Seven Pounds/Headscratchers

• Where the hell did Tim find a box jellyfish?
• Oh, the love scene is just so beautiful and....wait, doesn't Emily have a serious heart condition?
• Wouldn't the paramedics die if they accidentally touch the jellyfish while removing Tim's corpse?
  • No?
  • Tim sets up a sign to avoid just that scenario.
• Finding a doctor that would be willing to both lose his license, AND go to jail, was something that I couldn't get past.
• Tim caused a car accident that killed seven people. Why isn't he in jail?
  • Because it's an accident?
  • Not too sure about the US, but here in the UK you'd still be done for Manslaughter, Death By Dangerous Driving and (possibly) Criminal Negligence even if it was an accident. At the very least there'd be a court inquest, possibly a trial.
    • Especially given how he caused the accident while using a mobile phone at the wheel. Thats a criminal offence here.
• Wouldn't the Jellyfish venom in his BLOODSTREAM kind of, y'know, destroy his heart and keep it from being viable? Why didn't he, I dunno, slit his wrists or eat a gun?
  • Because the box jellyfish's sting kills in a really, painful manner. Tim, due to his Survivor Guilt, wants to punish himself for accidentally killing those people in the most painful way he can arrange. Of course, the box jellyfish venon is cardiotoxic, which would make his heart unsuitable for transplant (his other motive for suicide). Either the writers and producers Did Not Do the Research, or They Just Didn't Care and assumed that Viewers are Morons who wouldn't know any better.
  • Or Rule of Drama.
  • Even slit his wrists or eat a gun doesn't necessarily make him actually eligible to donate organs. There are two types of death, cardiac and brain. Only people who suffer brain death while delaying cardiac death (through medical intervention) can actually be organ donors. This completely destroyed the small amount of Willing Suspension of Disbelief I had left. And while I know this may not be common knowledge anyone who has ever been involved in the decision to donate a loved one's organs does- and could arguably be more moved by the actions depicted. This mistake alienated a group of people who could have been the most moved by the movie.
• Okay, I'm not arguing it's unlikely a heart would be found for Emily in a time. But Tim's choice wasn't die and give his heart to her or spend a month or two with her and she dies. There was a possibility, very slim yet no where near impossible, a heart could have been found in time. Unless I missed something, his choice wasn't even make sure she got a heart or hope and pray that she did. I don't know whether people can dictate via will or other legal documents who their organs will go to, but his heart being a match for hers doesn't automatically mean she'd get it. There could have been another person who was a match that, for whatever reason, received the heart instead of her.
  • As incredible as it sounds, something similar is possible. I have a relative who was in need of a kidney. Her daughter donated a kidney into the "system", and the mother received a kidney transplant shortly afterward. Probably not the same kidney, but apparently you can go "organ in, organ out". As terrible as the film's moral is, perhaps the rest can be chalked up to Artistic License.
• Why do they treat forcing a dog to be a vegetarian to be a good thing? Canine are all carnivorous creatures, and forcing any carnivore to go through such a diet could be considered animal abuse.
  • Unfriendly Aesop - forcing something that has no control because you believe it is morally right is A-OK!
  • Possibly a case of Freakier Than Fiction since there are dog-owners that train their dogs to eat only vegetarian food, and give them supplements to help them stay healthy.