Another mangled medical interpretation brought to you by Dr. Jollywood. On a big budget show, how difficult is it to get something right?

First, I have to say that I love the show Fringe, and am addicted to it. I get it on iTunes and play it on a 30 inch computer screen, so it is easy to stop, start, move back, etc. I think the show is innovative, clever, creative, and the actors are perfect in their roles. That said, there is a lot of “real” medical stuff in this program, and they certainly can do a better job of it–do a better job of it without adding any extra cost or minutes to the show. It’s just called accuracy.

In the second episode, a woman with a quasi-sort of pregnancy was dumped at the ER entrance, screaming and in obvious pain. Of course, everyone thought she was about to deliver a baby, even though she said that wasn’t pregnant. But due to what they perceived as the urgency of the situation, and a quick check of vital signs, they decided to do an emergency C-section.

Now here’s the first flaw. Why were they going to do a section, and in fact, they were “so rushed” that they said they didn’t have time to put her under? It just seemed from their point of view, that the woman was in labor. They showed a flash of monitors and someone said that the heartrate was 60. If that was the baby’s heartrate, then yes, the kid was trouble. But it had to be mother’s monitor they were looking at, because they hadn’t hooked her up to an internal fetal probe, and she didn’t have any sort of external fetal monitoring device around her abdomen. So how on earth could they have been monitoring the baby? And so again, why the need for a C-section?

Okay, move along. Mom is screaming, and then suddenly becomes a flatliner. Again, we see the same monitor, but now the EKG is a flatline. Mom has died, suddenly and inexplicably. No one in that operating room seems to be surprised that this woman, very much alive and vital only seconds before, and seeming healthy except for having a huge abdomen (assumed to be carrying a fetus), suddenly dies.

So what do they do?

Nothing.

One guy says, “She’s gone.” No curiosity or shock that this woman who they assume to be in labor has suddenly died. And then someone says, “we’ve got to get the baby out now!”

Uh yeah, but what about the woman? In real life, I certainly hope that part of the team would be instantly “upfront at the woman’s head and chest” intubating her, pouring in drugs, doing CPR. In other words, she would be a full code. Another person would call for help, and the OB doc would get the baby out. They would not just stand there, stare, and mutter that “she’s gone.”

I can just imagine attorneys who watched this show, moaning and groaning that this wasn’t real life because what a plum lawsuit that would be. And maybe in George W. Bush’s world, the mother should always be sacrificed for the baby (especially if its a boy), and that they were doing the right thing by ignoring the dead slut (yes, she was unmarried and had just had an illicit affair) and saving the sacred child, but this is not how in works in real life.

Grade F- for this scene

A second blunder was the use of paralytic agents that the “bad guy” used to capture his unsuspecting victims. To my knowledge, all paralytics are neuromuscular blocking agents, meaning that that paralyze all voluntary muscle movement. This includes respiration. Because of this side effect, which is why they are used in the first place, all patients receiving these drugs must be on some type of life support–if the intention is to keep them alive.

But yet, the bad man was able to paralyze his victims but not suppress their breathing. Interesting. Since this show is about fringe science, and has a lot of weird stuff in it, this point should have been raised. It only would have taken one sentence from Dr. Bishop or his brilliant son to say that “wow, this guy must be using some avant-garde paralytic that bypasses the respiratory muscles.” Something like that. It would added a little credibility and offered an explanation–granted, most people don’t know how these drugs work, but still, make it as real as possible. Yes, this show was about a heinous scientific experiment that should have ended decades ago, so it would have been believable that a new form of paralytic was available.

Other than that, it was a great show. It would just really help to have medical advisers on the set, and to follow their advice.