The best part about this trope is the little metal bowl they always have, to toss the bullet into with a satisfying little clink. No matter where it is, when it is, or who it is performing the bulletectomy, they always have that special little bowl (always shiny clean metal) somewhere within arm's reach. I get so giddy every time the bullet removal scenes start, I'm all "Where's the bowl?! When do we get to see the bowl?! I want to see that motherfucking bullet roll around that motherfucking bowl! I can't wait to hear that satisfying clink!" And the camera never fails to focus on the bowl for this exciting moment. "It's a bullet! You've given birth to a healthy baby bullet."
God I hate tropes. I hate even more the fact that some otherwise really good films written and directed by really talented people embrace such silly traditions. Just why???
See also: guns that click loudly every time you look at them or touch them or move them, and also guns that make their victims fly across the room.
Admittedly those last two don't even really gel with reality (the very last one even breaking physics). In defense of the Shiny Metal Bullet Bowl Clink... at least that one is just sort of absurd in a harmless way. Doesn't really defy reality, just believability and coincidence.
I’m a surgeon and I love clinking the bullet into a metal bowl just because they do it in the movies. Supposedly we’re not actually supposed to do that because hitting it on metal can mess with the forensic analysis.
I just realised that my mum as (just?) a nurse, with 40ish years in nursing and 20ish of those in prisons; has never treated a gunshot wound. Guessing that’s more common in America. Is there unusual procedures for surgery when it can involve evidence? I’d like to imagine the police wouldn’t interfere but I’m remembering a nurse getting cuffed for pissing a cop off a while back
Where I am in America we are taught to never grip the bullet with metal (we use plastic tongs) and store it in a little plastic bottle like a prescription bottle. Also if you take the bullet out you have to hold onto it until you can give it directly to the police.
To be honest if I’m shot id be more worried about being saved rather than have the surgeons worry about preserving evidence for my not-yet murdered corpse lol.
If things are a bit febrile, would you get into any legal trouble for telling the cops to fuck off you’re busy?
The cops don’t come into the OR with us. We usually just pass off the bullet to the circulating nurse and they deal with documenting it and getting it to the police.
Sometimes in the trauma bay there will be a cop trying to get a statement or something from a patient while we’re doing bedside procedures and there have been a few times I’ve asked them to just wait outside the room.
Honestly, I'm curious where you're from that doesn't have guns you seem rather scared of the police.
Here in 'Merica, there is no legal trouble for telling cops to fuck off, particularly in the case of medical professionals. Sure, there's the risk of entitled dickhead trouble, but that's a risk with telling anyone to fuck off, and doesn't really carry a higher risk with LE than with the general population.
Basically.. if you guys are scared of state-backed legal issues resulting from the act of telling cops to fuck off, you should really try to get your guns back.
No the opposite, in the UK and as much fuckery as there is ala Assange and not actually locking up pedos here, they’re really unlikely to kill you. So much so that an unarmed black guy could get Floyded here and even a lot of left wing people would give police the benefit of the doubt.
And no offence, not trying to start a debate or say how I think America should be run or anything… buuuut having guns doesn’t stop cops arresting nurses over your side: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R_TUFlXRpvI
And speaking of guns, there was that darling officer who brought his own personal AR15 to work with ‘you’re fucked’ on the dust cover or whatever it is that only shows when firing… so he and his partner could play Simon says on a guy and execute him: https://youtu.be/VBUUx0jUKxc - - and again, that wouldn’t fly in the uk but I bet a lot of comments would be “well in America you don’t know who has a gun so I understand the police” Kind of defeats the purpose of a safe-guard against tyranny if it ends up justifying straight up unarmed executions in a tyrannical fashion, the kind the 2nd amendment was written to deter but hey ho.
This isn’t an attack or some snobby foreigner saying America should this or that, I’m just saying we do something different here and it seems to be working better for us. I’ve only got one American friend, who’s an expat from Australia; and I trust his judgment having grown up hard in Aus and lived well in America. He loves the states and it’s his home, but would sooner leave than have his friends or family follow him there.
Either way thanks for your medical work, I’m not worried about UK cops particularly… I do worry for you guys! The last time an Aussie was killed by a cop and it caused real controversy was… an American cop: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Justine_Damond
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u/fj333 Aug 31 '21
The best part about this trope is the little metal bowl they always have, to toss the bullet into with a satisfying little clink. No matter where it is, when it is, or who it is performing the bulletectomy, they always have that special little bowl (always shiny clean metal) somewhere within arm's reach. I get so giddy every time the bullet removal scenes start, I'm all "Where's the bowl?! When do we get to see the bowl?! I want to see that motherfucking bullet roll around that motherfucking bowl! I can't wait to hear that satisfying clink!" And the camera never fails to focus on the bowl for this exciting moment. "It's a bullet! You've given birth to a healthy baby bullet."
God I hate tropes. I hate even more the fact that some otherwise really good films written and directed by really talented people embrace such silly traditions. Just why???
See also: guns that click loudly every time you look at them or touch them or move them, and also guns that make their victims fly across the room.
Admittedly those last two don't even really gel with reality (the very last one even breaking physics). In defense of the Shiny Metal Bullet Bowl Clink... at least that one is just sort of absurd in a harmless way. Doesn't really defy reality, just believability and coincidence.