House - Episode 5 (Season Three): “Fools for Love”
House returns with a well done episode with some of the best medicine yet. There is a high “ick-factor” this week, so consider yourself warned when you watch the episode or when you read this week’s House medical review.
Tracy and Jeremy, a young married couple, are eating in a diner when two gunman try to rob the restaurant. Tracy is held hostage, but Jeremy manages to rescue her. After subduing the gunman, he turns around to finder her gasping for breath in anaphylactic shock.
House’s team picks up the case four days later. In addition to the swelling of her throat, Tracy is also experiencing abdominal pain. She has been on steroids and antihistamines the four days she has been in the hospital and has shown some improvement. Allergy tests were negative and a laparoscopy has already been performed and was also negative. The initial differential diagnosis is pregnancy and allergies, both of which are ruled out by testing. Her urine drug screen did show evidence of marijuana and the team speculates that she could have been exposed to Salmonella through contaminated marijuana. She is started on a fluoroquinolone (an antibiotic such as Cipro, Levaquin, or Floxin) to treat the suspected Salmonella.
She develops a rash from an allergic reaction to the antibiotic (an allergy that happened way too fast, by the way). The team now discusses allergies as a cause again, but House suspects exercise induced anaphylaxis. Tracy is placed on a treadmill. She has some abdominal pain, but the test is negative. On the other hand, her husband develops severe chest pain and abdominal pain and finds himself admitted to House’s service. His initial work-up is negative — no heart attack or aortic dissection — and the team thinks it might be psychosomatic or a panic attack.
Then the team makes the assumption that both Tracy’s and Jeremy’s conditions are related and share a common cause. It seems like quite a stretch in logic to me at this point, but it’s not my show. A search of their apartment turns up a box of condoms so Chase and House suspect the cause is Gonorrhea, but all STD tests are negative.
Tracy’s pain is worsening. She goes into acute delirium and hallucinates about Jeremy’s father. She then slips into a coma. An MRI shows some generalized swelling as well as some suspicious spots in the brain stem, but it doesn’t give enough information for a firm diagnosis. House is concerned about sarcoidosis, though he also mentions plaques (multiple scelerosis, Alzheimer’s) and tumors. He starts the pair on methotrexate to treat the presumptive sarcoidosis, but he also wants a biopsy of Tracy’s brain. This sets up an ethical dilemma. Jeremy would normally be able to make medical decisions for Tracy when she is incapacitated, but since the decision will also affect his health, there is a conflict of interest. Another guardian must be declared, but that will take time. House ignores this and sends the team to talk to Jeremy, but he refuses to let them biopsy her brain. House wants to browbeat him into agreeing, so he uses naloxone to counteract Jeremy’s pain medicine. Despite House’s ploy, he still refuses.
Jeremy is not showing any brain symptoms, but he starts showing an elevated lactic acid, which can be a sign of an ischemic bowel (intestines that are not getting enough blood supply. This can proceed to death or infection of the intestines.). The team is concerned that his bowel is dying, so they operate expecting to have to remove some bad bowel. Surprisingly, they find no dead bowel, just swelling of the intestines. House now wonders if maybe it is two separate diseases: Tracy has small cell vasculitis, while Jeremy has porphyria. He then makes one of his patented logical leaps and realizes that they both have a rare genetic disorder called Hereditary Angioedema that leads to the swelling of body tissues, particularly in times of stress. He then takes it one step farther and realizes that Tracy and Jeremy share the same father and are in fact half-siblings, this giving us our ick-factor of the episode.
Overall, the medicine was sound. I have a few complaints, most of which I mentioned above, but no deal breakers this week. Most of the mistakes were jumping to conclusions too quickly without any real evidence, but that’s par for the course on this show. The team also went to surgery too quickly, both on Tracy’s laparoscopy (though that was the previous team), and on Jeremy’s bowel surgery. (And why didn’t they see edema during Tracy’s surgery?). I feel I should point out that the Young Guns did not perform any unrealistic testing themselves this week (the treadmill was a test I would expect them to run); since I always criticize them in this area, I will compliment them for getting it right this week. Additionally, lupus was not mentioned this week, nor was “autoimmune disease.”
Some nice soap opera this week. All three of the Young Guns, particularly Foreman, are standing up to House more. There is a clever sub-plot involving Wilson and a pediatric nurse, as well as House’s continues insistence that Cuddy is pregnant. David Morse also appears as a taciturn and disgruntled patient of House. He lodges a complaint, but House rebuffs him. In the final scene, House is speeding down the street on his motorcycle when he is pulled over by a cop — one that just happens to be Morse. House ends up arrested for possession of narcotics (this scene would have had a lot more punch if FOX hadn’t spoiled it by showing it in every preview for the past month).
I give this episode a B for the mystery, but an A for the solution because it was clever and supported by the signs and symptoms of the patients. Surprisingly, I award the medicine an A — a weak A, but an A nonetheless. The soap opera/non-medical aspect was good and deserve a B+.
The previous House review
A list of all prior House reviews
November 1st, 2006 at 12:05 am
Yeah, it was a shame they showed House getting arrested in pretty much every preview of the episode. Not only did it ruin the surprise, but it made it extremely obvious that Morse’s character was a cop because of his response when House called him a “detective”. Oh well, I’m sure the writers of the show hate the previews as much as the viewers.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:11 am
I had a giggle when they showed Cuddy and her negative pregnancy test at night time. Every EPT I’ve tried has required the test be done on first-morning-pee. Would it even be accurate at night?
November 1st, 2006 at 12:19 am
I wonder if the writers selected a rectal thermometer as House’s weapon of choice as a sly nod to television history — i.e., St. Elsewhere, in which Morse played a doctor who was raped in prison.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:22 am
Although they didn’t quite go the route of sex=death, they did the incest thing again.
I liked all the Young Guns tonight, particularly Foreman.
It will be interesting to see how the cop and House thing will develop. I might actually like House getting the smackdown a little bit, as the cop isn’t someone House can easily bully and berate.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:11 am
The ending was much more surprising for me since I ignore the previews for the shows I watch. Previews give away too much. I advise you guys try the same if you were pissed off because you already knew House was going to get arrested due to the previews.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:29 am
Hello everyone, long time lurker, first post. House was in rare jerk form this episode. Ethics have never been his strong point but leaving a thermometer in a patient’s rectum? That’s a bit beyond the pale, even for House.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:56 am
Why would hereditary angioedema persist beyond the acute incident of the mugging during the start of the show? Would’nt the symptoms resolve after 4 dys? Also, was there any treatment for their condition? Other than avoiding stress?
Also, as a general comment, them seem to love suggesting sarcoidosis on the differential in many episodes…
November 1st, 2006 at 2:18 am
I’d seen the previews, but I managed to forget about the arrest until I saw House zooming along on the motorcycle - I went, “Oh, right, they haven’t done the arrest scene yet.”
One of the few advantages of a declining middle-aged memory.
November 1st, 2006 at 3:48 am
Happily, I didn’t see any previews either — so I LOVED the ending. :) This was a really good episode, and the preview for next week looks awesome.
November 1st, 2006 at 5:22 am
Triter ( the cop ) will be on for 6 episodes. Sorta like a Vogler saga :)
Funny episode. Yeah, i missed my House fix :p
November 1st, 2006 at 8:16 am
I enjoyed the episode, and the adding of David Morse to the mix. And I always enjoy watching House suffer as a result of being a jerk. But as I’ve said before, this season is definitely missing something…House is being an uber-jerk, but there’s no back-story to explain why. He’s just being a jerk. It’s not nearly as interesting, because he doesn’t seem to have any other emotions beside jerkiness.
I do like the scooby-gang standing up to him, and I loved the Foreman sub-plot.
I hope they do something more with his leg pain…it would take real courage on the part of the writers to change such a major part of a character’s makeup. But having the leg pain vanish and then come back 1 episode later was a letdown. Surely House can continue to act like an ass, even if he can walk…
November 1st, 2006 at 8:54 am
Official Comment
Amber,
You’re right — home pregnancy tests work best first thing in the morning. If it’s positive later in the day, the test is probably right, but I wouldn’t necessarily trust a negative test.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:16 am
Could we get an MD’s take on what would happen re: the stolen prescription pads. Would Wilson have been notified about all those scrips House had written and forged his signature? Has he been covering for House all this time or is it possible for him to be in the dark?
November 1st, 2006 at 9:46 am
I’m not sure if I dig the whole “cop with a holy mission” saga they’re starting. I mean, alright, the cop is trying to be a jerk to show House he’s not so great. So why the devout crusade after one lousy visit? It seems kinda thin, unless they’re saying the cop is not so much after justice as he is after a pissing contest. That would make more sense, seeing as he’s a cop.
Anyway the writers have done this before, they’re not stupid enough to actually change House’s character permanently and ruin the show (face it, you watch it because of his attitude, not in spite of it), but they always come up with these character dilemmas to try and make you worried that they might.
Medicine was solid this time around, and House was particularly funny. Not a bad episode. I do hope the cop dies in a fire though, he annoys me. I realize they’re trying to do the whole “give House a taste of his own medicine by showing him what it’s like to be bullied by someone in a position of authority” but c’mon…
November 1st, 2006 at 10:10 am
Official Comment
Mary,
Realistically, it’s unlikely Wilson is aware House forged his signature for a Vicodin prescription. Generally, forged scrips come to light if the pharmacy is suspicious and calls to double check (the most common reason), the doctor is very obsessive compulsive and notices one is missing, or the forger gets an attack of conscience and fesses up.
November 1st, 2006 at 10:17 am
(first timer here)
my only thing about the episode is this: if House did have Vicodin on him (which we all know he’s “addicted” to), then he was not in possession of narcotics, technically speaking. it may just be me (i work in a pharmacy), but that kind of bothered me. i’ve seen a lot of shows do this, label something a narcotic when it really is not. i know it’s something small, but it’s still something.
and i, too, was impressed with the Young Guns and how they’ve been standing up to House a bit more each episode. we’ll see what happens next week.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:27 pm
Keith is 100% spot on.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:00 pm
You like me! You really like me! And I wasn’t even in Norma Rae!
November 1st, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Scott is right. The forged prescriptions don’t usually come to light until the pharmacy suspects something.
I saw the previews, unfortunately, and it kept me looking around every corner to see when the cop would pop up again.
I wonder if the night pregnancy test would give them the writers the out that she is really pregnant, and House called it, once again.
I wonder if Wilson will stick up for House and his arrest. The husband and I both loved Morse as the cop. It was as if House was going toe to toe with himself. Interesting watching!
November 1st, 2006 at 2:38 pm
Uhh..Missy? You work in a pharmacy and don’t know that Hydrocodone is a narcotic? It’s an addictive opium-based drug, which is the definition of a narcotic. 15mg or more is Schedule II, less and compounded with another drug (acetominophen, ibuprofen, etc) is a Schedule III narcotic in the USA.
So yes, Vicodin is 100% a narcotic.
November 1st, 2006 at 3:13 pm
Missy - I’m a bit puzzled. After reading your post stating that Vicodin is not a narcotic, I went to look up what it is. Every site I found said that Vicodin is a brand name for hydrocodone, and that hydrocodone is a narcotic.
November 1st, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I work in a pharmacy as well. There is no way House would have been able to get the Vicodin without it being in a labeled bottle if he indeed got it via Wilson’s forged prescription. If so, then there was no basis behind the arrest since House was not in possession of a narcotic illegally since all that would be there to see is a bottle with his name on it. There is also no way of conducting a field “narcotic sobriety” test either, so he also can’t claim proof that House was under the influence. If any judge saw this, he’d throw it out in a second. Any follow-up investigation would not even be admissible evidence.
November 1st, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Am I the only person who had a hard time suspending my disbelief over the whole mercury thermometer issue? Mercury thermometers haven’t been used in hospitals in years. Every temp I’ve had taken in an doctor’s office or hospital in recent memory has been one of those instant-read ear thermometers. You’d probably be hard pressed to even FIND a mercury thermometer in a hospital these days, even if you were buying the whole “I can’t take your temp orally because of your nicotine gum” excuse. Or maybe House just keeps a few laying around on the off chance he feels like humiliating someone.
November 1st, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Official Comment
We don’t have any mercury thermometers in my office, but the electronic oral thermometers we use are set up so that they can also be used as a rectal thermometer if the need arises.
November 1st, 2006 at 6:27 pm
“Sub-plot involving Wilson and a pediatric nurse” - don’t you mean Foreman? Hehe.
November 1st, 2006 at 7:41 pm
I suspect that a judge would view the cop’s case with extreme prejudice anyway, considering that there’s a conflict of interest here. If the cop legitimately pulled House over for speeding, upon realizing who it was, he should have called for backup and had another unbiased officer conduct the arrest.
November 1st, 2006 at 8:23 pm
I too have been a long time lurker and I really enjoy your reviews! I have to agree with you that this is one of the better episodes done yet. Keep it up!
November 1st, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Long time reader, first post. I’m a fully admitted layman regarding the medical stuff, but I’m no stranger to scientific dramas. I loved the introduction of David Morse’s character, and I must say I enjoyed all aspects of this show. It was worth the 5 week wait. I’m glad Scott approves of the medicine in this one; The consensus is complete: this episode seems to be ‘Good Show All Around’.
Regarding the drama, I’m as highly discriminating when it comes to suspension-of-disbelief as Scott is with the accuracy of the medicine. And I give the House vs. Cop plot thread a strong approval. I think it’s a perfectly apropos and novel development that House should Meet His Match in the form of a seemingly impassable authority figure. It doesn’t matter to me that this particular Cop is harassing House in a way that won’t stand up in court. I think it’s point enough that he’s harassing him. It’s not unreal, in fiction and real life, that a cop would use his authority - within his limits - to bugger a member of society (House), in accord with his (the Cop’s) own morals. In short, it’s enough that House is *arrested*; It doesn’t matter that he won’t be prosecuted. The Cop wins the battle, (we know he probably won’t win the war), and that’s enough to get a poignant story arc started that stirs a fitting conflict with our Anti-hero.
I was so good about avoiding previews/spoilers up until yesterday. Damn it, if it weren’t for a typically sensationalist Fox radio ad trying too hard to hook viewers. “You have the right to remain silent…” Spoiled, yes, but not really. It didn’t spoil the episode, just the multi-ep arc that was gleefully kickstarted at the end of this week’s show. And I’m glad the conflict presents itself in the capable hands of Mr. David Morse.
As far as the Vicodin being loose in House’s pocket, yeah, I flinched at that too. But I forgive it as just being story-telling shorthand. Yes, House *may* be irreverent and cavalier enough to keep his precious Vicodin loose in his pocket. But if he took the route of keeping it in the original script bottle, he’d (A) risk discovery by Wilson, and (B) this would require that the cop do more legwork and involve the pharmacy, which as Scott points out, is probably an unsuspecting party at this point. (Much less thrilling than the “arrest” coda that we saw, which was a fun surprise that we’ll simply pretend was never spoiled by boneheads at Fox. :)
House leaving the thermometer in a patient? Extreme, yes, but I’m sure it looked like Business as Usual for House, to the writers, at least, ‘on the page’.
Re: Cuddy. Is it not now a question of if she gets pregnant, but when? It’s still fun to see her struggle with the (lack of) progress in each episode. I expect a lot of misdirection in this subplot/thread, which we have indeed been seeing all season. And almost certainly with an eventual payoff.
Scott, I know you hear it all the time now, but still I must say: F-ing Brilliant Website. After I became an instant House fan over the summer break, I set out to find a doctor’s take on House, on the web. Your blog delivered exactly what I was looking for, and then some. You’ve truly taken a great TV show and made it an even greater, interactive experience.
P.S., Scott: Typo in your last comment regarding rectal thermometers. Ooh, look at me, first post and already I have the brass to correct the MD. :)
P.P.S., Who else was (pleasantly) surprised that SNL was *good* with Hugh Laurie as guest? I also recommend anyone interested view his appearance on The Actor’s Studio, and have a look at his novel, “The Gun Seller”. The British side to his humour — that’s humour with a ‘u’ — is just as impressive as his portrayal of House.
Whew! Thanks for the time on the soapbox!
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:28 am
Indeed, the cop may have won the battle tonight, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he has no idea with whom he’s dealing. 10:1 the cop ends up being House’s patient in a future episode, and House thinks up some very clever way to save his life and totally humiliate him at the same time.
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:33 am
Small nitpick: it was the girl they suspected had Porphyria, and the boy vasculitis.
Glad to hear the medicine was technically ok enough, but somehow it didn’t work for me. I don’t know what exactly, it just seemed too fast paced and jumping around with lots of DRAMA for me to be able to suspend my disbelief.
And biopsy of the brainstem? Is that even ever done? Seems awfully risky, but not in the way of “oh, no, she is sooo smart!”.
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:35 am
Oh, and I forgot: Seriously ticked off by the whole “why would they have condoms if someone wasn’t cheating” -thingy. Hello? Ever heard about contraception? Ever heard of side-effects from hormonal contraception?
I’m sure lots of docs *are* that moronic, but it still ticked me off.
November 2nd, 2006 at 8:18 am
I’m a law student, not a doctor, so I took a look at a different aspect of this episode - the regulation concerning Hydrocodone in my country (Latvia - so no, it does not apply to House:D).
From what I read, it seems that illegal posession of up to 0.2g of it might get you a light administrative penalty of up to ~$100 (rough calculation). Anything above that will get you prosecuted under the Criminal Code, which means real prison. If the amount is over 2g, it is considered a serious offense and might get you the maximum penalty of up to 3 years in prison or up to ~$8000. Fun :p
Because Hydrocodone is a Type-2 substance (Very dangerous narcotic substances that are allowed for scientific and medical uses), it is also required that it is kept in a heavy safebox that is connected to an alarm.
Anyway - how many House-pills would those amounts be? (0.2g and 2g)
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:10 am
Official Comment
V,
Vicodin has 5-10mg of narcotic, depending on the strength. As I recall, House was writing himself the 10mg dose. So
220 of those pills would be 0.2g and20200 would be 2g.November 2nd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
I was bothered by the fact that on the night the cop stops him, he happens to have the pills loose in his pocket, and “didn’t bother with getting a prescription” or whatever, when he is *always* carrying a prescription bottle. I mean, he likes to shake the bottle before he takes a pill; I’m sure it’s a ritual thing that he wouldn’t disrupt for no reason, and besides, now that the pain is back, I don’t think he’d have a problem getting a doctor to write him a prescription. Oh, and about the prescription he forged, I’m sure it ran out long ago, and like I said, he’s now probably getting legit ones.
What about the medical need/physical dependence/psychological addiction thing? You used to write that you didn’t like the way the issue was treated, since he does have legit pain, and there’s a difference between being physically dependent and being “an addict”. But I think in the first episode of this season, when he forged the script when the pain (presumably) hadn’t returned (and when he had already detoxed all the way off), it showed that it was more than medical need. You can have legitimate pain to treat and still develop a psychological addiction to the calming effects… I mean, he takes a pill when a patient is annoying him, heh. And now they’re clearly going at it from the “House has a problem” angle.
Minor things: The cop said his pupils were dilated; opiates would constrict them. I too felt weird about how the cop seemed to have a major thing against House even before the thermometer incident… And I don’t like how each episode lately (maybe I just haven’t been observant before) seems to have a theme, like this ep’s theme of interracial relationships. Feels a bit too Seventh Heaven to me. And, um… is listening to jazz really a predominantly black thing anymore? That’s what Foreman seemed to imply at the end (to show “we may be different, but our love keeps us together”), and I thought it was odd. Oh, and I think at some point House said “edema and swelling”. Does this make any sense? I thought they were the same thing…
Oy, I guess I come here to be critical, but I liked this ep and I’m already going crazy for the next one. XD
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Oh… and 20 10-mg pills would be 0.2 g… you’ve misplaced the decimal.
November 2nd, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Aspsusa, they said the woman was on birth control pills; sorta thing you’d need to know. But lots of people on the pill use condoms during their periods (when you aren’t taking the pill) anyway.
I thought the arrest was badly handled, but then, it was pure harrassment. It was very clear that all the cop wanted to do was pull House over, and also that he was waiting for House; it wasn’t a coincidence. So the fact that the arrest was perfunctory and without proper evidence, no big. Hey, he’s a New Jersey cop; we don’t need no steenking evidence!
November 2nd, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Scott - It would take 200 pills at 10mg each to equal 2g, not 20.
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Just checked the playback (I’m either very anal or very determined not to write my senior research paper); he in fact wrote a prescription for ‘Vicodin ES 5&500′, so either he got the extra-strength, and it would be 7.5 mg, or he got plain old vanilla Vicodin (5 mg). Seems like forging nonexistent hybrid narcotic names would be one of the fastest ways to get calls from pharmacists, (also seems like someone taking 80 mgs a day would rather take 8 pills than 16) but what do I know?
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Assuming that House has a legitimate prescription for Vicodin, could he still be charged with DUI? What are the laws about driving while under the influence of a legitimately prescribed sedative or narcotic? I mean, somebody who’s just popped 10 mg of diazepam is probably no more fit to drive than if he had had several drinks. However, I’ve never heard of anyone being charged with a crime because they were driving while impaired by a drug they legally possess. When I went to the ER with an allergic reaction, the doctor refused to let me drive myself home because they had given me 50 mg of Benadryl (orally). I know they did this to protect themselves against a lawsuit, but people drive after taking antihistamines, narcotic analgesics and tranquilizers all the time. Are they breaking the law?
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:11 pm
Official Comment
Steve,
It depends on the exact state laws, but in most cases you can be charged with Driving While Impaired (or some similar crime).
One issue that comes up under these laws is how much does it take to be impaired? For drunk driving, the cut off is a blood alcohol level of 0.08%. For most drugs, there is no cut-off level and any detected level can be considered an impairment.
November 3rd, 2006 at 12:13 am
I loved the episode, seemed more like the House we know and love. I thought the medicine sounded better, even though I was guessing having no knowledge of medicine, than the other episodes. Although, a lot of times when they are are saying something that hey are like, “Hmmm, good idea.” It is usually their worst mistake. Like I remember in “Informed Consent” when Chase was talking about growing bacteria within 24 hours, which you mentioned was hog-wash, all of them, especially Foreman, were like “YOUR BRILLIANT CHASE”. But then that would be the directors fault not telling the actors that they just agreed to something that wasn’t medically accurate. I enjoyed that Ham (House/Cameron) was completely absent and that Cameron was actually talking about the case for once, and not her ridiculous problems. Then Foreman just blew my mind, I guess since someone told Omar that they were making his character into an asshole, and my love for him grew. It reminded me about his true character that they shined away from after “Histories”. That scene with Victoria always makes me tear up. Sorry, I forgot that I was a guy for a moment. (Coughs like the manly man I am) And Chase, just cracks me up. To anyone who is a doctor, would you hire someone like Chase because even though he knows his medicine (When he is not killing a mother of two and messing up angiograms) he doesn’t seem like any doctor I know. He seems like a slacker that somehow had a med-school teacher that was a slacker himself. I know, I know, it’s television.
Now, I have a question that arrived after my father watched “Fidelity” with me from season 1 and mentioned it. But I have yet found an excuse in an episode to ask this. My question is, do all the patients who come out of comas come out to fast on this show. I mean, every patient’s case is solved within one week (Which I doubt is a realistic time frame for most cases) so I don’t know how long it would take for someone to come out of a coma too fast or would need assistance to wake up. Does it depend on how long they have been comatose? Or is it just another medical accuracy sacrificed for good drama?
My second question is about House using the opiate blocker to get Jeremy to sign the consent form. Knowing nothing medical, and thanks to you Scott I can get helped out with confusing scenes, why couldn’t Foreman tranquilize Jeremy? What was House holding that would prevent Foreman from giving the patient the tranquilizer? I know, probably an idiotic question, but taking the fact that I am an idiot with no knowledge of hospitals since I have yet had a real emergency, it confuses me and I am mentioning it. Sorry.
Thanks Scott, and the next one looks really exciting. Jabba the Hut guest stars on a very special “House”. What? House is the one who called him that, not me…
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:03 am
Well, nobody mentioned, that before thermometer incident, cop physically attacked House, when he kicked his cane.
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:38 am
House did his job as a doctor. He took a look at the problem, identified it and offered a solution (use lubrication). Still he was pretty rude, so the cop had a right to pissed and to call him arrogant, etc.. but that’s where it should have stopped. They were even. The cop was way out of line to trip House.
House’s response to being tripped, the thermometer stunt, only worked because apparently the cop still wanted House to run tests even after House had told him there was no need to do that. Why would he still want House to go through the motions of treating him? Who is the real bully here?
November 3rd, 2006 at 8:46 am
Hi, just a quote from TWoP forums, by RobinSmith, who does an excellent Tritter POV of the clinic.
[start quote]
Now that I’ve gotten this off my chest, I’m pretending I’m Tritter, a street-smart cop who’s insightful and dogged enough to be promoted to detective. I have crotch rot and I’m desperately trying to quit smoking. I come to a clinic and am forced to sit for two hours, warming my privates, which makes me very uncomfortable. It hurts to pee and I can’t smoke.
I finally get into a waiting room and a disheveled guy walks in and sits down. He’s not wearing a lab coat, his shirt is wrinkled and he’s wearing some kind of strange T-shirt underneath it. His hair looks as if it hasn’t been combed in a week, he obviously hasn’t shaved in a couple of days and he may not have slept either from the looks of the bags under his eyes. I’m not even sure this guy’s a doctor. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t give a damn about how he looks, so he probably doesn’t have a girlfriend or a wife he wants to clean up for. If he hangs out anywhere looking like that, he probably doesn’t attract many women — or men, for that matter — so I bet this loser spends most of his time alone.
I tell him I’ve been waiting for two hours and he immediately shoots back that I should consider a career as a memoirist. Hmm, that’s not something most doctors would say. He’s pretty smart, and he’s got a sense of humor, but why does he have to be so sarcastic?
He snaps at me when I ask him to introduce himself, then he takes one look at me and tells me the problem’s not an infection. He as much as says I’m causing the problem by claiming I’m masturbating too much: He tells me to get a lubricant or use foreplay if I’m cheap. This guy is a miserable bastard, but I try to stay calm. I ask him in the nicest tone I can muster if he can at least take a swab and test it. He says no, calls me a stubborn idiot and pops some pills.
He’s more than a miserable bastard. He’s a menace. Does he treat all his patients like this? Why the hell does the hospital let him get away with this? He can’t be that brilliant; he must have the rest of the staff completely intimidated. Or is it the cane? He’s crippled, so they feel sorry for him. And those pills he popped. Is he in pain? Is he in so much pain he has to take pills during a consult? And he takes them without water — just swallows them down. He must take a lot of them.
I’m now pissed at him, the hospital, myself for waiting two hours and everything else within a 10-mile radius because now I’ve got to walk out of here and I still have crotch rot. This frigging asshole is not leaving this room without giving me a diagnosis. [end of role-play]
Is it so hard to accept that Tritter “diagnoses” House, kicks his cane and decides that this guy needs a reality check before he — literally — kills someone, especially after Tritter gets Cutty to order House to apologize and House turns pit bull on him? At this point, Tritter realizes House right now is not about medicine, patients or curing people. He’s on a total power trip.
[end quote]
November 3rd, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Anyone else notice how there wasn’t a single use of the whiteboard in this episode, a first i think…
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:46 pm
Jordan- not to be nitpicky, but growing bacteria in 24hrs isn’t hogwash. Looking at Scott’s analysis, I’m not sure that’s what he meant either (my directv blizted during that episode so I missed most of it and don’t know how they presented it on the show) Anyways, back to the blood culture- I had one this week that was drawn at 120am and went positive for bacteria by 630am. It could grow in 24hrs, but you can’t guarantee it(which is why we hold them 5 days).
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Omar, it was in the background, and you could see it had appropriate symptoms on it.
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:58 pm
Ah yes, the Television Without Pity forums, where everyone who agrees with the moderators is welcome! And where we get to watch endless parades of sheeple pretend to have medical knowledge and do amateur psychiatry on the “nitpick” threads.
Anyway, I would like to point out that when House gets busted for having the pills, they’re going to find out where he got them, and that’s going to lead to Wilson finding out that House forged his name, which is going to lead to some pretty heavy tension.
Meanwhile, I wonder how they’re going to get rid of the cane again, since Hugh Laurie can’t walk with one anymore.
November 4th, 2006 at 12:35 am
house is crazy, i loved the episode but i dont think house put on gloves when he stuck the rectal thermometer up the dudes butt. Also i think if house was a true painkiller junkie that 10mg vicodin isnt anything. Roxicets are a lot better, so are percocets… pretty much anything with 10+mg of hydrocodone.j Not that i do any of this of course
November 5th, 2006 at 1:17 am
To the person who asked why the symptoms were persisting so long after the mugging: Isn’t being afflicted with a mystery ailment that doctors can’t name let alone cure pretty much a stressful condition?
I felt that determining that the two were half-siblings was much less of a jump to conclusions than usual.
Anyone else felt that the one liners were funnier this week? “Actually, I’m hitting that, and it’s totally hot.”
November 5th, 2006 at 3:29 am
The whiteboard had a nice His/Hers section :)
And about pregnancy testing: Seems to me that a lof of you have never been in this business: You can’t get a false positive on afternoon urine, only a false negative. So there’s no harm in trying, exept for the cost of the test (And we can safely assume that Cuddy can afford them) And to me it makes sense, with House bullying her all day, she would want to test herself before going to bed.
November 5th, 2006 at 5:04 am
Yeah, my bad id_mt. I sometimes interpret things the wrong way and I thought that’s what Scott meant. Now, I can see how he meant that it was not accurate, but still possible. Let me repeat that I have no medical knowledge except for what I see on “House”, which I learned that it’s not supposed to be 100% reliable, and from Scott’s reviews. So thank you for clearing that up for me.
And I know that TV almost always gets “waking out of a coma” wrong but I still would like to know how accurate it is, if anything. Because, it looks fake but it would be nice to know from a medical stand point. Any takers?
November 6th, 2006 at 1:35 am
Eveline: “Minor things: The cop said his pupils were dilated;”
I didn’t know opiates would constrict his pupil, but either way, that line bugged me! It was night time and obviously dark out. Of course his pupils would be kinda big!
November 6th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Amber:
That’s a cop thing. What he really meant was: I can use any reason I want.
November 6th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Jordan, no problem, I am happy to clarify:) That’s why I love this site. The lab is my area of medicine, and while I probably have more knowledge than some about medicine- Scott fills in the gaps of what I don’t.
November 7th, 2006 at 10:31 am
I had the impression House did NOT have a prescription for the pills at all, forged or otherwise. We’ve seen him just grab stuff from the pharmacy before.
November 9th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Why exactly was the cop *chewing* his nicotene gum? I thought that you weren’t supposed to chew it — that instead, you sort of left it pressed against your cheek?
November 9th, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Official Comment
Zak, you’re right, Nicotine Gum is not designed to be chewed like normal gum. I think the cop is chewing it because he is a very frustrated person, and that is how he shows it.
November 11th, 2006 at 3:33 am
This is a bit late, but in response to “eveline”’s comment, Foreman’s comment to the nurse he is dating about whether or not she really liked jazz had nothing to do with race, it was about House’s earlier deduction from her locker contents that she was dating someone who liked jazz but she herself really preferred to read.
November 11th, 2006 at 11:31 am
Our last episode was interrupted by news of our local elections and after a long pointless shot of people trying to kill airtime, it returned in progress (about 20 seconds left). In an effort to catch up on what happened, I stumbled on this great source of House info. Wow! Great stuff!
I loved the introduction of David Morse as the new nemisis, much better than the old chairman of the board character. The show seems to swing between House being unpleasant with a subtle foundation of humor and him being unpleasant just for the sake of it. There are time when we love him and times when we dislike him, and I mean really dislike him.
If a doctor was rude, unkempt, and left a thermometer up my rectum, I’d go the nine yards to see he was punished too. Since I’m not a cop, I’d probably sue, but if I were, and I realized the Doctor was a conceited drug abuser, I’d work out ways to have him arrested too. I know a lot of cops, and House is lucky the guy didn’t beat him half to death.
To me, the whole point of House’s miserable attitude is that somewhere under there he really does care. He is flawed and in pain, brilliant and difficult, but capable of small telling kindnesses, specific moral standpoints, and has a subtle sense of humor, which is what makes him watchable and interesting. At the moment, he deserves to be royally reamed by David Morse. Then when eventually turns around and saves Morse’s life (or some such plot twist) we can congratulate him and ourselves (for watching).
November 15th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
A couple of questions:
1. Any of y’all think that the fact that they were using condoms and birth control pills together might be meant to hint that one or both of them knew of their genetic relationship already?
2. How does a carrier of a genetic disease who isn’t suffering from it himself cause two half-siblings to both suffer from it all by his lonesome? Either it requires one copy of the bad gene, in which case he’d have to suffer from it if he was a carrier, or it requires two copies, in which case both of the mothers would have to also carry it for both of his children to get it. And if it’s so common that there just happens to be three unrelated carriers next door to each other, then the fact that both kids had it wouldn’t be much indication that they were related.
Unless I’m missing something, the genetic angle just doesn’t fit. It would be better if the half-sibling-couple’s child showed up with this rare disease, since one father could cause both of his kids to be carriers no matter who their mothers were.
November 17th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
Good point, Ken! Hereditary Angioedema is actually dominant, or at least partially so, so only one copy is necessary. The father was popping pills, I think we’re to suspect this is related to controlling his illness.
November 19th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Someone thought that bowel edema would have been visible on exploratory laparatomy. Lancet 2006;367:1548 has a case showing that is not so.
For the people wondering about someone who carries a disease-causing gene variant who does not suffer from the disease: there is an additional notion in genetics called “penetrance.” Just because someone carries a certain gene does not automatically mean that effects of the gene will be manifest, and this is the idea behind penetrance. A gene variant with low penetrance has few or no noticeable effects. So, perhaps the father’s gene was only penetrant to the point that he felt the need to pop pills.
Yok
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Yok makes clear a good point, and is right in his first two sentences, but the latter two actually refer to “expressivity”, not penetrance. Low penetrance mean few people show the effects at all, low expressivity means some of those expressing it do so only slightly.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
wouldn’t tracy wonder how they found the heroin in his pocket?
May 11th, 2007 at 11:03 am
“1. Any of y’all think that the fact that they were using condoms and birth control pills together might be meant to hint that one or both of them knew of their genetic relationship already?”
I doubt it, they just wanted more protection.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
I really liked the end of the episode.
But was I the only one who found the first half of the show extremely boring?
I thought the dialogues were awfull in the begining. they really tried to cram a lot into one conversation
(more then usual).
December 15th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Sins being visited upon the generations – the father had plenty on his conscience to drive him to suicide, that he could never confess.
January 6th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
SPOILERS AHEAD:
“Triter ( the cop ) will be on for 6 episodes. Sorta like a Vogler saga :)”
Isn’t it enough with the Fox Spoilers? We had to deal with people commenting spoiling the next 6 episodes for us? Think before you post, please!
July 11th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Good grief! I have hereditary angioedema.It is dominant,there are no carriers but it is possible to inherit the disease but have no symptoms.Attacks can develop within minutes or over several days,and recede after 2-5 days but can go on for weeks if one attack runs into another.Response to stress is usually after the event.
Correct treatment involves C1-inhibitor (the blood part deficient),anabolic steroids,antifibrolytics,possibly intubation or tracheotomy if throat obstructed.New treatments are being developed.Antihistamines,adrenaline and corticosteroids have no effect.
See website: haea.org
Leave a Reply
Contact Me
Subscribe:
The Best Of...
Special Topics
Archives
Categories
Arbitrarily Interesting Medical Condition
Twitter
Comic Blogs
Medical Blogs
Currently Reading
The Net:
Contents may have settled during shipping. Past results are no guarantee of future performance. No animals were harmed during the production of this product. Void where prohibited by law. All rights reserved. Not valid with other offers or specials. Professional driver on a closed track. Your financial institution may impose other fees. All models are over 18 years of age. Employees must wash hands before returning to work. Results not typical. Many suitcases look alike. 18% gratuity added to tables of six or more.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
© 2004-2008 Polite Dissent. Powered by WordPress