History Main / MeatgrinderSurgery

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* A non-comedic example occurs in ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR 2: Project Origin]]'', while [[PlayerCharacter Michael Beckett]] is undergoing surgery to awaken his Harbinger powers, he has a hallucination in which demonic creatures in surgical uniforms claw and hack at his flesh.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* Surgery in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' is generally not as bad as this trope, but the various characters regard it that way since it is a lot rougher than it would be in a proper hospital. The general term used in the show is "Meatball Surgery". Of course, being a frontline hospital unit, their jobs are to simply to save the patient and make sure they stay alive long enough to get sent to an evac hospital where they can be further treated before being sent to a hospital either in Tokyo or Stateside. In a very real sense, the exasperation expressed about the conditions they worked in and speed in which they needed to act was an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] (or at least LampshadeHanging) of this trope, as they were taking all the care they could under trying circumstances.

*** At a Korean field hospital:
---> '''Hawkeye:''' I wouldn't operate on your horse under these conditions.
---> '''Col. Potter:''' My horse wouldn't be caught dead in here.
** As a LongRunner, the series was able to show this aspect of field surgery in much greater detail than the novel or film could, despite the stricter rules about showing explicit gore. Several of the best-remembered episodes, including "O.R." and "Life Time", focus almost entirely on the pressure the surgical staff faced.

Naturally, expect this aspect of medicine to be thrown away in the name of [[RuleOfFunny comedy]]: the nurse will give the surgeon a [[DropTheHammer hammer]] and he'll immediately proceed to whack away violently, then an axe and proceed to hack away, then a [[ThisIsADrill drill]], then a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]], then [[NoodleImplements an eggbeater]], then...

When Henderson performs a revision surgery on one of Duntsch's patients, he notes (with disbelief) the mess Duntsch made, including the dura mater (protective sheath around the spinal cord) dissected, offering no protection to the nerves. Ligaments cut and just hanging loose, bone fragments piercing nerves and otherwise messily smashed into the spinal canal "like putty".

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** Roughly half the [[WebAnimation/TeamFortress2 tie-in video animation]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36lSzUMBJnc "Meet the Medic"]] involves the RED Medic performing surgery on the Heavy, in a procedure involving a device (which, as it turns out, enables the Übercharge in-game) getting shoved onto Heavy's still-beating heart, said heart ''exploding'' and being replaced with a "Mega Baboon" heart, and Medic pushing the organ into the Heavy's chest cavity so hard he breaks off a rib. All while the Heavy is awake, mind you. Mind you, the Medic's nigh-magical Medigun, plus the CartoonPhysics of the ''Team Fortress 2'' universe, allow him to throw caution out the window.
--->'''Heavy:''' Should I be awake for this?\\
'''Medic:''' ''[laughs]'' Well, no. But as long as you are, ''[[BodyHorror could you hold your rib cage open a bit]]?''
** Not to mention he allows his pet doves to roam the room during operations. [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous Archimedes]], pictured above, even likes to hang out inside patients' ribcages. The only thing the Medic finds objectionable about this is that "It's filthy in there!". At the end of "Meet the Medic", it turns out that he accidentally sewed Scout's chest with Archimedes still inside. In gameplay, occasionally it will pop out of a gibbed Scout and fly away.
** Even the opening NoodleIncident qualifies:
--->'''Medic:''' When the patient woke up, his skeleton was missing, and the doctor was never heard from again! ''[laughs]'' Anyway, that's how I lost my medical license.
** The Medic's idea of "proper surgical garb" is whatever he happens to be wearing at the time. In "Meet the Medic", "surgical garb" is a sweater vest and shirt. Oddly enough, he only puts on a lab coat and gloves when he's preparing for battle.
** In the promo [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbOBcHGwWDg "The Sound of Medicine"]], the Medic develops a device for reviving people in the middle of the battlefield. This process apparently uses the Medigun's normal healing ability while telekinetically reassembling the victim back to normal. ''That last part was not a metaphor'', it literally lifts the gibs back into a holographic template.
** During the [[Webcomic/TeamFortress2 webcomic tie-in]] ''The Naked and the Dead'', a meatgrinder ''transfusion'' is shown, with Medic simply scooping the blood out of puddles with any available cloth (including underwear) and pouring it back into his exsanguinated team's wounds, getting them back in order instantly (albeit causing [[HighPressureBlood blood to spurt violently out of their eyes]] if squeezed). The ensuing conversation between Ms. Pauling and the Medic lampshades it, with him joking about medical school being useless, then telling her as a TwoFacedAside that worrying about blood types is the ''least'' of her problems. It'd seem he's plenty aware none of what he does makes much sense, but it works anyways; why should he bother? [[spoiler:Then again, it's later revealed that he received his nonsensical but functional techniques through a DealWithTheDevil, which pretty much gives him the ability to think up whatever stupid solution he can think of that's impossible in reality, but it'll work in his favor regardless. ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard He even got the ability to surgically implant others' souls into him]]'', which allowed him to outsmart ''Satan'' and get a few extra decades alive until the latter thinks up a way to outsmart him then.]]
* A non-comedic example occurs in ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR 2: Project Origin]]'', while [[PlayerCharacter Michael Beckett]] is undergoing surgery to awaken his Harbinger powers, he has a hallucination in which demonic creatures in surgical uniforms claw and hack at his flesh.

* The game ''VideoGame/SurgeonSimulator2013'' can be described as "''VideoGame/{{QWOP}}'' gets his medical license". And it is just as darkly hilarious as it sounds. Even if the patient has their lungs on the floor, their ribcage smashed beyond repair, and about five milliliters of blood left, [[InstantWinCondition as long as you fulfill the given objective the operation will end successfully]].
--> [[BlatantLies "Looks fine to me, I'm sure he'll live..."]]
** It has been given a DLC in the form of a 'level' where you play [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 the Medic performing his first Ubercharge heart transplant]], as seen in Meet the Medic. He still controls like a drunk on amphetamines. Two memetic meatgrinder surgeons for the price of one!
* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'': When Vault 101's Mr. Handy is assigned to be the vault's doctor, he ends up amputating a patient's leg instead of treating her sprained big toe ([[EpicFail on the opposite foot]]), killing her. In ''Point Lookout'', the Lone Wanderer undergoes a lobotomy at the hands of a BackAlleyDoctor [[MushroomSamba while under the influence of psychedelics]].
** While helping Argyll, the Boomers' doctor in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', a low-Intelligence character has the option to "CHOP CHOP CHOP" a patient, which saves them through "dumb luck".
** Also in ''New Vegas'', one of the quests, [[spoiler: 'Et Tumor, Brute?', requires removal of Caesar's brain tumor]]. You can do it if you have a Medicine Skill of at least 75 and acquire a pretty expensive quest item plus one very useful rare item (especially on Hardcore mode)... or just have a Luck at 9, at which moment the Courier just wings it.
--->'''Vulpes:''' That was... incredible. How did you do that?\\
'''Courier:''' I have no idea whatsoever.
** Implied in a loading screen for ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', where the loading tip directing players to the Mega Surgery Center in Diamond City if they want to redo their character's appearance is accompanied by an image of [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fallout/images/b/be/FO4_Baseball_bat_Loading_Screen.png a bladed aluminum baseball bat]].
* The Stroggification process in ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'' includes the victim's legs being amputated with a giant buzzsaw, needles thrust into them from a full meter away and riveting of the new body parts not unlike what's seen at a car factory, culminating in the implantation of a neurocyte in the victim's brain, apparently by ''punching it through the forehead''. The most vaguely hygienic part of it is the cauterization of these wounds. Nonetheless, it leaves [[PlayerCharacter corporal Matthew Kane]] 40% faster and 25% tougher than when he came in, as well as capable of understanding the {{Wingdinglish}} that is the Strogg language despite his neurocyte not being activated.
* In ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry5PassionatePattiDoesALittleUndercoverWork'', Passionate Patti gets this treatment with a drill during a TrackingDevice implantation.
* PlayedForDrama in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'', where the surgery to extract Paz's stomach bomb is pretty much a matter of cutting her open and digging around in her intestines while Big Boss holds her down, all while Paz is fully conscious and screaming her lungs out. It's actually a justified case since the bomb is on a timer and they're performing it in a moving helicopter near an enemy base, so they simply don't have the time for a legitimate surgery or the luxury of being able to just take cover in case it goes off. [[spoiler:They get that bomb out, only to find a ''second'' bomb too late to do anything about it.]]
* ''VideoGame/DungeonMunchies'' has "Forced Surgery," a part of your "health plan" from your boss, Simmer. Your zombie player character is operated on by a fellow undead "employee," attaching brand new feet under your own that grants permanent DoubleJump; an extra pair of smaller arms around your waist for climbing; and later on, a new butt with a compressed-air tank built in. While the operations themselves are not shown, you do see the new parts being grafted on you, and all the blood splatter and the literal back-alley set-up aren't very pleasant, either.
* ''VideoGame/VGAMiner'': Asking for a surgery at the hospital does heal you slightly, even though Woody's (the surgeon's) razor is rusty.

* ''VideoGame/TheSurge'' opens with a paraplegic named Warren undergoing an automated surgery to get a rig that will allow him to walk again for his new job at CREO. Everything seems fine, and Warren looks a bit nervous but otherwise calm. His body is scanned... and then we hear "Patient sedated", but ''[[SkipTheAnesthetic Warren is still awake]]''. What ensues is a nightmarish sequence where the various plates and tubes of his exoskeleton get bolted and screwed onto his body, blood gushing from the screwholes, all while Warren screams in pure agony. Other audio diaries that he finds show he's not the only one this happened to, and it continued in its sequel, ''VideoGame/TheSurge2''.

* Also used for ''amateur'' plastic surgery in the ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode "Super Model".

* [[HeroicComedicSociopath Doctor Barber]] is never shown performing such surgeries onscreen (for obvious reasons), but don't think that'll stop ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' from reminding you as often as humanly possible that this is what he -- a 19th century doctor/barber -- does for a living. It's all PlayedForLaughs, of course.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': [[LethallyStupid Stan]]'s horrific attempt to reconstruct Hayley's face in her sleep in "The Mural of the Story".
* The times [[MadScientist Krieger]] is depicted performing surgery in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' are shown to be a gruesome affair. The least of which is that he doesn't sterilize the environment, doesn't know the names of any of the parts he's operating on (and in fact still follows Humorism) and has assistants who know even less than him, who often misplace their beers within the patients.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In the episode "Dying For Pie", [=SpongeBob=] "performs" open-heart surgery on Squidward by opening his chest cavity and poking his heart with his finger. This causes '''blood to come squirting out''', though Squidward is alive and well in the next scene.
** The episode “Code Yellow” is about [=SpongeBob=] being mistaken for a surgeon. This eventually leads to him giving Squidward a nose job. Although Squidward ''is'' put under anesthetics, the procedure itself involves [=SpongeBob=] ''violently chopping up his limbs over and over again'' until he gets it right. Eventually [=SpongeBob=] ''does'' succeed… but it comes at the cost of all of Squidward’s limbs.
* In the WesternAnimation/RogerRabbitShort "Tummy Trouble", Roger is sent to the ER by mistake and is about to be operated on with a ''chainsaw'' when the twelve-o'clock whistle sounds and the surgeons pause for lunch. Roger also administers his own anesthetic by HyperspaceMallet.

* Surgery in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' is generally not as bad as this trope, but the various characters regard it that way since it is a lot rougher than it would be in a proper hospital. The general term used in the show is "Meatball Surgery". Of course, being a frontline hospital unit, their jobs are to simply to save the patient and make sure they stay alive long enough to get sent to an evac hospital where they can be further treated before being sent to a hospital either in Tokyo or Stateside. In a very real sense, the exasperation expressed about the conditions they worked in and speed in which they needed to act was an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] (or at least LampshadeHanging) of this trope, as they were taking all the care they could under trying circumstances.
** Characters would occasionally help out at front line aid stations or at Korean field hospitals where they had to conduct even cruder procedures than at the 4077.
*** At a Korean field hospital:
---> '''Hawkeye:''' I wouldn't operate on your horse under these conditions.
---> '''Col. Potter:''' My horse wouldn't be caught dead in here.
** As a LongRunner, the series was able to show this aspect of field surgery in much greater detail than the novel or film could, despite the stricter rules about showing explicit gore. Several of the best-remembered episodes, including "O.R." and "Life Time", focus almost entirely on the pressure the surgical staff faced.
* [[CuteAndPsycho Helena]] from ''Series/OrphanBlack'' actually does this on herself to remove a piece of rebar from her ''liver.'' No discretion shot for you.
* One medical sketch on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' involved the new techniques of hitting patients with sledgehammers and frying pans.
* On ''Series/{{Rome}}'', after Titus gets a skull fracture from being struck on the head in a tavern brawl, he's tied into place, gagged, and the surgeon removes the piece of skull that got loose, then fits a small metal plate in. Titus passed out from the pain early on, thankfully.
* The realistic version is PlayedForDrama in ''Series/CodeBlack'' on a very regular basis, given that time is frequently short and resources often scarce at best. Drs. Leanne Rorish and Ethan Willis, in particular, have turned the "splash-and-slash"[[note]]splash on some antiseptic, then slash the patient open[[/note]] into a bona fide art form.
* A realistic depiction takes place in ''Series/GameOfThrones'', emphasizing that this is a LowFantasy pseudo-Medieval world where surgical knowledge is generally... not very advanced. One of the most gruesome surgeries seen yet appears in Season 7, where an attempt to treat the fantastical leprosy-equivalent called grayscale involves [[FlayedAlive slicing away the scabrous infected epidermal layers with knives]] and painting the raw skin beneath with some kind of healing ointment.