Bringing Out The Dead

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Bringing Out The Dead Goofs/Mistakes

Movie Goof (continuity error): When Marcus and Frank are responding to IB Bangin's overdose, they are first shown responding in a van-type ambulance, then the next shot shows them in a box-type, then back to the van-type on arrival.
Movie Goof (continuity error): Right after Larry puts Mr. Burke on the cardiac monitor. Frank pushes I.V. drugs. No one started an I.V.
Movie Goof (crew or equipment visible): Just before Mrs. Burke and Frank climb into the back of the ambulance at the hospital, the camera and its operator are reflected in the open ambulance door
Movie Goof (continuity error): The blood smeared on the passenger window of the ambulance disappears and reappears several times between shots.
Movie Goof (factual errors): While hospitals that provide ambulance service in New York City have their own supervisors and administration, they would not be "captains" as in the character of Captain Barney; EMS officers would be NYC*EMS (1990s as in the movie) or FDNY (today).
Movie Goof (revealing mistake): When Marcus is talking on the radio, he has the microphone "keyed" so that he can transmit. The female dispatcher can be heard talking back to him while he still has the button depressed. This is impossible, since you can transmit or receive, but not at the same time, on this type of system.
Movie Goof (factual errors): When Frank and Marcus use Narcan on IB Bangin, Frank injects the Narcan into one of the wrist veins. Drugs are never main-lined without a patent IV because possible infiltration of the drug would cause tissue damage. If an IV can't be established, Narcan is given either intramuscular (IM) or intranasal (IN).
Movie Goof (continuity error): Just before Marcus crashes the ambulance, Frank starts to drink from a bottle of rubbing alcohol as he sits in the right front seat. The shot immediately shifts to one through the right side passenger window. The bottle is gone, and Frank is just staring forward.
Movie Goof (factual errors): The ambulances seen in the film do not have the logo of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation on the cab doors.
Movie Goof (continuity error): After Frank finishes talking to Griss, a woman approaches Griss speaking Spanish. The next shot through the ER entrance shows Griss alone.
Movie Goof (revealing mistake): During Frank's trip, when he's flashing back to trying to save Rose, when he's seen sitting in the ambulance, as it drives by. All the snow is shown flying upward. When the camera closes on Frank through the ambulance window, the reflections of the surroundings are moving back to front, which means that the ambulance is driving backward, instead of forward, like is shown in the street shot.
Movie Goof (anachronisms): At the end of the movie we see and FDNY Ambulance in the background. The story takes place in the early-1990s. In the early-'90sNYC EMS was still under The Health and Hospitals Corporation of NYC. The Fire Department did not take over EMS until 1995, when Mayor Rudolph Guilliani saw that EMS could supplement the income of FDNY.
Movie Goof (factual errors): When Mr. Burke codes after he's brought into the ER, the doctor orders for him to be defibrillated at 400 joules, then 500. While older defibrillators could deliver a 400 joule shock, modern defibrillators only give a maximum shock of 360 joules. Either way, Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocols at the time (before 2005) called for a starting energy of 200 joules, then 300 and 360 for subsequent shocks.
Movie Goof (boom mic visible): In Mary's apartment, the shadow of the boom mic is visible on the wall.
Movie Goof (factual errors): When Frank and Larry are trying to resuscitate Mr. Burke, the EKG shows asystole (flat line), but Larry then shocks him with a defibrillator, which would do nothing if the patient were really in asystole. In mitigation, however, what looks like asystole could really be fine ventricular fibrillation, and while the Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocols do not call for defibrillation on an asystolic patient, it is sometimes used just in case.