History Main / MeatgrinderSurgery

* The ''[[{{Ptitleg61am70o3b3w}} M*A*S*H]]'' surgeons referred to what they were doing as "meatball surgery" -- doing quick (but hopefully not too dirty) surgery, keeping the patient alive but leaving follow-ups to the better-equipped Evac hospitals. Naturally, many of the plots involved the protagonists trying to avert or subvert this trope, but it still arose from time to time.

* In ''AfroSamurai'', when [[spoiler: Jinno is turned into a cyborg]]. This might qualify as BlackComedy, or the catoonish nature of the scene might make it worse.

* Eric Flint's book "1812: The rivers of war" provides an excellent example of this, which was TruthInTelevision at the time. The patient denies the issued anaestetic, which is raw Navy rum (he has a bottle of emergency laudanum packed away, which he uses), but he knows that refusing the anaesthetic the surgeon tried to give him would be good for his reputation regardless. Also, a quote:

** At least Aztecs and Chinese removed brain parasites.
** If I remember correctly, the Zulu made holes in skulls that got bashed in with a mace to let out evil spirits.. And intracranial pressure.

* Any wonder why the death rate from surgery was so high back then?
** The lack of antibiotics?
*** Yes, but usually the patient dies of shock long before antibiotics are needed.

** The one they used for mine looked like a miniature crowbar. Also, their budget ran low so they saved on the anesthetics.

* This type was used quite a bit in ''MontyPython''.

* Battlefield surgery until surprisingly recently could be like this. They would amputate with a saw and cauterize with a branding iron [[FateWorseThanDeath with no anesthetic]] other then rum and opium. Which wasn't always given.

** If I remember correctly, the Zulu made holes in skulls that got bashed in with a mace to let out evil spirits.. And intercranial pressure.

* The ''TeamFortress2'' video "Meet the Medic". Roughly half the video involves the RED Medic performing surgery on the Heavy, in a procedure involving a device ([[spoiler:which, as it turns out, enables the Ubercharge 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.

--> -- ''TeamFortress2'', "Meet the Medic"

'''Medic''': "Well, no. But as long as you are, could you hold your rib cage open a bit?"

-->'''Heavy:''' Should I be awake for this?
-->'''Medic:''' Well, no. But as long as you are, could you hold your rib cage open a bit?

Surgeries are dangerous and delicate things are dangerous, there's the reason of why [[ThisAintRocketSurgery brain surgeons]] get their genius reputation as they have to spend hours carefully maneuvering their tools and any mistake can cost their patient's life [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]].

If anesthesia is administered, it's either by a sledgehammer to the head or copious amounts of booze.

Might be justified if it takes place before the 20th century (see Real Life).

Don't expect to see what's going on with the patient during the operation or an explanation on why piercing his head is going to help with his HiccupHijinks, but he'll step away from the operation room completely healthy and his medical problem will be gone, or at least not horribly mutilated.

** If I remember correctly(watched an interview long ago), the Zulu made holes in skulls that got bashed in with a mace to let out evil spirits.. And intercranial pressure.

Surgeries are dangerous and delicate things and there's a reason [[ThisAintRocketSurgery brain surgeons]] get their genius reputation as they have to spend hours carefully maneuvering their tools and any mistake can cost their patient's life [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]].

* This trope is common in TheThreeStooges shorts, especially the hammer anesthetic.

Surgeries are dangerous and delicate things and there's a reason [[ThisAintRocketSurgery brain surgeons]] get their genius reputation as they have to spend hours carefully maneuvering their tools and any mistake can cost their patient's life.