| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| House (m.d.) | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Jun 13 2009, 07:20 PM (295 Views) | |
| Stephen | Jun 13 2009, 07:20 PM Post #1 |
Mine! Or I will help you not.
|
The medical drama House revolves around Dr. Gregory House a brilliant doctor who heads up the Infectious Disease department. When the show starts, it is already establishes through the dialogue of other characters that Dr. House is a world renowned and brilliant diagnostician. Dr. House also has an unusual approach to medicine. He doesn't have any bed side manner and normally refuses to talk to patients because "Everbody lies." Several years ago, he had an infarction in his quadriceps muscle which causes him immense pain that forces him to use a cane to walk. House manages this pain through Vicodin. This becomes a large plot point for the show. House will frequently attempt to eradicate his pain and regain the full use of his right leg. He has taken drugs that are illegal and/or dangerous and he has become addicted to Vicodin. This past season saw his Vicodin habit cause hallucinations. House follows a regular format each week. A patient comes in exhibiting symptoms that no other doctor can diagnose. House and his team are given the case and after a battery of tests, trial and error and a lot of discussion and new symptoms, they discover the cause of the patient's symptoms. Sometimes, the formula takes a dramatic change. House has had flashbacks, hallucinations and a variety of other episodes that break the normal cycle. In addition, the patient does not always survive or have a happy ending. Some patients lose limbs. Some die. In the past several seasons, only two cast members have died. The first was Dr. Amber Volakis. She started out as a contestant for the position on House's diagnostic team. She was fired and later began dating House's best friend Dr. James Wilson. She died through a combination of events and injuries too severe to recover from. The second cast member to die was Dr. Lawrence Kutner who committed suicide. These deaths have had a large impact on House as a person and they appear to him in his hallucinations. House is considered for the most part to be a loner. His only friend in the world is Dr. Wilson. There friendship consists of constantly trying to outsmart the other. This past season, House realized how important Wilson's friendship was after he nearly lost it. Wilson keeps House grounded and uses logic to appeal to House. He also frequently helps House solve the case though it is normally unintentional. In addition to Wilson, House has a relationship with the hospital administrator Dr. Lisa Cuddy. It is explained in past episodes that House and Cuddy once dated briefly. House and Cuddy still have lingering feelings for each other and this season they grew close to becoming a couple. One of the key moments last season was when House believed that he had gone through withdrawal from his Vicodin habit with Cuddy's help. He later learns this is a hallucination and enters a mental hospital in order to treat these hallucinations. In this topic, we will discuss the medical validity in some of House's diagnoses, House's personal philosophy, and the deeper meaning hidden in each episode. |
 |
 
|
| Skiggs | Jul 1 2009, 09:08 AM Post #2 |
The Snow Came Down...
  ![]](http://209.85.62.24/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
From my brief and minimal medical knowledge, I would actually say that most of the medical information in house is accurate. The diseases and the symptoms are almost always accurate, and the treatments are usually correct (to some extent anyway). The one thing that I've noticed though, is that the amounts of medications used or recovery time in a lot of cases seems to be ridiculously sped up. One example I can think of off the top of my head is in an episode (season 2 I think?) where house was treating a patient with a hypothalamus issue (i think it was?) and by the end was arguing with Cuddy about the treatment because he had no proof. In the end of the episode, Cuddy administers the patient medication for house's diagnosis, and the patient recovers from the condition within a minute or 2. Realistically, the meds would have taken a day if not 2 to work properly. Keep in mind here that I AM NOT a medical professional, but I do watch the show with one, so while I may not be 100% accurate or remember all of the medical terms, I am making slightly educated comments. (sorry felt the need to say that =/ ) |
|
|
|
| Ali | Jul 5 2009, 11:13 PM Post #3 |
Member
|
Interesting topic Stephen! Some funny things I find while watching House MD are whenever a procedure is needed and the family denies treatment, the doctor simply isn't intelligent enough to get them to change their mind, a way will always exist and it's on you (the doctor) to find it. Oh and not to mention that X-Ray CT/MRI technicians don't even exist, the work is all done by the doctors! And although Foremen is classified as a Neurologist, they portray it like specialties don't exist--Doctors are God-like and seem to be capable of everything. House doesn't need a mask in the OR, he must have sterile breath! I think House is a very powerful show for a wide-range of viewers. There are many people in my University program who are trying to become doctors simply because of Medical shows (or at least question their beliefs to be so). I don't want to blame the show, but I find it very heart-breaking when I hear stuff like this. Anyway. I however do find the show very attractive and I think it has a lot of deeper meaning in each episode. I would love to encounter a doctor like House, although I can't imagine I ever will. |
|
|
|
| Stephen | Jul 10 2009, 06:50 PM Post #4 |
|
Mine! Or I will help you not.
|
House as a character doesn't trust people. He thinks they lie and they're idiots. He'll use them when he needs them but trust? Only Wilson and Cuddy have that. I don't think even his current team has his trust. Cameron has gained it and possibly Chase. Foreman maybe. So while he has used a few specialists in the past when he needs them, if he can, he dumps all the work on his team. He makes them re-test and he makes them do the blood work. He doesn't trust the lab tech straight out of high school or the doctor who is more interested in golf than properly reading results. He wants accurate results and so he makes his team witness everything. Most times he makes them do it. And when it is really important, he does it. It fits with the unorthodox methods that he has when you think about it. He consults with Wilson because he's the only one House really trusts. It's never a cardiologist, dermatologist etc. And he does dump an neurological things on Foreman and when he wants, he'll dump endocrine on Cuddy. So I don't think it's so much that the doctors do it all and the techs don't exist. It's that house thinks the techs are morons and wants things done right. |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Java Hut · Next Topic » |
4:58 PM Nov 22
