Ridiculous medical mistakes on TV

A&Ox6, MSN, RN · Feb 21, 2016

I was watching old episodes of Scrubs, which is awesome if you ignore anything medical. So much to write about, but my favorite is that JD keeps his car door in the radiology/MRI room.

nursejade4 · Feb 24, 2016

These are too funny. I do not watch too much television, but this is making want to!

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2016

Watching an old (season 3) episode of ER right now. Pt comes in, reports that he has CF and when asked how old he is, says he's 19. They then call his primary doctor and the whole staff freaks out when they realize he's a Pediatrician. George Clooney exclaims "19 year olds don't go to Pediatricians!" Yeah the oldest CF patient I ever saw in a pediatric hospital was in his 50s. And this episode took place in 1997. Back then there still weren't a lot of adult providers who treated CF. The patient later says that he is 3 weeks away from turning 18 and wants to be a DNR. They just matter-of-factly tell him it's his mother's decision. No one consults an ethics team and of course this all happens in the ER without a pulmonary consult or anything. There's also a point where the mother agrees to a DNR which she later rescinds when the patient stops breathing. George Clooney says "he stopped breathing" and for 2 minutes the patient, who is not breathing, is perfectly conscious and in fact able to actively resist when the mother tells George Clooney to intubate him.

I can only watch this show because I watched it for years before I became a nurse.

Nurse Leigh · Feb 28, 2016

Watching an old (season 3) episode of ER right now. Pt comes in, reports that he has CF and when asked how old he is, says he's 19. They then call his primary doctor and the whole staff freaks out when they realize he's a Pediatrician. George Clooney exclaims "19 year olds don't go to Pediatricians!" Yeah the oldest CF patient I ever saw in a pediatric hospital was in his 50s. And this episode took place in 1997. Back then there still weren't a lot of adult providers who treated CF. The patient later says that he is 3 weeks away from turning 18 and wants to be a DNR. They just matter-of-factly tell him it's his mother's decision. No one consults an ethics team and of course this all happens in the ER without a pulmonary consult or anything. There's also a point where the mother agrees to a DNR which she later rescinds when the patient stops breathing. George Clooney says "he stopped breathing" and for 2 minutes the patient, who is not breathing, is perfectly conscious and in fact able to actively resist when the mother tells George Clooney to intubate him.
I can only watch this show because I watched it for years before I became a nurse.

That medical consultant must have been at craft services while those scenes were being filmed. :rolleyes:

Kitiger, RN · Mar 1, 2016

In ONE SPECIAL NIGHT with James Garner & Julie Andrews, the pediatric cardiologist does chest compressions on a neonate . . . at a rate of about 60!

apillarofsalt · Mar 1, 2016

Rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer this past December and in two different episodes and seasons, Buffy has meds pushed straight from a syringe into her vein at a 90 degree angle --once as an emergency sedative, can't remember the other incidence. Every episode featuring a hospital or medical setting is just plain awful.

samdbgt · Mar 1, 2016

I think most of them like me here will feel some awkwardly similarities when talking about mistakes in our field. LOL.!!! or is it just me.. feel wierd.

Fiona59 · Mar 1, 2016

A blinking corpse in the morgue in a UK show called Happy Valley, last week. Just before the autopsy

wannabecnl · Mar 2, 2016

Every episode of Chicago Med seems to involve a chest tube. Every single one. They use etomidate and succs for EVERYTHING, too--I've been in PACU for 5 years and I've had exactly one patient that got etomidate for induction. And how is it that Colin Donnell's character can so seamlessly move between ER/OR/and now transplant? He must have trained at General Hospital.

The monitor inaccuracies make me nuts, as someone posted above. Pulse checks while pt is getting compressions. On Chicago Med and Code Black, their compression rate must be 140 at a minimum, and yes, those wonderful bent elbows look so nice and would NOT WORK. But I guess they'd break all of the patient actor's ribs if they did it more authentically!

A few episodes ago on Code Black, a rich donor's wife was lying ALONE in a dark room, having not yet awakened from surgery, when he came to see her. Uhh, PACU? Stay with the patient until the are CONSCIOUS, maybe? Just a thought if you want that money to keep rolling in.

One real question for our ED people: how long do codes really go on in the ED before they call it? For a witnessed arrest or close to it (usually the case on TV), they seem to give up very quickly. Of course, no one is doing the 2 minutes of compressions between shocks/epi/etc., either. I know how long 2 minutes feels in ACLS class, and I don't think the TV producers would allow that...

samdbgt · Mar 2, 2016

U serious.?. coz if you are serious, then it must have really been a happy valley!!!!!

samdbgt · Mar 2, 2016

A blinking corpse in the morgue in a UK show called Happy Valley, last week. Just before the autopsy

U serious.?. coz if you are serious, then it must have really been a happy valley!!!!!

calivianya, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2016

One real question for our ED people: how long do codes really go on in the ED before they call it? For a witnessed arrest or close to it (usually the case on TV), they seem to give up very quickly. Of course, no one is doing the 2 minutes of compressions between shocks/epi/etc., either. I know how long 2 minutes feels in ACLS class, and I don't think the TV producers would allow that...

Can't tell you about the ED, but I can tell you on my unit it depends on a whole lot of factors - presenting rhythm, patient age, comorbidities, and the patient's overall ability to survive. On a septic 90 year old whose presenting rhythm is asystole, the physician might call it as soon as he/she walks in the room. We also coded a 30 year old father of four for two hours once. I'd say the average code I have participated in lasts around 15 minutes. Code length is really subjective.