Defibrillators in popular culture
From Wikipedia
The defibrillator was first seen on film in the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage. Since then they have appeared in many modern television and film medical programs. Its use in the near-death experience experiments by the characters of the 1990 movie Flatliners made the defibrillator virtually one of the co-stars of that film. It was also utilized in plotlines in several films and TV series.
In the television series Emergency!, firefighters John Gage and Roy DeSoto often used defibrillators, starting the film tradition of yelling "Clear" right before applying the shock, to warn everyone around to stay away from the patient for risk of electrical shock.
In the same series, the defibrillator induces a sudden, violent jerk or convulsion by the patient; in reality, although the muscles may contract, such dramatic patient presentation is rare.
Most television shows will have the medical provider defibrillate the "flat-line" ECG rhythm (also known as asystole); this is not done in real life. Only the cardiac arrest rhythms ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia are normally defibrillated. (There are also several heart rhythms that can be "defibrillated" when the patient is not in cardiac arrest, such as supraventricular tachycardia or ventricular tachycardia that produces a pulse, though the procedure is then known as cardioversion.) However, a flatline may actually be a fibrillation that is too weak to be seen on the monitor (fine v-fib), so a shock may be delivered, but it is not regarded as the treatment of choice, as the probability of a successful conversion is very small. According to the current guidelines, in this situation, continued CPR in order to improve the oxygenation of the heart for a few minutes is preferred before defibrillation is attempted.
During the penultimate season of M*A*S*H, in the episode "Heroes", B. J. Hunnicutt saves a patient's life by using a hastily-assembled defibrillator after reading an article in a medical journal (contrary to history, Hawkeye Pierce suggests that the technique had previously only been tested on dogs). His colleague claims he's just invented a new way of saving lives.
In the 1988 film Short Circuit 2, Benjamin used a defibrillator to provide the robot Johnny 5 with temporary power when its leaking battery ran out of power. It also played a chief role in a scene in the 1989 film The Abyss, when Lindsey Brigman allowed herself to be drowned in freezing water so she and her husband, Bud, could both make it back to the Deep Core underwater drilling station.
In the computer games Battlefield 2 and Battlefield 2142, the defibrillator is a tool available for medics. Contrary to reality, they are surprisingly convenient and mobile tools that can quickly revive a fallen comrade, or kill an enemy soldier with a single jolt.
In the 2006 James Bond movie Casino Royale, Bond uses a defibrillator from his Aston Martin DBS, to revive himself after being poisoned with digitalis during his poker game. On returning to the table he wittily remarks "Sorry; that last hand -- nearly killed me."
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