What's the Deal with EMTs on TV?

[O 2]

What's the deal with TV shows showing ambulance personell taking away the dead on the gurney under a white sheet? I know Medical TV shows are no place to look for accuracy, but there must be some reason this trend persists? I can't think of any service that doubles as coroners (that is, not without seriously offending some folks

Thoughts on where this came from?

 

[Shishkabob]

What's the deal with TV shows showing ambulance personell taking away the dead on the gurney under a white sheet? I know Medical TV shows are no place to look for accuracy, but there must be some reason this trend persists? I can't think of any service that doubles as coroners (that is, not without seriously offending some folks

Thoughts on where this came from?

Ambulances in the 70s were a lot of times run out of funeral homes.

 

[Cup of Joe]

The standard of believability is quite low for film and television. As audience members, there are quite a few things that you might just pass off as part of the film world. EMTs on a scene in a movie adds what appears to the audience to be more chaos.

Also, if the dead character is a part of the story, say the protagonist's sibling or parent, seeing EMTs take away the body tells us that they tried to save him/her, but couldn't. It adds to the emotion of seeing that character die, while giving us more information about what happened in the quickest way possible.

 

[DarkStarr]

Not all patients get a body bag...

 

[Everett]

The public and film makers are very ignorant when it comes to EMS.

Unless you have a show or movie where they have paid consultants to provide accurate information, it will be wrong or misleading. Shows like ER properly portray EMS while others may not. Think of how people see EMS personnel. Everybody is a Paramedic. The second you say your an EMT they look at you like wtf is that?

In regards to the dead body topic, some municipalities/departments transport to the morgue assuming the body isn't being removed from the crime scene or their is no suspicion.

 

[Dwindlin]

I worked for a service that did in-fact transport corpses to funeral home/coroner's office. We were a private who was contracted to the county for EMS services. As to the white sheet, I got nothing. Our body bags were white though. . .

 

[TheGodfather]

in my county, we too are required to bag and transport to the morgue if we pronounce on scene.. it really isn't all that uncommon.

 

[JPINFV]

Alex, what is "Suspension of disbelief?"

 

[denadog]

in my county, we too are required to bag and transport to the morgue if we pronounce on scene.. it really isn't all that uncommon.

Probably quicker than waiting on scene for cops to show up.

 

[mycrofft]

Yeah.

And they have smokeless house fires, "EKG" 's which are just a backlit fake EKG with a light bar running left to right behind it, and medical examiners chasing down suspects and arresting them at gunpoint wearing six inch Manolo stilettos. Just enjoy the eye candy.
What burns me is portraying nurses as bimbos, nymphos, or rape/battery/murder targets.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

What's the deal with TV shows showing ambulance personell taking away the dead on the gurney under a white sheet? I know Medical TV shows are no place to look for accuracy, but there must be some reason this trend persists? I can't think of any service that doubles as coroners (that is, not without seriously offending some folks

Thoughts on where this came from?

Simple. It looks cool to the untrained eye, so therefore, it is in the script.

 

[fortsmithman]

What's the deal with TV shows showing ambulance personell taking away the dead on the gurney under a white sheet? I know Medical TV shows are no place to look for accuracy, but there must be some reason this trend persists? I can't think of any service that doubles as coroners (that is, not without seriously offending some folks

Thoughts on where this came from?

My service's chief and assistant chief are both appointed coroners. Even before they were appointed we were and still are responsible for body transport. For autopsies we have to send the body out of the NWT to Alberta as the NWT only has Coroners but no medical examiners. As well in the NWT we do not have any trauma centres all major traumas are medevaced to Edmonton Alberta where they do have trauma centres.

 

[dstevens58]

Natural deaths, after consulting with coroner and family physician, we can remove the body for delivery to the funeral home. Have done it once so far.

 

[usalsfyre]

What burns me is portraying nurses as...nymphos... .

They're not?!?

Dangit...

 

[hippocratical]

My wife made* me watch Greys anatomy for a few seasons until it got too awful.

I've always enjoyed House though and get a kick out of the Medical Reviews of House as it's less atrocious.

*okay I kinda enjoyed the first few seasons...

 

[Milla3P]

At least one of our private Ambos has a contract to be the meat wagon... Some people intentionally set out to work that crew. Still gotta have a license to drive them around, but they cant get any worse. Different strokes.

 

[curiousgeorge]

hah! I've always giggled everytime I saw them do that on TV shows...

 

[HotelCo]

At least one of our private Ambos has a contract to be the meat wagon... Some people intentionally set out to work that crew. Still gotta have a license to drive them around, but they cant get any worse. Different strokes.

I wouldn't mind doing that shift every so often.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FourLoko]

We were in a hospital elevator with our gurney and there was another guy in there. Guess he was some sort of meat wagon driver and exclaimed that he had sympathy for us because the people he picks up can't ever complain.

 

[firecoins]

ambulance crews removing dead bodies on television shows is a quick way of telling what happaned.

Of course theses guys figure out a 3 or 4 month investigations in one conversation. That isn't realistic.