History Main / MagicalDefibrillator

** To be fair, Lindsey had to warm up before she could have shown ''any'' signs of life.

* Averted, surprisingly enough, on ''TheSimpsons''. When Homer uses a defibrilator on ''himself'' after he starts having chest pains. Obviously played for RuleOfFunny.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer Simpson does this at the beginning of "Homer the Moe" after he attempts to dig a hole with Bart and tires out.
-->'''Homer:''' This thing pays for itself.

* In ''[[DresdenFiles The Dresden Files]]'': Changes, [[spoiler: Harry Dresden awakens to find Waldo Butters attempting to revive him with a Defibrillator. Mere moments later, Butters uses the same Defibrillator to stun a hitman.]]

* In the ''DoctorWho'' episode "The Power of Three", the mysterious cubes send an electrical pulse that stops the hearts of people near them, including [[BizarreAlienBiology one of the Doctor's]]. Amy restarts the Doctor's one stopped heart with a defibrillator, and later the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to reprogram the cubes so they will ''restart'' everyone's heart, essentially Magically Defibrillating a third of the population of the planet by remote control. The victims have all been out for far too long to be revived, too, but the Doctor's magic takes care of that as well.

A defibrillator ''does not'' restart the heart. It ''stops'' a dysfunctional rhythm (e.g. pulseless tachycardia: beating too fast without effective pumping, or fibrillation: irregular beating without pumping) in the hope that the heart's intrinsic mechanisms will restore an effective rhythm. If a first responder arrives on a scene and the person has been unconscious for more than a few minutes, they will do two minutes of CPR first to remove metabolic waste products and bring in fresh oxygen. ''Then'' they will shock. After a shock, they will ''immediately'' resume CPR - remember, the shock stops the heart, not starts it. If this is ineffective, the cycle continues until more advanced help arrives, along with more shocks delivered at several minute intervals. (Protocols vary by locality, and [=AEDs=] vary, get trained or follow the instructions on the AED.) Of note, [[{{Flatline}} a flat-lined ECG (asystole) is ''not'' shockable - you can't stop a rhythm that doesn't exist]]. However, you can have a total lack of heartbeat without flatlining. The heart is effectively on idle but not doing anything. In such a case, a defibrillator can still work well.

->''"Clear!" *bzzt*''
-->-- '''[[SeenItAMillionTimes Every defibrillation scene ever]]'''

* Averted in ''DigimonFrontier'': in the finale, defibrillation does absolutely nothing to revive [[spoiler: Kouichi. Given that it's ThePowerOfLove that revives him shortly thereafter]], though, it's pretty clear they weren't trying to realistically render defibrillation anyway...

** Like the above one piece example this is actually quite plausible, even more so given that the power explicitly shakes the heart into fibrillation(that and since his powers work on a molecular level). Now the question of whether he could stay conscious long enough to use his powers when his brain and body are devouring oxygen and glucose in full combat arousal is another question.

** Like the above one piece example this is actually quite plausible, even more so given that the power explicitly shakes the heart into fibrillation. Now the question of whether he could stay conscious long enough to use his powers when his brain and body are devouring oxygen and glucose in full combat arousal is another question.

* An episode of ''KamenRiderDouble'' has a main character revive someone who is clinically dead ([[RevivalLoophole the plot depends on this fact]]) by issuing a sharp electric shock to their heart... ''with a sword.''

* Averted in ''BreakingBad'' when [[spoiler:the Salamanca assassin who survived after trying to kill Hank]] is going into cardiac arrest, one nurse asks if they need to use a defibrillator, and another replies that there is no need as the patient is in asystole.

* {{Smallville}} episode "Fever", doctors defibrillate a flatlined patient. She dies.

* In ''ScannerCop'', the hero uses a defibrillator - using his telekinesis to move it - to kill the BigBad.

* Averted once in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', where a defibrillator was actually used to stop John Sheppard's heart. And then was used to try to start it up again...
** Considering that a defibrillator cannot really restart a completely absent heartbeat (see above), that second part is not an aversion.

* In the first ''Film/{{Bean}}'' film (in the words of the LiteraryAgentHypothesis "novelisation"), "all you have to do is put the round things on someone's chest, yell 'Clear!' and then they come back to life!... But I thought I'd better try the round things on my chest first." - which launches him through the air to land on a comatose patient and accidentally revive them. Admittedly residual electrical current in Mr Bean might have helped there but it's still crazy.

* In a ''MrBean'' sketch, the bumbling character revives someone with the bare cable method, but then accidentally electrocutes him soon after.

* The medkit in ''{{Half-Life}}'''s Sven-coop can revive teammates and other players for 50 Med points, and a quirk also allowed to revive players that were smashed/blown into pieces

* averted in 24, jack gets brought back but at the end of the day he has trouble sniping due to heart pains.

->'''Hank:''' In case I'm incapacitated for any reason, do you know how to revive a man's heart with a downed power line?\\

!!Examples

* In the first ''MrBean'' film (in the words of the LiteraryAgentHypothesis "novelisation"), "all you have to do is put the round things on someone's chest, yell 'Clear!' and then they come back to life!... But I thought I'd better try the round things on my chest first." - which launches him through the air to land on a comatose patient and accidentally revive them. Admittedly residual electrical current in Mr Bean might have helped there but it's still crazy.

* ''{{Knowing}}'' does a weird version of this. The EKG is clearly showing v-fib (i.e. the thing you actually want to defibrillate) and the EMT administers defib, which correctly stops the heart. This, however, surprises the EMT somewhat, causing them to call the time of death without even attempting CPR.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Homer]] does this at the beginning of "Homer the Moe" after he attempts to dig a hole with Bart and tires out.

''*Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*''

* ''{{Emergency}}'' had one of the earliest regular depiction of this device with the usual JackWebb emphasis on realism. However, the producer did manage to get a more dramatic style to it with a different version that created a rising tonal sound as it charged up for a shock.

*** Actually, in the latter case, it was done more realistically, as [[spoiler: Katana tells Metamorpho to turn into oxygen for Wildcat to breath and that they have to act quickly]].

-->-- '''Every defibrillation scene ever'''

In addition, perhaps regrettably, modern defibrillators lack the cool metallic sounding KACHUNK! when administering a shock, and no matter how vintage the equipment, the patient does not jump several inches off the floor. The paddles are only rubbed together gently to spread the conductive gel on them, not furiously to build up a charge. (AEDs usually have one-use adhesive pads instead.) The electrical shock does cause generalized muscle contraction, but the movement is more akin to someone who was startled suddenly, and the only sound is that associated with someone say raising their arm up and then letting it drop back slightly. Interestingly enough, most modern models offer an audio recreation of the sound associated with a capacitor charging, a low whining tone steadily increasing in pitch. (Modern capacitors charge noiselessly, but GenreSavvy manufacturers added the sound feature after discovering that medical personnel [[TheCoconutEffect expected to hear the whine and thought the devices were malfunctioning if they didn't.]])

In addition, perhaps regrettably, modern defibrillators lack the cool metallic sounding KACHUNK! when administering a shock, and no matter how vintage the equipment, the patient does not jump several inches off the floor. The paddles are only rubbed together gently to spread the conductive gel on them, not furiously to build up a charge. The electrical shock does cause generalized muscle contraction, but the movement is more akin to someone who was startled suddenly, and the only sound is that associated with someone say raising their arm up and then letting it drop back slightly. Interestingly enough, most modern models offer an audio recreation of the sound associated with a capacitor charging, a low whining tone steadily increasing in pitch. (Modern capacitors charge noiselessly, but GenreSavvy manufacturers added the sound feature after discovering that medical personnel [[TheCoconutEffect expected to hear the whine and thought the devices were malfunctioning if they didn't.]])