History Main / MeatgrinderSurgery

* PlayedForDrama in ''Film/SawIII'': Lynn Denlon uses a power drill and small circular saw to cut away a piece of Jigsaw's skull and relieve the pressure on his brain.

* ''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.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXROnzpsrlg The Drugs Song]] by the British comedy duo Creator/AmateurTransplants is a PatterSong that lists an impossibly long sequence of various drugs that need to be known by a GP doctor, and then ends in this gem of a quote:

** During ''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 splurt 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 recieved 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.]]

* 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.

* 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 HyperspaceHammer.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' 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 '''[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar blood to come squirting out]]''', though Squidward is alive and well in the next scene.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' -- Professor Farnsworth decides the best way to carry out Bender's delicate gender reassignment is with ''a sledgehammer''. Even with the latter being a robot, it was still a dangerous tool to use.
** This is also what happens when you see Zoidberg for treatment. Although it's shown that he's actually a very good doctor when it comes to BizarreAlienBiology, it's just that, unfortunately, ''human'' anatomy is something he doesn't have nailed down just yet.
*** He is, however, somewhat capable at reattaching severed limbs. Even if he ''was'' the one who severed them in the first place. And if the limb in question ends up on the wrong side.

* PlayedForDrama in chapter 4 of ''Fanfic/AKingdomDivided''.

* ''[[http://fav.me/dd5rggt Spice Fortress: Is there a Medic in The House]]'', [[Music/MelanieC Melanie The Fighter]] is subjected to this, never mind the fact she [[SkipTheAnesthetic wasn’t given any kind pain killers]]. At least, she [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction pretty chilled]].

** During ''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 splurt 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?

* A few prehistoric skulls have been found with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trepanation trepanations,]] or holes cut through the skull. This was of course done with primitive implements, yet the bones show signs of long-term healing, which means the patient survived the surgery.

* [[HeroicComedicSociopath Doctor Barber]] is never shown performing such surgeries onscreen (for obvious reasons), but don't think that'll stop ''WesternAnimation/TheMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' 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.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[FunetikAksent Anyvay]], zat's how I lost my medical license."]]

* Standard medical practice in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'''s Ankh-Morpork involves hitting the patient over the head with a hammer to anesthetize them. The only real doctor in the city (Dr. Lawn from ''Discworld/NightWatch'') is seen as crazy for worrying about things like sanitation, sterilization, and the survival of his patients... until Sam Vimes rewarded him for [[spoiler: saving his wife and newborn son]] by helping him open his own hospital. This is one of the reasons that, prior to ''Night Watch'', the most employed physician in the city was "Doughnut Jimmy" Folsom, a horse vet. The reasoning goes, a good racehorse is expensive and a big earner, so Jimmy could choose between keeping his patients alive or having the last words he hears be something like "Da boss is ''very'' unhappy."

* Wilbur in ''Disney/TheRescuersDownUnder'' is threatened with this by a group of mice before he decides he feels fine and decides to check out early.

** As a LongRunner, the series was able to show this aspect of field surgery in much greater detail than the novel or film could. Several of the best-remembered episodes, including "O.R." and "Life Time", focus almost entirely on the pressure the surgical staff faced.

* Just as with the novel and film, 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.

** As a LongRunner, the series was able to show this aspect of in much greater detail than the novel or film could. Several of the best-remembered episodes, including "O.R." and "Life Time", focus almost entirely on the pressure the surgical staff faced.

** As a LongRunner, the series was able to show this aspect of in much greater detail than the novel or film could. Several of the best-remembered episodes, including "O.R." and Life Time", focus almost entirely on the pressure the surgical staff faced.

* Surgery in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' is 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.