27T21:34:25Z")
I thought they had to have at least two attempts with a defibrillator, and someone weeping “I love you!” over the putative corpse before anyone got near certifying death. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/9 "2016-10-27T21:50:58Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I thought they had to have at least two attempts with a defibrillator, and someone weeping “I love you!” over the putative corpse before anyone got near certifying death. Alternately, they have to yell, “LIVE, DAMN YOU!”, and beat on his or her chest. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/10 "2016-10-27T21:59:32Z")
Well, you all know the world’s funniest joke right? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/11 "2016-10-28T00:02:06Z")
That’s why they find so many fingernail scratch marks on the insides of old dug-up coffins. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/12 "2016-10-28T00:54:56Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > As I’ve discussed in other threads, I have a visible pulse in both wrists. You wouldn’t even need to feel for it, you could just look to see if it was still there. Of course, it’s also simple to find it with your fingers – you just look for the throbbing vein and put your finger on it. . Somehow I doubt you can feel the pulsations of a vein. Perhaps you are talking about the radial artery?😉 ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/13 "2016-10-28T01:54:31Z")
Why not just put a hand directly on the skin of the left side of the bare chest to feel for the heartbeat? …Although that could be awkward with women. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/14 "2016-10-28T13:06:56Z")
I’ve pronounced a few hundred people dead. I rely on checking for a carotid pulse (push HARD!) followed by using my stethoscope to listen for heart sounds. If those both come up empty, death’s confirmed. Listening for breath, fogging a mirror, checking for pulses in the arms or legs is otherwise a waste of time, as all those signs can be absent but the person’s heart is still beating. Palpating for a heartbeat isn’t reliable either. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/15 "2016-10-28T14:00:57Z")
The movie trope also doesn’t take into account situations where an untrained person would fail to detect a weak/thready pulse, especially in the wrist. > [@Tim R. Mortiss](#): > > “Get Smart” lampshaded this trope back in the sixties. I was thinking of Monty Python and “Not dead yet!” > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I’ve pronounced a few hundred people dead. And to think they only came in for annual checkups. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/16 "2016-10-28T15:10:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > And to think they only came in for annual checkups. :eek: It’s really a lot more efficient that way. Cuts healthcare costs tremendously. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/17 "2016-10-28T15:51:55Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It’s really a lot more efficient that way. Cuts healthcare costs tremendously. My cousin-in-law once allegedly palpated an elderly patient to feel for the carotid pulse, and the patient keeled over dead in his office. But then again, he was a pulmonologist, and 95+% of his patients died within a few months anyway. As he put it, “dying people tend to have trouble breathing”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/18 "2016-10-28T16:12:20Z")
In the TV cases where they can easily pronounce him dead, it’s usually because they already know he was only two days from retirement. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/19 "2016-10-28T21:01:38Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Alternately, they have to yell, “LIVE, DAMN YOU!”, and beat on his or her chest. Don’t you die on me!! STAY WITH ME!! NOOOOOOO!! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2016, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869/20 "2016-10-28T21:47:49Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I’ve pronounced a few hundred people dead. I rely on checking for a carotid pulse (push HARD!) followed by using my stethoscope to listen for heart sounds. If those both come up empty, death’s confirmed. Listening for breath, fogging a mirror, checking for pulses in the arms or legs is otherwise a waste of time, as all those signs can be absent but the person’s heart is still beating. > > Palpating for a heartbeat isn’t reliable either. But isn’t there a condition in which the heart can stop beating and the patient can seem as if dead when in fact they aren’t? Or have I been reading too much Poe (Premature Burial). I know there was much hysteria in the 19th century about the possibility of doctors wrongly pronouncing people as dead, with sales of coffin alarm systems skyrocketing. Was there any truth at all at the heart of this? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-death-pronuncements/769869.md?page=2)