Mark J. Boucher

18th Jun 2014

Lone Survivor (2013)

Factual error: In the scene at the evacuation hospital doctors are seen administering shocks to Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) with paddles. The EKG shows a flatline. In reality, medical personnel do not give shocks for a flatline - a "shock" is to correct Ventricular Fibrillation into a normal sinus rhythm, if you have a systole there is no muscle activity in the cardiac area and a manual shock will not achieve anything.

Mark J. Boucher

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: That's not true. If ever you do a first aid course they will point out that on arrival, paramedics will replace your AED with their defib precisely because their defib will shock no pulse, whereas an AED that you might find in public spaces will not.

No professional medical professional would shock a flatline patient. They would start chest compressions until they could determine why the heart stopped. Ventricular Fibrillation or Ventricular Tachycardia, where shocking may help, does not register as a flatline. The mistake is valid and doesn't need to be corrected.

Bishop73

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