Polite Dissent

I’m going to take a little time tonight and point out a couple of well done medical scenes from recent comic books. (OK, there are some problems with the scene from Green Arrow, but it’s still a clever scene).

In the opening scene from Marvel Knights 4 #26 (by Aguirre-Sacasa and DeLandro), we get a look at a kid undergoing an old time doctor’s exam. Congratulations to Delandro for drawing a doctor using a head mirror correctly. Head mirrors are used to focus a beam of light from an external light source onto the doctor’s area of interest. They’re tough to use correctly and for the most part have been supplanted by improved lighting technology such as head lamps. I only used one during my ENT rotation back in medical school and frankly I’m glad other options are available.

The eye chart is also correct.

In Green Arrow #57 (by Winick and Garney), Connor, Black Lightning, and Mia have been attacked by Dr. Light. Mia has been severely wounded and suffers a cardiac arrest. Black Lightning rushes to her side and uses his powers as a defibrillator in an attempt to restart her heart. It’s a neat idea and the art depicting the shock is well done (not to mention the sound effect: TZACK!). Black Lightning’s powers use direct current; defibrillators use direct current. If he can control his powers well enough, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work* (other than the basic fact that you don’t treat a flatline with defibrillation).

*OK, to be nit-picky, let me give you two reasons it wouldn’t work:
First, while it’s a good idea to restart the heart, it would also be a good idea to correct what caused the cardiac arrest in the first place. If not, Mia will just suffer another arrest. In this situation, Mia is bleeding profusely and it is likely this hemorrhaging that led to her cardiac problem. Stopping the bleeding is just as important as restarting the heart.

Second, remember that electricity needs to make a circuit. That’s why defibrillators have two paddles so that current is passed from paddle to the other through the heart. There’s dosen’t seem to be any circuit here.

**I should also point out that Black Lightning skipped straight to C (Circulation) and missed A and B entirely. I’ll agree that Airway is not an issue here, but Breathing is as Connor noted that Mia had stopped breathing.