Unrealistic Portrayals of Cardiac Arrest in Contemporary Film | ACC 2025

Almost a quarter (74%) of film characters survive cardiac arrests, when compared to real-life cardiac arrests, which carry a more than 90% mortality rate, according to a poster presented today at the American College of Cardiology conference held March 29 to 31 in Chicago.

“I think the films are providing a very misleading picture, and maybe diminishing the severity of a cardiac arrest,” co-author Julia Harris, a comprehensive science student at Villanova University and incoming summer 2025 clinical research intern at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, said in a video interview with Managed Healthcare Executive.

Harris and her team used the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) to review 35 of the most popular films featuring a cardiac arrest from 2008 to 2024. They then examined each scene for the etiology of the cardiac arrest and noted the victim demographics, including age, sex, race and gender. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was graded using the American Heart Association recommendations for hand placement, rescuer position and compression rate and depth. This research is an extension of a prior work titled Portrayal of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Popular Film: A Review of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in August 2024.

Harris and her team also observed that 45% of fictional cardiac arrests were from drowning, with additional arrests from electrocution, suffocation and even an insect bite.

“These are things that have a dramatic effect but aren't always realistic in real life,” Harris said.

In reality, drowning accounts for approximately 0.5% of all etiologies, with 82% of arrests stemming from cardiac causes like arrhythmias or coronary artery disease.

CPR portrayal was more realistic, with 67% of characters assuming the correct rescuer position and 53% showing the correct hand placement, but the correct compression depth was only seen 10% of the time.

The American Heart Association recommends that to successfully perform CPR, the rescuer must perform chest compressions at a rate of 100 to 120 per minute, with each one averaging a depth of two inches.

“Something that would be really important for these films to have is a medical consultant, someone that could help better portray the CPR, as well as the appropriate steps in the chain of survival.”

The “chain of survival” refers to the series of six steps that, when completed correctly, increase the chances of survival when someone has a cardiac arrest. They include early calling 9-1-1, administering early CPR and providing recovery support such as rehabilitation or psychological support.

Harris also noted that a public service announcement at the end of the film could educate viewers. For example, an announcement with a link to the Red Cross’s instructions on how to perform CPR.

“If [viewers] are getting all their knowledge from watching these films, it can be dangerous if they need to perform CPR, and that’s the only education they have, so I think improving things like that could be very important,” Harris said.