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Vincent D'Onofrio, Andre Braugher, and Wendee Pratt in Homicide: Life on the Street (1993)

Goofs

The Subway

Homicide: Life on the Street

Edit

Factual errors

The paramedic treating Lange is communicating with a trauma surgeon at a hospital, she tells him that Lange is "definitely tachycardic, his pulse was 83 but now its up to 90" and her tone of voice implies she feels this is concerning. However a heartrate of 90 is not tachycardic and not remotely dangerous, tachycardia is defined as an abnormally high resting heartrate above 100 beats per minute. A normal resting heartrate for an adult is usually 60-70, a pulse of 90 is elevated but not tachycardic and totally expected in a situation like this. In fact it's surprising his pulse isn't higher, most people would be terrified and fear can severely elevate heartrate.
Lange asks the paramedic to give him a shot of something like morphine but she says she can't since she doesn't want him to lose consciousness, and since he isn't in much pain at the moment. However the only time medics and doctors withhold narcotics is when a patient has a concussion, since the combined narcotic effects of the drug and the concussion have a high risk of causing unconsciousness. But if the patient does not have a head injury there is little risk of a standard therapeutic dose of an opioid analgesic causing a person to pass out. In fact in circumstances like this mildly sedating the patient is preferred even if they aren't in much pain to keep them calm, if they're scared and/or agitated this elevates their pulse and can increase bleeding; either 0.5 mg of hydromorphone (Dilaudid) or 4 mg of morphine would be enough to relieve pain and relieve anxiety without risking severe drowsiness.
Lange mentions that leaves on a maple tree will turn over before a storm to better absorb rain, this is technically incorrect and a myth, even though it does sometimes happen (but not always), just not for the reasons this myth implies; which is that the tree is somehow doing this intentionally but it's not. Instead the increased humidity prior to a storm softens the stems of the leaves making them more flexible and more susceptible to being flipped over by the wind; some claim it's an accurate way of predicting a storm but it is not since humidity levels can change without a storm. Saying that leaves turning over helps the tree absorb more water is false too, leaves do absorb moisture though tiny pores but these pores are found on both sides of a leaf, a leaf turning over wouldn't help absorb more water. More importantly the amount of water absorbed by leaves is a tiny fraction of the amount needed by the tree, 99% of the tree's water is absorbed by the roots.

Plot holes

The only medical professionals on scene are EMT's and paramedics, however in a situation like this where a patient has severe internal injuries and is dealing with crush syndrome it is standard procedure to have a doctor specializing in trauma, usually a surgeon, on scene as the patient will need to be immediately stabilized to have any chance. Often times in these situations limb amputation and/or incisions made to reach and stop internal bleeding are required prior to the patient being transported to the hospital; paramedics are not allowed or trained to do procedures like these.

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