Comments on: Flatline!

By: ecoli

ecoli — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:32:46 +0000

I once read somewhere about cutting open someone’s chest to treat flatlines (pumping the blood manually), but I can’t find it anymore. Is it really possible?
I read somewhere that according to a British study, fictional CPR has a success rate of 75%. Is that true?

By: Deconstruction Review of Fringe, Episode 2 Season 1, The Same Old Story « Cordial Deconstruction

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:08:16 +0000

[...] I know from very good authority that you DON’T SHOCK A FLATLINE. [...]

By: Deconstruction Review of Fringe, Episode 5, Season 3, Amber 31422 « Cordial Deconstruction

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 03:05:48 +0000

[...] Maybe you shock a flat line in the alternate universe, but you don’t do it here. [...]

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 18 May 2005 03:30:35 +0000

Chest compressions are key to a good resuscitation and allow some blood (delivering oxygen — and maybe medications, and removing waste products) to circulate.

By: Woody!

Woody! — Wed, 11 May 2005 01:56:29 +0000

So, Jack Bauer actually did something wrong the other night on 24? Man, my whole world no longer makes sense.

By: Your Obedient Serpent

Your Obedient Serpent — Sat, 07 May 2005 14:29:06 +0000

Okay, two questions from someone whose big medical experience was an undergrad physiology course and a few years of pushing gurneys:

1) Does a “flatline” actually indicate that the patient’s heart has, in fact, stopped beating?

2) If 1) is correct, and there’s no blood circulation, how can IV medication get to the heart?

By: Aine

Aine — Fri, 06 May 2005 17:25:20 +0000

This is one thing that has always confused me. I understand why zapping a guy won’t restart the heart, but don’t you also need to do chest compressions? Adrenaline will get your heart beating faster or more likely to keep on beating once you get it started but what gets the the signal center thingy in the heart (the name escapes me, as always) which triggers your heartbeat to start up again? Because that has obviously switched off if you’re flatlining. Or can adrenaline do that as well? (Medicine isn’t my strong point. I studied itty bittier things.)

By: David Oakes

David Oakes — Fri, 06 May 2005 05:10:30 +0000

Of course, as a Director/Artist, would you rather have Black LIghtning shotting of five gajillion volts while Superman bounces around like a mackerel (sorry, McEr-L, the Scottsman of Krypton) in heat, or have the intern pass Dr. Bob four mikes of atropine and then sit and wait? (Especially when Dr. Bob might then be obliged to pronounce/spell works like “parasympathomimetic”.)

Of course, Tarantino was able to milk it for all it was worth and then some. I am surprised we don’t see more injections post-Fiction. (My guess is that machines that go Zap! are easier to rent than trick needles.)