Daily Dialogue — December 7, 2017

Nelson Wright: When my body temperature hits 86 degrees, you’re going to hit me with 200 Joules. The electric current will stop my heart. When the heart is dead, take the mask off… I’m going to draw 20 ccs. You handle the injections. When the EEG flatlines, the brain is dead. I’ll be exploring. Give me 30 seconds. Flip the blanket on to ‘warm.’ Take me up to 93 degrees slowly. Inject 1 cc of Adrenaline, and at one minute, Joe, you come in with the defibs. And you bring me back to life.
Rachel: [entering room] With brain damage. Resembling in many ways a cabbage patch doll.

— Flatliners (1990), written by Peter Filardi

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Medical, suggested by Denise Garcia.

Trivia: During the pre-production period, the actors worked with Medical Technical Adviser Ruth F. Ekholm, who tutored them on the proper medical procedures for the scenes where the students flatline on the EKG and EEG machines, signaling heart and brain death, respectively. They also took advantage of screenwriter Peter Filardi’s research of published accounts concerning those who had had near-death experiences. Among these people, accident victims nearly all reported positive experiences of a tunnel leading to a beautiful white light and friendly voices. In contrast, people who had attempted suicide had troubled, and emotionally painful near-death experiences.

Dialogue On Dialogue: If you’re going to lay out a bunch of exposition, best wrap it up in something compelling… such as creating one’s temporary death.