Magical Defibrillator: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

{{quote|"''Clear!''"|Every defibrillation scene '''ever.'''}}

 

'''Hank:''' Well, there's really no wrong way to do it.|''[[King of the Hill]]''}}

 

Apparently, the defibrillators they buy for fiction can revive anyone because [[Lightning Can Do Anything]]. Like [[CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable|CPR]], the paddles, which are rubbed together rapidly before being applied, can bring back a patient from the brink of death in all but the most [[Killed Off for Real|dramatic situations]]. The patient will always jerk violently when the charge is applied, and if the portrayal is inaccurate enough, you'll see visible sparks. Especially common after a [[Hollywood Heart Attack]].

 

 

A defibrillator does not restart the heart. It ''stops'' a dysfunctional rhythm (e.g. pulseless tachycardia: beating too fast without effective pumping, or fibrillation: irregular beating without pumping) in the hope that the heart's intrinsic mechanisms will restore an effective rhythm. If a first responder arrives on a scene and the person has been unconscious for more than a few minutes, they will do two minutes of CPR first to remove metabolic waste products and bring in fresh oxygen. ''Then'' they will shock. After a shock, they will ''immediately'' resume CPR - remember, the shock stops the heart, not starts it. If this is ineffective, the cycle continues until more advanced help arrives, along with more shocks delivered at several minute intervals. (Protocols vary by locality, and AEDs vary, get trained or follow the instructions on the AED.) Of note, a flat-lined ECG (asystole) is ''not'' shockable - you can't stop a rhythm that doesn't exist. However, you can have a total lack of heartbeat without flatlining. The heart is effectively on idle but not doing anything. In such a case, a defibrillator can still work well.

 

 

In fiction, the quasi-logical extension to this protocol is to eschew the medical machine and just hook the poor guy up to a suicide cord (that's a technician's term for a wall plug with nothing but two bare wires). Ironically, shocks from mains power like this are usually a good way to induce the conditions that need defibrillation, and therefore a ''horrible'' idea. This may lead to the occasional subversion in thrillers and action flicks where [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9AkvnSYO8s&ob=av3e defibrillators are used offensively].

 

 

This trope also covers ''literal'' magical defibrillators in the form of applying [[Shock and Awe|lightning-based powers]] to revive people, though depending on exactly how magical and handwavy those powers are, this may be somewhat more justified.

* Parodied amusingly in a Minute Maid ad, in which a science teacher revives a rabbit using [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafWj0YK7NU balloons and static electricity.]

 

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', after a severe system-wide shock from a Reject Dial stops Eneru's heart, he uses his electrical powers to restart it.

** Thankfully, you can't defibrillate a punch to the face.

* Averted in the ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime, when Nurse Joy resorts to defibrillators when Pikachu's heart rhythm lowers (it had been seriously injured in battle with a Raichu)... and it takes a few tries to get it back on the right pattern, implying that it might not make it after the third attempt. Of course, [[Plot Armor|Pikachu is the mascot of the franchise]], so we know better.

** An interesting variant of this trope appears in another ''Pokémon'' episode where Ash's Pikachu is taken to a hospital and defibrillated. In this case it seems to act more like smelling salts, although it may have to do with the fact that the paddles were placed on Pikachu's electric pouches.

** Like the above one piece example this is actually quite plausible, even more so given that the power explicitly shakes the heart into fibrillation. Now the question of whether he could stay conscious long enough to use his powers when his brain and body are devouring oxygen and glucose in full combat arousal is another question.

* Averted in ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'': in the finale, defibrillation does absolutely nothing to revive {{spoiler|Kouichi. Given that it's [[The Power of Love]] that revives him shortly thereafter}}, though, it's pretty clear they weren't trying to realistically render defibrillation anyway...

 

** Also used in another comic, ''[[Justice Society of America|JSA]]'', where their evil counterpart [[Black Adam]] attempts to do something not-so-evil and revive his teammate Atom Smasher with his magic lightning. To be fair, Atom Smasher's powers revolve around increasing his size and he was a giant when he went down, so traditional methods probably wouldn't work. Plus it's always dramatic to have one of the Marvel family repeatedly yell their code word. (''"SHAZAM! '''SHAZAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!"'''''. Really, it works).

* [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Storm]] uses her [[Lightning Can Do Anything]] this way once in ''X-Treme X-Men,'' to save the life of Davis Cameron, the future Dumb Rookie [[X-Men/Characters/2000s Members|Slipstream.]]

* Part of the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]], the Legacy comics. Cade Skywalker, latest bearer of the Skywalker name, has an uncanny gift for bringing people back from the brink of death. It looks rather like Force Lightning; he has to tap the Dark Side to do it, but it has managed to save instead of harming.

 

== Films ==

* In the film ''[[There's Something About Mary]]'', Pat Healey tries to revive a dog with a cut lamp cord. He winds up setting it on fire instead.

* In the ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' movie ''[[Casino Royale]]'', Bond uses a defibrillator from his MI6-issue medical kit to revive himself after being poisoned with digitalis during his poker game. Averted in that digoxin does cause a number of arrhythmias, and treatment consists of administration of an antidote and an anti-arrhythmic agent (the two syringes from the kit); defibrillation isn't indicated unless the patient tips over into V-fib, which Bond did. Previous to that point, the MI6 medical staff were using Bond's AED as a quick-look ECG rather than as a defibrillator.

* In the movie ''[[Our Man Flint]]'', Derek Flint manages to revive a man from near-death by using an unorthodox defibrillation procedure. He has one man stick his finger in an light socket, then uses a human chain to apply the electricity and shock the victim's heart back into working.

** ''[[Our Man Flint]]'' is a James Bond spy thriller parody, well before [[Austin Powers]] ever came out. These sorts of things are expected.

* In the first ''[[Mr. Bean]]'' film (in the words of the [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]] "novelisation"), "all you have to do is put the round things on someone's chest, yell 'Clear!' and then they come back to life!... But I thought I'd better try the round things on my chest first." - which launches him through the air to land on a comatose patient and accidentally revive them. Admittedly residual electrical current in Mr Bean might have helped there but it's still crazy.

* Done for laughs in ''[[Eraser]]''. A character fakes a seizure to create a distraction, and while he's in the building infirmary, pulls out the cable monitoring his heart rate out of curiosity. This causes the flatlining alarm to go off, so the nurse immediately starts zapping him, with him furiously struggling. She actually gives it to him three times with no ill effects.

** To add to the defibrillator magic, a character acknowledges that shocking someone like that ''will'' stop her heart. The Hero responds that he'll just use it again to restart it.

'''Ethan:''' Then I'll zap her again and bring her back! }}

* In ''Police Story'', thieves literally jump-start a woman's heart with a car battery.

* In ''The Prize'' (1963) two doctors use the lamp cord method to revive [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=1044 a heart attack victim in a Stockholm hotel room.]

* In ''[[Scanners|Scanner Cop]]'', the hero [[Narm|uses a defibrillator]] - using his telekinesis to move it - to kill the [[Big Bad]].

* ''[[The A-Team (film)|The a Team]]'' film has a subversion or ''something'', when Murdock tries to escape the mental hospital by jump-starting an ambulance. With a defibrillator. It doesn't work.

* ''[[Knowing]]'' does a weird version of this. The EKG is clearly showing v-fib (i.e. the thing you actually want to defibrillate) and the EMT administers defib, which correctly stops the heart. This, however, surprises the EMT somewhat, causing them to call the time of death without even attempting CPR.

 

== Literature ==

* At the end of ''[[The Edge (novel)|On the Edge]]'', {{spoiler|Rose Drayton}} uses up all of their magic and dies. Declan brings them back to life by "flashing" his magic into their chest repeatedly to restart the heart.

* In ''[[Dresden Files|The Dresden Files]]'': Changes, {{spoiler|Harry Dresden awakens to find Waldo Butters attempting to revive him with a Defibrillator. Mere moments later, Butters uses the same Defibrillator to stun a hitman.}}

* Subverted in ''[[Alex Rider|Ark Angel]]''. Alex uses a defibrillator to stun a character, the whole thing being preceded with something along the lines of "he knew what they did, he'd seen a lot of television". Those must have been some pretty accurate television shows.

* One of the books in ''[[Tortall Universe|The Immortals]]'' quartet by ''[[Tamora Pierce]]'' involves Alanna giving a (literally) magical lightening zap to restart Daine's heart, a rather straightforward application of this trope (however it is worthwhile to note that since we don't see the scene happen from that end, we don't know whether anyone yelled "Clear!").

 

* ''[[Super Sentai|Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger]]'' has Tetsu use his Lightning Fist attack as a defibrillator to save Ban.

* An episode of ''[[ER]]'' had a perfectly-conscious character who required cardioversion for atrial tachycardia telling the doctors to use a certain energy level, as he had had the problem a number of times before and 200 joules was always what fixed it before. The doctors follow procedure, shocking the patient multiple times at increasing energy levels, but 200 is still what sets his heart rate to normal.

* Played for laughs in ''[[Bottom]]'' where, in the episode "Gas", Eddie tries to revive a presumably dead gas-man with some electrical wires. He first lodged them in his chest to no effect, then tries them on his crotch before sticking them in his nostrils. He considers this conclusive proof that he's dead (and probably would be anyway after that). Shockingly the gas-man actually wakes up later on alive and only quite dazed and suffering from slight amnesia, despite having been [[Amusing Injuries|attacked and brutalized in all manner of ways in an effort to revive him or hide his body]].

* Used in a sketch on Scottish comedy show ''[[Chewin the Fat]]'' where doctors are using defibrillators on a patient to no effect except the usual cliche muscle spasms you would expect. One doctor then suggests "Try his nuts!" at which point they use them on the patient's crotch, which revives him immediately.

** Averted once in ''SG-1'', in "Singularity"; [[Why Am I Ticking?|the Goa'uld bomb]] causes Cassie to develop a fairly serious arrhythmia, which is successfully treated by one round of defibrillation. (It doesn't stop the bomb, though.)

** Defibrillation (with CPR, of course) only works about 50% of the time, under ideal circumstances. Under normal circumstances, it's far less likely to work. Depending on the specifics of the situation, the odds of successful resuscitation could easily drop to as low as 5%. Spontaneous resuscitation certainly qualifies as "magical," but unsuccessful resuscitation is unfortunately perfectly normal.

* Averted once in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', where a defibrillator was actually used to stop John Sheppard's heart. And then was used to try to start it up again...

** Considering that a defibrillator cannot really restart a completely absent heartbeat (see above), that second part is not an aversion.

* ''[[Angel]]'': In the episode "Ground State," Gwen Raiden not only uses her electrical powers to kill and then revive Gunn, she also manages to shock Angel's 200-plus-years-dead heart into beating temporarily.

* In the ''[[MacGyver]]'' episode "The Enemy Within", Mac [[MacGyvering|juryrigs]] a defibrillator out of two candlesticks, a floor mat, and an electrical power cord. The idea was not to reverse fibrillation, but to counteract some kind of magnetic field that was causing bubbles to form in the victim's blood... somehow. Whatever that meant, it worked.

* Parodied in ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]''; in a [[Stylistic Suck|poorly-written]] medical drama written by a pair of lazy writers who can't be bothered doing the research, a doctor bursts into a theatre jabbering about how he's going to use "the electric paddles that can make you better if you're really sick but can make you sort of ill if you're fine!" Moments later, after giving the poor sod a fatal electric shock, he muses that the man "''was'' fine, but is now poorly from too much electric."

* ''[[Numb3rs]]'' averts this altogether in the season 5 episode "The Fifth Man". While in the hospital, {{spoiler|Don}}'s heart goes into fibrillation, and the defibrillator is used to restore a normal rhythm. You can actually see the monitor displaying an erratic heartbeat. When {{spoiler|he}} flatlines, they use a syringe filled with a drug to attempt to revive {{spoiler|him}}, not the paddles.

** Don't forget the episode "Out of Gas" where intra cardiac (directly into the heart) injections are used twice, once by Simon to save an injured Zoe, and later, when a wounded Mal gives himself an intra cardiac injection of epinephrine to keep going. In reality, such an injection would have caused either a fatal arrhythmia, cardiac tamponade, or both. Dosing a person with a heartbeat with a milligram of epi isn't going to increase that person's endurance, it's most likely going to kill the person.

*** ''Epinephrine'' is another term for ''adrenaline''. Mal presumably had more than enough of that in his system at this point!

* In ''[[Terminator]]: [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' the titular character zaps herself with defibrillators in order to short out a tracer inside her breast, even asking from a doctor if it'll kill her before doing it. It should have stopped her heart temporarily, along with the tracer, but she's up and about in a couple of minutes, max.

** [[Fridge Logic|Not necessarily. Was her heart in the path of the shock?]]

* In an episode of ''[[Medium]]'' Lee is shot by the sheriff in a bathroom, and dies. His ghost meets the ghost of his brother, who ridicules him for finally dying. The doctors come in later with the defribillator, and guess who returns to life?

* An episode of ''[[CSI]]'' had a killer getting a reprieve just as he's flat-lining during a lethal injection execution. They defibrillate him, and he recovers. No mention of all the chemicals still in his system.

** Defibrillators are back in ''[[Battlefield 3]]'' but now they can't kill enemies (reliably). In an effort to stop [[Stop Helping Me!|medics from endlessly reviving you in a bad spot]], the ability to opt out of a revive was added, meaning you can die and get revived, only to spontaneously die again.

* Parodied in ''[[Warcraft]] III''. If you click repeatedly on the Priest unit, it will eventually respond with a "''Clear!''" followed by the sound of an electric shock.

** Now, in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', there are engineer-crafted items called Goblin Jumper Cables that can be used to attempt to revive dead players. With a good chance of instead failing and ''[[Made of Explodium|exploding]]''.

* [[Justified Trope]] in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' game ''[[Republic Commando]]''. In it, the commandos can use what appear to be defibrillators shaped like guns to revive each other almost instantly and regardless of damage received or time incapacitated... however, dialogue reveals that what the paddles actually do is activate cybernetic implants that release bacta, the setting's miracle cure-all.

* In ''[[Saints Row]] 2'', the ambulance missions allow you to use a defibrillator or CPR to revive people in car accidents. Once all missions are completed, the defibrillator is unlocked and can be used on anyone that you see outside of cinematics, including people suffering from headshots, severe burning, ingested explosives, katana impalement, etc. The magical properties of ambulances makes one wonder why you can't just use it when {{spoiler|Aisha is beheaded}}, but [[Wild Mass Guessing|perhaps]] that's where Zombie {{spoiler|Carlos}} comes from (and explains why it wasn't used).

* ''[[Enemy Territory: Quake Wars|Enemy Territory Quake Wars]]'' has a defibrillator as a revive tool for downed allies and a one-hit-down for teammates and enemies. [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]] It revives you with half health, recharges almost instantaneously, and requires no timing. Some people will shock you to down you and immediately revive you if you're noticeably below half health.

** This is remedied in the Xbox 360 remake, where in its version of said incident, the characters in question take off the other character's wet shirt first, then use the defibrillator on her bare skin. {{spoiler|It still fails.}}

* The Wii versions of ''[[Trauma Center]]'' sometimes have defibrillators used in operations. When the EKG/health meter begins to fibrillate, the player is supposed to stop operation and wait for it to pass, if it doesn't, the defibrillator is used. The sound effect implies that the player waits until the patient flat-lines before defibrillating, which is really too late, although this may just be a stylistic choice. If it is a situation where defibrillation is impossible (such as when the heart has bullets lodged in it), the heart is massaged by hand instead.

*** Or if an airborne forklift hit them in the face.

** It gets particularly ridiculous on the water covered levels, where you can shock someone back to life while completely submerged in water.

* ''[[Killzone]] 2'' takes this to the point of a non-contact defibrillator that fires a stream of <s>magic</s> electricity at people.

* In ''[[Tales of Rebirth]]'', Annie asks Hilda to use her Thunder Force to revive a dead soldier, saying that "according to a research paper [she's] read, a person can be resuscitated after cardiac arrest if you apply a weak electrical current to the heart".

* ''[[Rage (video game)|Rage]]'' features a defibrillator that can not only revive your character from absolutely anything, but ''produces enough electricity to fatally electrocute nearby enemies.'' Even weirder, it's actually based on nanotech, so they ''could'' have used something that makes more sense, but chose to explicitly identify it as a defibrillator.

* [[Battleaxe Nurse|Nurse Valentine]] from ''[[Skullgirls]]'' has a special that can revive fallen teammates.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Boo tries to revive Largo with a hamster-sized set of paddles in [http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=163 this] ''[[Megatokyo]]'' comic.

 

== Web Original ==

* In the ''[[Gaia Online]]'' MMORPG ''zOMG!'', the Defibrillate ring is used to revive "dazed" allies. Granted, this is ''Gaia Online'' we're talking about...

* An 11points list discusses an instance of this trope, specifically mentioning that "no-one even yelled clear!"

* Parodied in the Homestar Runner cartoon ''A Decemberween Mackerel'', where Marzipan desperately tries to cheer up Senor Cardgage after being led to think he is dying. Just when it seems that his final moments are near, Strong Bad shows up and claims that the real means to revive him is to tear a few motor sports magazines in half and ''pour gravy on a defibrillator''. This causes Senor Cardgage to miraculously recover.

** An earlier Strong Bad e-mail had Strong Bad criticizing toys that come with cereal. When he comments on how one should avoid health-based products, he shows a defibrillator and sarcastically remarks "oh great, I can restart my heart if it stops."

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Sealab 2021]]'', Stormy tosses his high powered hair dryer to a swimming Quinn, shocking him. When Quinn regains consciousness, Stormy tries to revive him by shocking the pool with a defibrillator, knocking out Quinn again.

* In ''[[Assy McGee]]'' [[Da Chief]] revives a clinically dead Assy by shocking him over and over.

* Used on Aelita in the ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' episode "Common Interest", when [[Synchronization|her heart stops beating because the Supercomputer's uranium battery is failing]]. They use the defibrillator on her, without gel, and leave her underwear on. It didn't work, of course, and it took the Supercomputer turning back on to fix the problem. Then again, this is also the hospital that, in the same episode, let a known and extremely dangerous criminal stroll inside and kidnap a kid in ''broad daylight'' without so much as an objection. Clearly they're just grossly incompetent.

* Averted, surprisingly enough, on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. When Homer uses a defibrilator on ''himself'' after he starts having chest pains. Obviously played for [[Rule of Funny]].

** Played straight in another instance, where Dr. Nick Riviera attempts to prevent a discombobulated Grandpa from going into "skin failure" by ripping an electrical cord out of the wall and sticking it down his throat to induce "transdental electromicide." Unusually enough for Dr. Nick, it ''works''.

* This was only inverted in ''[[Invader Zim]]'' because the titular character Zim [[It Makes Sense in Context|used a time machine to replace the paddles with a pair of rubber pigs]]. This ultimately results in Dib's skeleton being crushed.

* Played 100% for laughs in a short on ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]''. Plucky fakes sick, but it turns out Elmyra is acting as a nurse. At one point he plays dead, prompting Elmyra to pull out a defibrillator, and put the paddles ''on either side of his head!'' She even said "Clear!"

* In a ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode, when Quagmire is unable to perform, he uses a defibrillator on... himself. For whatever reason, it doesn't help.

* On ''[[Futurama]]'', Zoidberg is trying to kill Professor Farnsworth (he was dying of a horrible disease and wanted to be put out of his misery). One of his attempts is to pull out some wires from a fuse box and electrocute him, but then Farnsworth dies of a heart attack and Zoidberg puts the wires back. After he leaves, the wires fall out and shock the professor back to life.

* In ''[[South Park]]'', in "Imaginationland", it's subverted - even though it's South Park. Asystole is not present, Kyle only jerks slightly when it's applied, and CPR is used as well between shocks. Resuscitation doesn't work without both, not to mention oxygen is applied.

 

== Real Life ==

* As mentioned in the article header, asystole is not a shockable rhythm.

** The correct treatment for cardiac emergencies is different depending on whether the heart rate is fast or slow/nonexistent. Tachycardic (fast) rhythms get drugs and/or shocks (cardioversion), followed by more drugs to stabilize the converted rhythm. Bradycardic (slow) rhythms, asystole (flatline) and pulseless electrical activity (a subset of asystole where the heart is generating electrical signals but the muscle isn't pumping) get drugs and possibly a trial of an external pacemaker. Both get deep, rib-cracking chest compressions. At least since 1990, no one has advocated intracardiac injections of anything.

* Paddles are very rarely used these days. In most modern healthcare settings, flexible, sticky pads are used instead; they deliver a much more predictable current and don't require a human operator pressing them against the chest wall (and risking a shock if he/she accidentally touches the patient). If paddles are in use, the operator will have to apply conductive gel to them first, to provide even transmission of the shock. Whether pads or paddles are used, they will be placed on the right upper and left lower side of the ribcage. After the system analyzes the heart rhythm (a so-called "quick look" ECG), a shock is applied to the heart. You're not supposed to touch the paddles after putting them on; putting yourself (with your own, hopefully working heart rhythm) in the system's electrical path can either cause a false reading or expose you to the same shock as the patient. Hence, a human operator will yell "Clear!" (and an AED will offer a pre-recorded "Shock Advised - Charging - Stand Clear" warning) to make everyone get out of physical contact with the machine and patient.

** Not everyone present will necessarily hear the AED's "Stand Clear" warning. Rescuers are trained to repeat the warning in a loud voice, visually scan the patient's body to ensure that no one is touching him or her (and re-state the warning while physically moving any offending individuals), and sometimes to hold their arms outstretched above the patient's body (without touching the patient) to visually communicate the warning and provide a slight physical barrier to approach as well.

* The defibrillator is ''[[Older Than They Think|older than CPR]]!'' CPR was invented in 1957. Defibrillation was first tested in 1899, and was first used on humans in 1947. But defibrillators would not become field medicine until the 1960s when the move from AC to DC defibrillation made portable units possible. More effective biphasic defibrillators were invented in the late 1980s.

* When the doctors say "Clear!" it's supposed to mean "Stand back", so that nobody else is touching the patient or close enough to get shocked. But some writers just seem to take this as meaning there is no heartbeat and say it only ''after'' the first attempt and checking the pulse.

 

 

''*Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*''

[[Category:Artistic License Biology]]

[[Category:Artistic License Medicine]]