Ridiculous medical mistakes on TV

Nurses Humor

Published

We've all heard it: nurses can't watch medical shows without getting annoyed about how inaccurate they are. Lately, I'm finding that the most ridiculous medical mistakes happen on police procedural dramas (Law and Order, Criminal Minds, etc.); at least the medical shows have people with medical backgrounds advising them.

Anybody have some funny tv medical mistakes to share??

Last week I was watching a rerun of Criminal Minds. The victim had been drugged with haldol by her kidnapper. When the police rushed in to save her, the EMS gave her a bolus of narcan and she magically awoke. It was a flipping miracle!! ?

These are hilarious :roflmao:

When we got to watch surgery during one of our clinical rotations, all I could think of was the Junior Mint episode from Seinfeld :D

Not TV, but I always love how in the movies epi has to be injected straight into the heart (The Rock, Pulp Fiction...)

1 Votes
These are hilarious :roflmao:

When we got to watch surgery during one of our clinical rotations, all I could think of was the Junior Mint episode from Seinfeld :D

Not TV, but I always love how in the movies epi has to be injected straight into the heart (The Rock, Pulp Fiction...)

Bonus points if the person injects the epi straight intohis/her own heart! I'm looking at you, Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly...

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
Bonus points if the person injects the epi straight intohis/her own heart! I'm looking at you, Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly...

It's not exactly the same thing but I remember reading a report of researchers who wanted to see what their ABGs would be at different altitudes. So, they did their own femoral ABGs along the way up Mt. Everest....

No thank you, but I'm not sure how much I'd want anyone else doing it to me either.

Specializes in Hospice.
Which is why Hospice families are always horrified when you're doing post mortem care and their eyes won't stay closed all the way. *sigh*

KY jelly - works every time. End of derail - carry on ...

Specializes in critical care.
KY jelly - works every time. End of derail - carry on ...

And dermabond? How do you get them to stay closed?

Specializes in hospice.
And dermabond? How do you get them to stay closed?

Boy do I think the folks over at mortuary would be irritated if we tried that!

And no, KY doesn't always work, unfortunately. :( Some of them dead eyelids are just stubborn.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

It always slays me that whatever medication it is that must be given"STAT!".....the patient gets it IM in the antecubital space. I see that 18g/1+1/2" needle vigorously shoved down and in; think about the blood vessels and tendons in its path. You KNOW that'd really hurt if shots were given that way!!!

When they give IM meds (Of any kind), say...a sedative..and the patient falls over passed out within 3 seconds. Must be that Vulcan pinch IM shot...

Specializes in Critical Care.
I was watching an episode of Seinfeld where George was in the hospital for chest pain (which they ruled out it was nothing I believe but he still was admitted to a room had to stay over night mind you) and maybe I couldn't see it right (or I could be remembering wrong) but I swear he had a Foley catheter coming out of his nose!!!!! Maybe it was supposed to be like a feeding tube? But again, he was in for possible chest pain. I just couldn't wrap my head around why they would do that!? I kept yelling at the tv about it bc it was one of the more ridiculous things I've seen and my husband couldn't understand why it was so crazy. Tell me someone else has seen this episode! It's "the heart attack" season 2 episode 11.

Also, in an episode of law and order: svu a detective was questioning an elderly serial murderer for where he hid the other bodies and he had oxygen on because he was sick or dying or something. The murderer wasn't giving it up so the detective grabbed the oxygen tubing and squeezed it off until the murderer couldn't breath at all and gave in! So funny! It was like he was squeezing his airway or something. It was very dramatic.

Lol, I just saw that Seinfeld episode, too! This week! I was also watching with my husband, started to gripe about it, but then was like, nah, too much effort to explain what's wrong to him.

Can't remember what show it was (Grey's perhaps) and the person had an IV. Except it was the drip chamber taped to the arm and it was pointing in the wrong direction.

Before I could say anything, my youngest daughter grabbed the remote, backed it up to the scene again, paused it and screams...'what FOOL inserted the iv spike into the person and in the wrong direction?!?! Maaaa! Can you believe how stupid these people think we are!"

I love seeing how well rounded Hollywood doctors are- not only are they emergency and trauma physicians, they're also trauma surgeons, they give medications and wrap wounds, they answer phones and after they perform an emergency craniotomy, they follow their patients to the ICU. And all of that only takes up a small portion of their shift!

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

ER - Samantha rushes over to a volatile patient, pulls out a 20cc needle with 2 inch needle and gives him an IV injection of something to knock him out.

+ Add a Comment