Supergirl #49: A Medical Review
Supergirl #49 “Death & The Family”
Sterling Gates, writer
Matt Camp, artist
• I apologize for the poor quality of the scan, but I had to use my Ancient Sumerian back-up scanner tonight.
Lana Lang has been found down and bleeding profusely. She is rushed to the emergency room for resuscitation.
There’s a few things wrong with this scene:
First, they’re shocking a flatline. I’m sure I’ve mentioned at least once before that this is not how to treat a flatline.
How should they proceed? Asystole (the fancy, medical word for a flatline) is tough to treat, and the odds are against you from the start, no matter what television tells you. The key to treating asystole is to correct the underlying cause. One concern: Lana’s lost a lot of blood — there’s at least two panels of her laying supine in large puddles of blood and the staff is splattered with blood. As far as the ER staff is aware, this blood loss is a possible cause of her condition, yet they’ve done nothing to treat it. There’s no blood being transfused — in fact, there’s not even a single IV line, which are important in any resuscitation. (As an aside, the defribrillation paddles are also reversed: the upper paddle should be on Lana’s right, and the lower on the left)
Second, as fancy as that face mask is, it’s not going to be any good at getting the air she needs down into her lungs. I appreciate the fact that Cage at least added a breathing tube entering her mouth, but it’s too narrow to be any use (it needs to be about the width of a thumb to work). Plus, if she’s got a breathing tube in place, why does she need a mask?
Third, Lana is bleeding from her mouth, nose, and eyes. If you were the ER staff, what’s one of the first things that would cross your mind? Hemorrhagic fever (Ebola, Marburg, and for the comic-inclined, the Clench). Sure, none of them are endemic to the US, but in this day and age, who’s to say Lana hasn’t been traveling, or exposed to someone who has? The ER staff would be wearing a lot more protective gear.
On the positive side, fzzCHOOMPH is the best sound effect I’ve seen in quite a while.
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I can’t watch TV in company any more, Scott, and it’s your fault. Do you have any idea how strangers react when you walk past a TV playing in, say, the Motor Registry waiting room and shout “You can’t shock a flatline, you ignorant bastards”?
Oh wait… I guess you do.
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:38 pm
As I said to a friend after reading this, on the off chance I’m ever thrown into an emergency room and asked how to proceed reviving someone whose heart has stopped, the first thing I’ll say is “don’t friggin’ defibrilate”.
February 4th, 2010 at 5:49 am
Never read the Supergirl drawn by Camp, but I’d like to give him my praise for drawing Lana’s breasts at a moderate size.
I’ve had enough with the ridiculously deformed anatomy in so many comic books. The Image plague from the 90’s, I guess.
February 4th, 2010 at 7:26 am
Obviously, you don’t read “The Incredible Hercules,” home to such sound effects as “SKRRAPP” (while trashing a robot), “FIAAAAAHH” (flamethrower), and, while fighting a mechanical dragon, “PERN,” “SMAAAAAUG,” and “PUFFFFF.”
It’s also a highly entertaining series in its own right, but I will admit that a significant amount of my anticipation in reading a new issue is seeing what sound effects they come up with.
February 4th, 2010 at 7:47 am
I just had to post. In my defense the image was flipped after I drew it and I didn’t expect any smarty-pants doctor types to notice, I was wrong! ;)
February 4th, 2010 at 8:02 am
Yeah. Where were the anti-Clench protocols? Two outbreaks in Gotham in the last decade(or however long ago they were per current editorial doctrine), and every hospital in New Earth’s version of the USA should have at least one person on staff with a first-hand Clench-related horror story to reinforce the protocols by now.
Also agreed on great scripting of the SFX, although I’d have gone with Comicraft’s To Be Continued or the Apostrophic Laboratories’ Komikahuna for the font.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
hehe, you’re rants about not shocking a flat line remind me of my mom trying to read cardiac strips for a certification class. her just sitting there with the strips and ranting…
February 5th, 2010 at 10:05 am
From what I’ve seen, I thought when you defibrillate someone, one paddle goes above the right boob and below the left boob (forgive the medical jargon). From the picture it looks like this doctor is shocking the left clavicle and the stomach.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Official Comment
Best position for defibrillation paddles is right clavicle and left upper abdomen/lower chest (you can also do a front and back placement as well).
In the comment above, the artist explains that it was drawn correctly, just flipped post-penciling.
February 5th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Scott, a medical question: would her eyes really pop open like that in response to defibrillation?
February 6th, 2010 at 10:51 am
I’m pretty sure her eyes were open the entire time, judging from the art earlier in the issue.
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