What are some common Hollywood medical faux pas?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around common inaccuracies and unrealistic portrayals of medical scenarios in Hollywood productions, particularly in television shows and films. Participants analyze specific scenes and provide critiques based on medical knowledge and experience, focusing on issues related to trauma treatment, CPR procedures, and the depiction of blood and injuries.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant critiques a scene from "Sanctuary," arguing that removing a bullet from a gunshot wound is often more harmful than beneficial, suggesting it should be left in until professional medical help is available.
  • Another participant points out inaccuracies in a "Dr. House" episode, specifically regarding the placement of a tracheotomy bandage, indicating a lack of realism in the portrayal of medical procedures.
  • Concerns are raised about the representation of blood in films, with one participant noting that it often appears unrealistic in terms of color and viscosity, suggesting that filmmakers rely on inadequate substitutes like water and food coloring.
  • Some participants express frustration with the depiction of injuries, such as the immediate bleeding from cuts and the unrealistic portrayal of the effects of gunshot wounds, which often show characters being propelled backward upon impact.
  • One participant mentions the use of a binary chemical for fake cuts, which turns red when combined, highlighting the artificiality of some special effects in depicting injuries.
  • Another participant shares a resource for tracking movie mistakes, indicating a broader interest in identifying inaccuracies in film and television.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions on the accuracy of medical portrayals in Hollywood, with some agreeing on specific inaccuracies while others provide differing examples or critiques. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the overall impact of these inaccuracies on public perception of medical practices.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include varying levels of medical knowledge among participants, as well as the subjective nature of what constitutes a "faux pas" in medical representation. The discussion does not resolve the complexities of accurately depicting medical scenarios in entertainment media.

  • #61
How about the "Tap on the Head"?
 
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  • #62
NobodySpecial, that was awesome, that is exactly what they do. Buwahaha.
 
  • #63
JaWiB said:
How about the "Tap on the Head"?

Yeah, now we have the "sever the spinal cord with neurosurgical precision and a K-Bar." Or the "easy neck-breaker". :rolleyes:

Oh it can be done, on both counts, but not without training and a massive element of surprise and strength.
 
  • #64
Wataminute... When I last visited this morning we were talking about preventing less damage, and now we're discussing inflicting mayhem, paralysis, and death?

(scratches head, stumbles off into the sunset...)
 
  • #65
Speaking of inflicting paralysis and death...

In Transformers, Sam falls off the roof at the end, plummets for a few seconds and is caught by Optimus. Now this applies to any film this happens in, but catching a person falling by simply 'stopping' them during the fall would kill them. Some major blunt force trauma there.
 
  • #66
jarednjames said:
Speaking of inflicting paralysis and death...

In Transformers, Sam falls off the roof at the end, plummets for a few seconds and is caught by Optimus. Now this applies to any film this happens in, but catching a person falling by simply 'stopping' them during the fall would kill them. Some major blunt force trauma there.
No no no.

No matter how far or fast a person is falling, if you stop them one foot before touching the ground they are undamaged.

Superman does it all the time. So did Batman with Vicky Vale in Tim Burton's Batman.

:devil:
 
  • #67
Regarding science fiction, I've just noticed that the Sci-Fi channel has been renamed Sci-Fy as in Science and Fantasy (at least in the UK anyhow).
 
  • #68
My nitpicks:

99% of aliens look like and talk like humans.

You can hit a person on the back of the head and they quietly go unconscious. Or you can sneak up from behind and take them out in a second or two, usually sans complaint.

Spaceships with easy gravity.

Lasers fail to penetrate invisible shields. And they're slow. Must be tracers.

Time travel.
 
  • #69
Newai said:
99% of aliens look like and talk like humans.

Or they/we can either pick up the language very quickly to the point of fluency or some computer can analyse a few 'sounds' of the alien language and instantly translate anything said by a human into it or from alien to human. In real time. In fact, in some cases they claim the listener doesn't hear the spoken language, but hears only the translation from the computer.
 
  • #70
jarednjames said:
Or they/we can either pick up the language very quickly to the point of fluency or some computer can analyse a few 'sounds' of the alien language and instantly translate anything said by a human into it or from alien to human. In real time. In fact, in some cases they claim the listener doesn't hear the spoken language, but hears only the translation from the computer.

Oh, well, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic :devil:
 
  • #71
Borek said:
Oh, well, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic :devil:

There's technology, then there's hearing me say "I just farted" and being able to grasp my entire language.
(Strictly speaking my native language is Welsh, a language I'm not convinced most Welsh speakers fully understand, let alone any computer.)
 
  • #72
jarednjames said:
There's technology, then there's hearing me say "I just farted" and being able to grasp my entire language.
(Strictly speaking my native language is Welsh, a language I'm not convinced most Welsh speakers fully understand, let alone any computer.)

All I know is that Welsh has far too many W's and F's for me to translate. :biggrin: You'll always have Catherine Zeta Jones however, so that's a point for Welsh genetics if not the language.
 
  • #73
The Welsh language is like the physics in movies. You know someone, somewhere understands it, but no matter how hard you try it just doesn't work in real life.
 
  • #74
jarednjames said:
The Welsh language is like the physics in movies. You know someone, somewhere understands it, but no matter how hard you try it just doesn't work in real life.

:smile: I hear you. I've found a study of cuneiform, proto-saxon, and Russian to be easier on the brain than Welsh... although it is a lovely a language to hear spoken.

Comedian John Oliver of The Daily Show fame said:
To me the economy is like the Dutch language, I'm told it makes sense, but I have my doubts.

I could imagine "Welsh" or "Celtic" in place of Dutch. :wink:
 
  • #75
jarednjames said:
Speaking of inflicting paralysis and death...

In Transformers, Sam falls off the roof at the end, plummets for a few seconds and is caught by Optimus. Now this applies to any film this happens in, but catching a person falling by simply 'stopping' them during the fall would kill them. Some major blunt force trauma there.

In the movie Hancock, he throws that boy up in the air extremely high and then catches him. Throwing him that hard would kill him and catching him would kill him.

He also grabs a whale by a small part of his tail and throws him extremely far. The piece of tail he's grabbing would easily tear off way before he even moved the whale.
99% of aliens look like and talk like humans.
Star Trek is guilty of that. They have aliens that look exactly like humans except for a wrinkly nose, a few spots on their head or a metal eyebrow.
And they all speak English. Sure, some have their own native language, but they speak English with no accent.
 
  • #76
jarednjames said:
Or they/we can either pick up the language very quickly to the point of fluency or some computer can analyse a few 'sounds' of the alien language and instantly translate anything said by a human into it or from alien to human. In real time. In fact, in some cases they claim the listener doesn't hear the spoken language, but hears only the translation from the computer.

What I truly admire about the sophistication of their translator technology is that it also holographically overprints the speaker's mouth with lips synchronized to English for the benefit of the deaf.
 
  • #77
Danger said:
What I truly admire about the sophistication of their translator technology is that it also holographically overprints the speaker's mouth with lips synchronized to English for the benefit of the deaf.

You know, I've never thought of that. Well noticed!
 
  • #78
Heh... as deeply unscientific as it is, the only series to address that issue was Stargate: humans were seeded across the galaxy, so they're not aliens to begin with. The only "aliens" are the Goa'uld, and they interface with the host brain. Then again, they're going back and forth through a wormhole without considering the issue that they'd also be traveling in time so... yeeeaaahhh... bit of a trade-off.
 

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