Re: Comments on the West Wing episode

[Tim <tstead@ntirs.org>]

Despite the tens of thousands of medical professionals

in this country and clear AHA ACLS protocols, asystole

should never, ever, never, never, ever, never, ever,

ever be shocked.



Yet in movie after movie, I see people seeing flatline

and yelling, "shock" and de-fibing an adult patient

for the first time at 360J.  You also hear a long,

steady "beep" which I have *never* heard from any

cardiac monitor I have seen or used....Zoll, Lifepack,

Physio Control, etc...



Yet you don't hear the AMA jumping up and down that

the movie in question should have gotten it right and

pushed 1mg each of atropine and epinephrine and

searched for reversible causes of the asystole

(pneumonic: ITCH-PAD) including a fluid bolus, maybe

some mag sulfate, or even some bicarb just for the

heck of it do you?



Why should we get all in a tiff just because a current

events show decided to have a make-believe cask

accident of material that wouldn't be shipped in a

cask to begin with (DU)?



Regards,

Tim S.



--- Sandy Perle <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:

> > Why should West Wing have talked about 

> > such an accident at all, when it was clearly

> extraneous to any story

> > line?

> 

> Ruth ... I think you're going a little overboard

> here. There are all 

> kinds of movies involving all kinds of accident,

> both real and some 

> not so real. That is what is called entertainment.

> The fact that "we" 

> are pro-nuclear doesn't change the fact that there

> are going to be 

> movies that are about nuclear attack, nuclear

> materials, nuclear 

> waste, etc. There are movies about earthquakes,

> tidal waves, towering 

> infernos, etc. That is what is entertaining to many.

> Your suggestion 

> that every movie, TV or otherwise, always is going

> to be 100% 

> accurate, is just not reality. The bottom line with

> respect to the 

> West Wing was that they covered an incident, they

> spoke in pretty 

> good technical terms, it wasn't done in an alarmist

> manner, and, they 

> even stated at the end that there was no problem.

> 

> Now, the real issue I see in some of this debate, is

> whether you are 

> implying categorically that under no circumstance,

> can there ever be 

> an accident involving transportation of nuclear

> materials, of any 

> kind, where there will be any adverse consequences.

> If that is what 

> you are saying, I simply have to disagree with you.

> Accidents will 

> happen, and, whether we want to believe it or not,

> sometimes, bad 

> things do happen.

> 

> Yes, sometimes bad things do happen. And when we

> categorically 

> dismiss every dialogue as being impossible, we lose

> our credibility. 

> I suppose all the disaster preparedness teams are

> simply formed, 

> drill, just for show?

>

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