In all the medical shows I’ve watched, from St Elsewhere to ER to Code Black, you’ll always get a scene like the following. A patient is in critical condition, the doctors call for the crash cart. From the monitors they can see he’s flatlining, no heart rhythm, “Clear” shouts the guy with the paddles and gives the patient a shock. No response. The charge is upped. “Clear”. Again the patient is shocked. “We have a rhythm!” Another triumph for the docs.
Flat-lining doesn’t respond to defibrillation? Damn you, television! You’ve been feeding me that bullshit for years. Enough is enough. I will never trust you again.
Are there any shows/movies that actually use those paddles correctly? Or even better, a scene where someone goes to use them and the doctor says “his heart is stopped, they won’t do anything!”
Television has lied to me about a shitload more than dubious medical procedures. I thought when I became a teenager and had my heart broken by a boy, my parents would be all comforting, understanding, and sympathetic. Would dry my tears and give me a little philosophical pep talk or two. Imagine my surprise when dear Ma-Mah spittled with rage into my face, ‘oh, shut the fuck up, crying over that asshole, just be glad you didn’t get knocked up. You dumb slut.’
You also can’t simply touch two fingers to a person’s neck and say “He’s dead Jim”.
Anyway, the defibrillators are smarter now, they won’t work unless they detect fibrillation. The placement of paddles is also not as Seen On TV. Two paddles above the heart won’t work very well, and one paddle on the chest and the other on the back below the heart is the preferred method when possible.
My mother went into fibrillation last time she was in the hospital. Floor staff did not even make it into the room before it was over. She said she was not even aware of anything happening.
On TV and in the movies, doctors always inform family members of a death or serious illness in the parking lot or a crowded hallway.
:dubious:
No, they don’t, or at least they shouldn’t.
CPR as it’s actually performed can’t be done on a live actor anyway. The correct procedure usually leaves the patient with broken ribs, and doesn’t usually work either.
Another fake sound effect is the sound of a sword in a sheath. Sound effects people add a ringing noise to make it sound dramatic. That sound is created by scraping the sword against metal, which would quickly dull the edge in real life. Real sword fighters used wooden sheathes which were essentially silent.
CPR works maybe 1 out of 10 tries. The main purpose of CPR is to keep blood moving through the brain. You don’t even need to do the breathing part, there should be enough residual oxygen in the blood, just keep it moving.
In order to keep the blood moving you really need to push down hard into the chest. Several inches into the chest. And that is going to break ribs away from the sternum.
My CPR instructors have told me that you are working on a dead person. Break what you have to and keep that blood moving.
Which you can do for about a minute and a half before you are exhausted. If you have 2 or 3 other people with you who can trade off and keep the CPR going you may have a chance. Otherwise you will exhaust your strength long before help arrives.
Slapping someone to wake them from a coma doesn’t work either.
Something that bothers me with a lot of TV shows and movies is how some people who have died get a prolonged attempt to revive them, while others just get a pulse check and a sad shake of the head. It always seems like a plot expediency situation, and the inconsistency draws attention to itself.
After watching a few episodes of 24, I was convinced you could stay awake and alert for three consecutive days, not eat, not go to the can, get shot with a pistol and an assault rifle, be stabbed multiple times in the gut, and still enjoy a cup of coffee once you’ve killed all the terrorists.
