Dictionary

flatliner en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From flatline + -er.

Meanings

1. An angler who uses a flatline.
2. (rare) A patient with no heartbeat.
   • […]unless my heart stops, okay? Nada — unless I'm a flatliner." 1996, Bill Butterworth, Butterworth gets his life together, page 144:
   • In spite of his dramatic highs and the canyon lows, Kurt was a flatliner—a patient with no heartbeat. 1998, George Mckinney, Cross the Line:
   • Though occasionally a “flatliner” can be revived with a defib, it is most commonly used to change the uncoordinated contractions of the heart (fibrillation) into a normal sinus rhythm—that is, to defibrillate the heart. 2011, Laurence Street, Introduction to Biomedical Engineering Technology, page 125:

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