History Main / PullTheIV

* Subverted in ''[[{{Literature/Uglies}} Specials]]''. Protagonist Tally has bio-sculpting performed on her and is placed inside a liquid-filled healing tank. When the facility is attacked she rips her breathing tube out to try and join the fight but starts drowning instead, only surviving thanks to someone noticing and breaking the tank.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': Han Solo does this by accident in ''Literature/TatooineGhost'' when the Tatooinian clinic he's being treated in comes under attack by the villains. He doesn't even realize his arm is bleeding until after the fight is over.

* Downplayed in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. During the Daily Life Arc, [[spoiler:Izaya]] is hospitalized and has an IV attached to his arm which he drags around as he wanders the hospital. That night, [[spoiler:Manami Mamiya attempts to kill Izaya and during the fight, the IV is tugged out]]. [[spoiler:While he pins Manami down, Izaya holds his wrist to his chest, which makes sense since he just had a needle ripped out]].

[[folder:Fanworks]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

* Variation in ''Film/UnderworldBloodWars''. Selene is knocked out with poison and is strapped to a table with needles inserted into her attached to tubes that are slowly draining her blood. When David and Thomas attempt to rescue her, Thomas examines the needles and finds they are barbed, so he warns David to pull them out ''very'' gently or else they will inflict serious damage to her.

* In ''Series/Sense8'', a [[MindMeld Visiting]] Will rescues Nomi - who is handcuffed to a hospital bed and due for an involuntary lobotomy - by having her pull out her IV and using the needle to pick the cuffs.

[[folder: Theater ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* Used humourously in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. The episode "Days of Future Future" has a montage of Homer repeatedly being killed and then cloned by Professor Frink. One of these comedic deaths includes him pulling out his I.V at the hospital after being told he couldn't eat solid food for two weeks.
** In episode "Blood Feud" Mr Burns yanks his IV off right after his blood transfusion.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' averts this in "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel", at least at first. When Brock Samson wakes up in an O.S.I. sickbay, with every reason to believe he's a prisoner, he drags the I.V. stand with him as he sneaks around the hallways. He even uses it to pin a doctor for questioning. The catheter does come out at some point before he [[ThePatientHasLeftTheBuilding skydives out the nearest hatch]]. A more gruesome spin on this trope is [[VulgarHumor played for laughs]] in "Dia de los Dangerous!" when a kidney-less Dr. Venture [[MacGyvering jury rigs]] his robot into a dialysis machine. Whenever he moves carelessly, the two rather short catheters break loose from his abdomen, [[HighPressureBlood spraying blood]] everywhere.

[[folder: Real Life ]]
* People can and frequently do attempt and succeed in pulling out their own [=IVs,=] as well as more invasive medical devices (Foley catheters, central venous lines, arterial lines, endotracheal tubes, etc). In the case of a basic peripheral IV, frequently this results in some pain and a big mess, as the drip (if any) will keep dripping all over the place, and the site will continue to bleed to varying degrees if it isn't well bandaged. (How much blood may be involved depends on whether the patient has been given any anticoagulant or "blood thinning" medications, as well as the size of the IV "line." For example, a 14-gauge widebore will bleed much more than a 22-gauge pediatric line.) In the vast majority of cases, a pulled IV is no cause for alarm; it just means the staff will have to stick you again to start a new line. The major risk that may be involved arises from abruptly discontinuing any dripped medication the patient may be on, and the time delay before resuming it.
* As most modern indwelling peripheral [=IVs=] consist of only a small plastic tube (catheter) sticking into the vein (the actual needle is used only for insertion, the catheter is threaded over it, and then the needle is removed and discarded), there is little risk for further tissue damage from pulling out an IV. Also, [=IVs=] inserted the wrong way (as mentioned on this trope page), though definitely not the standard of practice, are sometimes used in real life and can still function.
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* One episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' had JD attached to an IV to cure his hangover. When he tries to run away from Dr. Cox, he falls over and the IV gets ripped out.
** Another episode mentions that the nurses take great care when removing the IV, saying that removing it without bruising is a great skill.
*** Which is actually not true. Removing an IV without bruising is very easy when done properly (ie not yanking, and putting pressure on afterward).

* Used humourously in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. The episode "Future Drama" has a montage of Homer repeatedly being killed and then cloned by Professor Frink. One of these comedic deaths includes him pulling out his I.V at the hospital after being told he couldn't eat solid food for two weeks.

* In ''Film/ResidentEvil'', Alice wakes up alone in a hospital [[LateToTheTragedy Late To The]] ZombieApocalypse, and the first thing she does is yank out the multiple [=IVs=] all over her body. It ''does'' hurt like hell.

* During the climax of season 1 of ''Series/{{The Newsroom}}'', Will McAvoy tears out his IV while quoting the end of Don Quixote. It sets off alarms at the nurse's station and unsurprisingly pisses off his nurse.

* ''Film/TheHidden'': Justified--the alien villain, [[PuppeteerParasite occupying a human body]], is hospitalized after the police gun him down. After they leave him with another patient he yanks out the IV to [[GrandTheftMe jump into the other person's body]].

* Used humourously in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Simpsons}}''. The episode "Future Drama" has a montage of Homer repeatedly being killed and then cloned by Professor Frink. One of these comedic deaths includes him pulling out his I.V at the hospital after being told he couldn't eat solid food for two weeks.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/YuGiOh''. Bakura, a character who has a spirit possessing him on and off, is stabbed and passes out. He wakes up in a hospital as the spirit, who promptly knocks out the old man who was watching over him, stands up, ''[[{{Squick}} violently rips the IV out of his arm]]'', and sets off to find the guy he's planning to defeat.

* ''Manga/OnePiece''. Right before the fateful battle in Marineford, Whitebeard pulled off all of his life support equipment since he didn't want anyone else to see how age and sickness had taken their toll on him.
* An offscreen example happens in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Rin wakes up in a hospital after collapsing and, in a haze, wanders off. When the nurse sees that she's missing, there's a shot of her slightly-bloody IV needle lying on her bed. Presumably, she didn't notice any pain because she was that delirious.
* Downplayed in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. During the Daily Life Arc, [[spoiler:Izaya]] is hospitalized and has an IV attached to his arm which he drags around as he wanders the hospital. That night, [[spoiler:Manami Mamiya attempts to kill Izaya and during the fight, the IV is tugged out]]. [[spoiler:While he pins Manami down, Izaya holds his wrist to his chest, which makes sense since he just had a needle ripped out]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': ComicBook/DavidCain in one flashback ''[[AvertedTrope didn't]]'' do this. After breaking out of a secure hospital he kept the I.V. line in, and the I.V. bag in the breast pocket of his coat.

* ''Fanfic/ACertainHolidaySeason'': Touma knows what to do:
--> "Right. Anyone outside?" He stumbled when his feet hit the floor, but soon he was mobile, carefully prying at his IV drip.
--> "[S]hould you be removing that?"
--> "Hmmm? Oh, yeah, it's nearly empty anyway, and they did a clean insertion. I've done this before: just shut the drip off at the roller clamp, remove the taping, and then cover with a sterile bandage."
* Subverted in ''FanFic/HowTheLightGetsIn''. A recently resurrected [[RecoveredAddict Laurel]] wakes up and sees she's on an IV, and, thinking it's painkillers, panics and tries to rip it out. She's stopped however by Diggle, who assures her its just fluids, which she desperately needs. Diggle carefully removes the IV at a later point.

[[folder: Film ]]
* In ''Film/ResidentEvil'', Alice wakes up alone in a hospital [[LateToTheTragedy Late To The]] ZombieApocalypse, and the first thing she does is yank out the multiple [=IVs=] all over her body. It ''does'' hurt like hell.
* Shows up in ''Film/HalloweenII2009'' (2009). Justified, as it happens [[spoiler:during a nightmare sequence]].
* The Bride does this in ''Film/KillBill'' during the hospital sequence after killing Buck's latest "customer," who he'd been pimping out her comatose body to, just before getting into position (with no working legs, mind you) to ambush and take revenge upon Buck.

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', Neo has a similar setup, but fed directly into a port in his arm (and facing the wrong way). Removing it does seem to cause pain though.
* ''Film/{{Inception}}'': The dream machine appears to involve an IV-like device, which appears to be simply pulled out when not needed.
* Jim of ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' does this, though not right away. It's not like anyone's coming to tend to him, and we see him wrapping a bandage around his arm where the IV had been.
* ''Film/HarryBrown'' of the eponymous film removes his monitors and goes home after waking in hospital following an emphysema attack.
* In ''Film/XMen1'', Wolverine wakes up at the medical room of the X-Men base and promptly rips out the needles. Doesn't bleed thanks to his HealingFactor.

* Bob Lee Swagger does this to himself in ''Film/{{Shooter}}''; he's been shot and knows he's going into shock from blood loss, so he improvises an IV set using aquarium tubing, plastic soda bottles, and a ''basting needle.'' Once he's bolused himself with a liter or so of homemade sugar-salt solution, he yanks the line out and continues on his merry badass way.

* Deconstructed in ''Film/{{Click}}''. Adam Sandler, hospitalized, seeing his son is about to repeat his same mistakes, pulls his IV and races out to catch his son in the parking lot. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome This leads directly to his death within five minutes]].
* A particularly gruesome example in ''Film/TheHumanCentipede'', as one of the girls tries to escape - she runs from the drip stand without removing the needle, which subsequently tears her vein open and bleeds heavily.
* ''Film/TheHidden'': Justified--the alien villain, [[PuppeteerParasite occupying a human body]], is hospitalized after the police gun him down. After they leave him with another patient he yanks out the IV to [[GrandTheftMe jump into the other person's body]].
* Variation in ''Film/UnderworldBloodWars''. Selene is knocked out with poison and is strapped to a table with needles inserted into her attached to tubes that are slowly draining her blood. When David and Thomas attempt to rescue her, Thomas examines the needles and finds they are barbed, so he warns David to pull them out ''very'' gently or else they will inflict serious damage to her.

* Played with in ''Film/IsntItRomantic'' when Natalie, after waking in a romantic fantasy that runs on tropes, easily pulls an IV that only appears to be taped on. When she tries this again after waking in reality, she gets a spurting hole in her arm.

* Averted in an episode of ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'', where a hospitalized gangster gets into a fight and drags his IV drip around with him. PlayedForLaughs, obviously.

* Naturally, any TV series featuring an emergency department will show this at least once; notable examples include ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' and ''Series/{{ER}}''.
** ER even featured a version where the doctor themself did it. Carter yanked out a patient's IV upon realizing that he'd given her a medication that she was allergic to, then hurriedly tried to claim that she had done it when questioned by another doctor.
** Series/GeneralHospital: SerialKiller Ryan Chamberlain has been hospitalized. Beloved Chief of Staff Steve Hardy (whose wife Ryan almost killed) has snuck into his room and is preparing to pull out his IV (one of the few times it's acknowledged that doing this could kill someone). Ryan wakes up and tries to taunt him into doing it, but Steve ultimately decides to stand by the most basic principle of medicine--"First, do no harm"--and walks out.

* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', Starbuck does this when breaking out of the Cylon farm.
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Henry Spencer, not wanting his son to embarrass him by this whole "barely poisoned" foolishness (thus resulting in his son languishing in a hospital rather than solving the case) yanks the IV out of Shawn's arm. Notably, it has quite painful results.
* The ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "The English Patient" has George unplug the I.V of a guy who was dating a girl George likes.
* On the first season of ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel'', Adrianne Curry got extremely sick and was taken to the hospital. She was told that unless she went to the photoshoot and turned in a photo for the judges to see, she would be eliminated. She was so alarmed at the thought of losing, in the course of getting out of the hospital bed, she dramatically ripped the IV out of her arm..... and regretted it almost immediately due to the pain. She later had a bruise covering the ''entire'' length of her arm that was so extreme, even make-up couldn't fully cover it, and it had to be photoshopped out.
* During the climax of season 1 of ''Series/{{The Newsroom}}'', Will McAvoy tears out his IV while quoting the end of Don Quixote. It sets off alarms at the nurse's station and unsurprisingly pisses off his nurse.

* In ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'', Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett does this. She's at Planned Parenthood or some such clinic, just about to receive abortion #5, but having second thoughts about going through with this one (because her boyfriend/husband/whatever the hell he was kind of wanted her to keep it, even trying to persuade her to do so by telling her she could get government assistance.) [[spoiler: She ends up going out, taking her partner's shotgun, and shooting the nurse that made a snarky comment about how many abortions Ms. Doggett had received. The pro-lifers out front protesting think she did it to support their cause.]]
* In one episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'', an unsub shoots Reid and sends an accomplice to the hospital to finish him off by poisoning his IV. Reid figures out what the accomplice is doing and pulls out the IV.
* An entirely {{Justified}} example occurs on ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' when Granger is in the hospital after being stabbed. Justified because [[SickbedSlaying an assassin has just injected poison into his IV]], forcing him to pull it out before it can hurt him (after, of course, shooting said assassin with a gun that Hetty had left him).
* ''Series/{{MASH}}''. Winchester isn't happy when Colonel Flagg starts [[ImpliedDeathThreat conspicuously playing with the I.V. tube]] of a wounded North Korean prisoner he's interrogating.

* Deconstructed in ''Film/{{Click}}''. Adam Sandler, hospitalized, seeing his son is about to repeat his same mistakes, pulls his IV and races out to catch his son in the parking lot. [[RealityEnsues This leads directly to his death within five minutes]].

* Subverted in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/8793565/chapters/20159878 How the Light Gets In]]''. A recently resurrected [[RecoveredAddict Laurel]] wakes up and sees she's on an IV, and, thinking it's painkillers, panics and tries to rip it out. She's stopped however by Diggle, who assures her its just fluids, which she desperately needs. Diggle carefully removes the IV at a later point.

The hero--or villain--has been hospitalized. When they come to, they've got better things to do than sit in the recovery ward for hours and hours--the world's at peril! They dramatically yank off their IV as they're informed of another attack--''especially'' if the bad guys are knocking down hospital doors, guns blazing. They've got no time to bleed. That this is against DoctorsOrders is always implied, and sometimes explicitly stated.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''Manga/{{Sankarea}}''. Chihiro sustains injuries to his neck serious enough to need an IV and when he wakes up, he gets out of bed fast enough for the IV to come off, but feels nothing.

* An offscreen example happens in ''Manga/FruitsBasket''. Rin wakes up in a hospital after collapsing and, in a haze, wanders off. When the nurse sees that she's missing, there's a shot of her slightly-bloody IV needle lying on her bed. Presumably she didn't notice any pain because she was that delirious.
* Downplayed in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. During the Daily Life Arc, [[spoiler:Izaya]] is hospitalized and has an IV attached to his arm which he drags around as he wanders the hospital. That night, [[spoiler:Manami Mamiya attempts to kill Izaya, and during the fight the IV is tugged out]]. [[spoiler:While he pins Manami down, Izaya holds his wrist to his chest, which makes sense since he just had a needle ripped out]].

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Subverted in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/8793565/chapters/20159878 How the Light Gets In]]''. A recently resurrected [[RecoveredAddict Laurel]] wakes up and sees she's on an IV, and thinking its painkillers, panics and tries to rip it out. She's stopped however by Diggle, who assures her its just fluids, which she desperately needs. Diggle carefully removes the IV at a later point.

* In ''Film/ResidentEvil'', Alice wakes up alone in a hospital [[LateToTheTragedy Late To The]] ZombieApocalypse, and the first thing she does is yank out the multiple IV's all over her body. It ''does'' hurt like hell.

** ''Film/IronMan1'': Tony Stark not only pulls out an IV, but also his own respirator tubes. Yensin, observing, only stops him when he tries to remove the electromagnet newly implanted in his chest, so presumably the IV and endotracheal tubes were no longer actually necessary.

* Humorously averted in ''Film/OSS117LostInRio'', leading to a LowSpeedChase through an hospital.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

* Used humourously in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Simpsons}}''. The episode "Future Drama" has a montage of Homer repeatedly being killed and then cloned by Professor Frink. One of these comedic deaths include him pulling out his I.V at the hospital after being told he couldn't eat solid food for two weeks.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'' averts this in "Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel", at least at first. When Brock Samson wakes up in an O.S.I. sick bay, with every reason to believe he's a prisoner, he drags the I.V. stand with him as he sneaks around the hallways. He even uses it to pin a doctor for questioning. The catheter does come out at some point before he [[ThePatientHasLeftTheBuilding skydives out the nearest hatch]]. A more gruesome spin on this trope is [[VulgarHumor played for laughs]] in "Dia de los Dangerous!" when a kidney-less Dr. Venture [[MacGyvering jury rigs]] his robot into a dialysis machine. Whenever he moves carelessly, the two rather short catheters break loose from his abdomen, [[HighPressureBlood spraying blood]] everywhere.

May be related to {{Afraid of Needles}}, and represents an amusing subversion: there ''is no needle'' in an established IV, as it's only used to introduce the catheter into the vein, and is removed and safely disposed of immediately thereafter.

-->--'''''WebVideo/{{Unskippable}}'''''

* Downplayed in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}''. During the Daily Life Arc, [[spoiler:Izaya]] is hospitalized has with an IV attached to his arm which he drags around as he wanders the hospital. That night, [[spoiler:Manami Mamiya attempts to kill Izaya, and during the fight the IV is tugged out]]. [[spoiler:While he pins Manami down, Izaya holds his wrist to his chest, which makes sense since he just had a needle ripped out]].

* ''Film/IronMan1'': Tony Stark not only pulls out an IV, but also his own respirator tubes. Yensin, observing, only stops him when he tries to remove the electromagnet newly implanted in his chest, so presumably the IV and endotracheal tubes were no longer actually necessary.