flatliner

An angler who uses a flatline.

Noun

  1. An angler who uses a flatline.
  2. 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....

Origin

From flatline + -er.

Forms

flatliners