Picture Quiz: Gotham General Emergency Room
July 31st, 2008
script by Eddie Campbell and Darren White, art by Bart Sears
What’s the error in this scene from Legends of the Dark Knight #200?
The set-up: Dr. Singh here is the head Emergency Room doctor at Gotham General Hospital. There has been an explosion downtown with multiple casualties, so Dr. Singh is preparing for the worst.
I reviewed this issue when it first came out, and other than some geographic/medication concerns, I was impressed by it. Now that it has been re-released as the final part of the Batman: Going Sane TPB, the time seemed right to take another look at it — and I’m afraid that I was overly generous in my initial assessment. Expect that mistake to be remedied shortly.
Previous picture quizzes
August 1st, 2008 at 3:07 am
Plasma has very specific uses, none of them in emergency room multiple casualty situations. Dr Singh should be asking for O neg blood instead.
Diamorphine might be a better request than morphine but maybe that’s a UK/US difference.
And the stereotypical linking of doctors and golf is getting tiresome. Most doctors (myself included) are too busy to play golf – ever.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:36 am
I am not a doctor, but:
1) You don’t want plasma; you want packed red cells.
2) You don’t want other hospitals to be sending supplies to you; you want to be sending patients to the other hospitals.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:42 am
Oh yeah, and the very idea that you would need to “call in favours” for help during a disaster is distasteful to say the least.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:00 am
He’s also obviously trying to practice medicine with his eyes closed. Perhaps not the best time to show off.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:16 am
There also seems to be a poop smear above the doctor on the left’s shoulder. Plus, there’s no way they’ll get any doctors off the green: it’s probably a nice day out.
There should be a supervillian who preys on golfers.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:09 am
Wouldn’t they also try to spread the injured around multiple hospitals? Distribute the workload in some fashion.
Also morphine? Really? Isn’t it a bit risky. I mean, every time I have been on morphine has been a pleasantly dangerous experience.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:14 am
The good doctor has either a huge growth on the left side of his neck, or otherwise a head right out of the Spore creature editor?
Okay, that’s Bad Anatomy instead of Bad… Hospitalism, but it still bugs me.
Also, some of those other hospitals will probably also be swamped with victims to be treated. And normal patients. So telling them to hand over “as much as they have” is either hyperbole (because “as much as they can spare” doesn’t sound dramatic enough), or a grossly negligent demand.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:44 am
But…but what if those other hospitals have emergencies too? Won’t they NEED their Morphine and Plasma and….and stuff?
August 1st, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Substitute the “suburban hospital within an hour of us” bit with “the 8063rd” and you have a certified Colonel Sherman Potter speech given to Radar O’Reilly at least two dozen times on M*A*S*H.
That’s a HUGE error for the copyright lawyers to sort out…
August 1st, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Also, is morphine used for full anaesthetic? I thought it was more for persistent pain.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Perhaps Gotham General has a Massive Transfusion Protocol in place, which would call for plasma transfusion in cases of massive hemorrhage. My hospital uses a 6:6:1 ratio-six units packed rbcs, six units plasma, one unit apheresis platelets. If you replace a massive hemorrhage with just red blood cells, all of the patient’s clotting factors will be depleted. Using just cells is fine for a smaller transfusion, but many large trauma centers in the US have some version of a Massive Transfusion Protocol for large bleeds.
Of course, I don’t know why a level one trauma center like Gotham General would need only plasma, not O negative cells or platelets.
August 1st, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Official Comment
eamon,
Diamorphine is not used in the US for pain management; here it is pretty much only seen as a street drug. (diamorphine = heroin).
On the other hand, this issue was co-written by a British writer, and several UK/US errors do creep in (i.e. paracetamol instead of Tylenol, liters instead of pints).
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
How much plasma could you possibly transport by motorcycle courier? Isn’t plasma kind of bulky?
August 3rd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
The doctor should have said “stat!” at least once.
August 4th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I agree with Bernie: any hospital an hour’s drive away would most likely also be up to the gills with the victims of whatever catastrophe this was.
August 4th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Define “within an hour”, anyways. An hour by motorcycle would be, what, 70 miles? An hour by helicopter would be like 150.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Wouldn’t you also have to refrigerate plasma? That’d be one bulky motorcycle.
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