Comments on: Batman: Gotham Knights #73: A Medical Review

By: Wayne Williams

Wayne Williams — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 09:02:47 +0000

You know, even if the deaths were the result of an evil scheme by The Joker, Waynetech’s gonna be in some real deep shit over the fact the pacemakers were susceptible to it in the first place. They were obviously made on the cheap. Of all the things to have to announce a recall on…

By: BlackWolfe

BlackWolfe — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:41:09 +0000

Huh…

The images of the autopsied bodies seems to suggest that at the time of the incision, the bodies had enough blood pressure to cause external arterial bleeding. I’m not suggesting that a stopped heart somehow magically makes all the blood go away, but I have a question for you as a medical professional:

Is the blood splatter on those bodies consistent with an autopsy, or does it suggest arterial bleeding to you, too?

By: Wanderer

Wanderer — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:32:41 +0000

Actually, if the pacemaker were made to fire erratically (rather than just faster), this would stand a better chance of causing a fatal rhythm, or even cardiac arrest; as the DAVID (Dual-chamber And VVID-Implantable Defibrillator) trials showed, unnecessary pacing of the right ventricle can lead to heart failure. The extraneous charges cause the muscle to attempt contraction too early, too late, or when already contracted, potentially putting the muscle into tetanus. (Please forgive the old-fashioned terminology.)

By: Jessica Otte

Jessica Otte — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 06:47:19 +0000

Cool: A combination of two of my favourite things (Batman and Medicine) is never something I expected to find. Spontaneous googling does have its rewards. Myself, well, I’m trying to figure out how to use toilets in Northern India and Nepal and trying to find someone at the British Columbia CDC to show me how to fit my N95 masks (for TB protection). Not nearly as cool as Batman and cardiology.
p.s. most pacemakers put in in Canada also have auto-ICDs (internal cardiac defibrillators) so perhaps that would provide an appropriate override?
Cheers,

Jessica
PS Before med school, I spent a summer working in a psychology lab that used pigeons. Years before I was there, an animal rights activist snuck into the building, and attempted to set the animals free. This included opening the cage of the pigeons on the roof. Trouble was, they were homing pigeons and they just flew right on back!

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 00:48:40 +0000

If the Joker had stopped the pacemaker from working at all, the orginal problem that required the use of a pacemaker would resurface. Generally, this is an exremely slow heart rate. The victim would likely suffer weakness, fatigue, and maybe pass out. If the victim was one of the rare people who are entirely pacemaker-dependant (that is, their heart won’t beat at all without the help of a pacemaker) then they would die.

I think the only way a fatal rhythm could be introduced via pacemaker is by the method mentioned in the post — an extremely rapid heart rate — and as mentioned, it probably wouldn’t work.

By: gorjus

gorjus — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 15:12:54 +0000

So excellent. Layperson question: wouldn’t it have been better if the Joker’s method simply stopped the firing of the pacemaker? Or, in the alternative, changed its firing rhythym? I.e., you’ve explained why the “make it fire faster” method wouldn’t work. Would those?

By: Tim O'Neil

Tim O'Neil — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 09:35:16 +0000

Heh, I just love the idea of the Joker training homing pidgeons. That is such a barrel-scrapingly weird idea it’s almost cool. Almost.