MovieChat Forums > Outbreak (1995) Discussion > Blood centrifuge infection?

Blood centrifuge infection?

posted 13 years ago by MrZoolook
9 replies | jump to latest

Have just watched this film again, and one thing puzzles me. Does anyone know why the doctor testing the blood sticks his hand in a running centrifuge? I didn't see a light or hear a buzzer telling him it had finished, and I dare say even the oldest models of centrifuge had one or the other. I also suspect that if I, even without years of medical training, would look through the glass lid NO MATTER WHAT (its potentially infected blood dammit), so would a qualified person.

So again, why did he put his hand in it as it was running? A possible plot hole maybe?

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[–] zmystico 13 years ago

Honestly...he seemed like a moron, he was more focused on the game he was listening to than what he was doing. I mean look at how he just coughed without even thinking of covering his mouth.

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[–] MrZoolook 13 years ago

They should add a Darwin Oscar... he would have won that year!

Dammit, he would have been disqualified as he endangered others :(

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[–] lythandrel 13 years ago

Most large centrifuges will not allow you to open them until they've slowed down considerably. Smaller laboratory centrifuges, especially from back then required common sense, as they would allow you to open them once they'd turned off, regardless of whether or not it was still spinning. There's no brake on the smaller ones like the one in the film, but at least some of the newer ones will now allow you to unlock the lid until it's below a certain RPM.

[–] CromeRose 13 years ago

Yes, at first I thought that scene was a stupid plot device or writer convenience or laziness. But after I thought about it I decided it was probably pretty accurate. Some people, no matter what their job, are just stupid, lazy, irresponsible or reckless; and then again, some people are all of the above. So in that context, the scene works, especially if the centrifuge allows people to open it while it's still spinning. No centrifuge should. There should be an "idiot check" on them all but of course that would cost more time and time is money.

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[–] scorpiointhesun 11 years ago

Not to mention that vials are not made of glass, and they can't just shatter. Bad writing there!

[–] trekkie313 11 years ago

It hit his hand then the side of the centrifuge. It's not bad writing.

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[–] scorpiointhesun 9 years ago

Then explain what shattered. It was as if they were breakable tubes. Something shattered and it wasn't the dude's hand against the centrifuge.

[–] swc11-48-550133 12 years ago

I saw this and at first though "how could he do that, nobody sticks there hands in a turning centrifuge". But, later, after seeing the other scenes around this one it just comes across as a worst case scenario event: guy coughing in theater and not covering mouth; hospital with many patients packed together, people coming in and out with no face coverings; etc, etc. The scenes seemed like they gave the message of: these people were idiots and common sense could have saved many many lives.

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[–] 12 years ago

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