Why yes, you’re free to use a butterfly clip as an artery clamp.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the new Michael Bay movieAmbulance.
We asked UCLA Paramedic Program Director David Filipp whether Cam’s actions are heretical or actual health care.
Eiza Gonzalez and Michael Bay on the set of ‘Ambulance’.Andrew Cooper/Universal Pictures
DAVID FILIPP:No, actually CPR is all you really can do.
That won’t push more blood out or anything?
She FaceTimes a bunch of doctors on her computer and they guide her through it.
Eiza Gonzalez in Michael Bay’s ‘Ambulance’.Universal Pictures
Is that even possible?
Telemedicine has been around on ambulances in some locations around the U.S. for several years.
But having a physician talking a paramedic through surgery would be extraordinarily unlikely.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul Mateen II in ‘Ambulance’.Universal Pictures
Especially not during a high-speed car chase.
And frankly, we’re moving a bullet.
It might cause additional bleeding.
So that probably wouldn’t be something we would do it’s a little beyond our scope as paramedics.
Even with the doctor’s instruction, we couldn’t do that.
In the movie, the paramedic actually pulls out someone’s spleen because a bullet is lodged there.
But the spleen bursts.
Spleen injuries are actually fairly common in trauma patients.
And it’s full of blood and bleeds a lot.
So trauma surgeons often remove spleens to help a trauma patient survive a really bad accident.
And you’re able to live without a spleen.
I guess it would just be the outside stuff.
Is that person a goner or is it survivable?
Time is really the factor.
The longer it is until they get to a surgeon, the less chance of survival they will have.
Oh, yes, Cam says that.
She tries to get everyone to the hospital in under a certain number of minutes.
And if they can’t reach it within an hour, their chances of survival drop dramatically.
Have you ever had a spleen burst in your hands?
Well, I’ve had plenty of patients who’ve had ruptured spleens.
That’s just not something paramedics do.
Well, they do it in this movie.
Of course they do.
O negative, actually.
Okay, O negative.
So is that possible?
No, it’s not.
There are multiple other things needed for blood to be properly matched to people.
It isn’t just about jot down.
It makes for a great story, but it’s not realistic.
Just a couple of more factual things.
Is a butterfly hair clip a usable clamp for an artery that’s bleeding out?
If you have a blood vessel bleeding, you have to do what you might to stop the bleeding.
So I suppose [a hair clip] could be used.
But if the paramedic has to stitch the person up, would she stitch the hair clip into them?
They would have to stop the bleeding and the stitching would be a secondary consideration.
That’s just a wound closure.
So stitching the wound up wouldn’t be a big concern.
Stopping the bleeding would be a big concern.
You got to stop the bleeding first.
Can an ambulance withstand gunshots from the outside?
It kind of depends on the caliber of gun being used.
You have lower-velocity guns, like handguns, where [the ambulance] may be able to withstand that.
But a high-velocity gun like a deer rifle, that may penetrate the back of the ambulance.
It also depends on where the ambulance sustains the gunshot because parts of it are thinner than other parts.
So it probably could to some extent.
I’ve been shot at in the ambulance as well.
We heard it, but the bullet didn’t come inside.
So it just depends on where on the ambulance it actually occurs.
Last question a personal one for you: Let’s say you’ve had a very traumatic day.
Are you able to turn it off?
Or can you go have enchiladas after?
One of the tough parts is we don’t get any real follow-up on our patients.
Or “How did she do?”
We don’t really have any closure from those encounters.
I’ve been in EMS for 40 years; I’ve been a paramedic 38 of those years.
Ambulanceis in theaters now.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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