Table of Contents
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To my family
You make it all possible.
You are the reason for it all.
AUTHORS NOTE
Suggestions for additional reading on the topics discussed, including Web links where available, are listed in the back of the book. These links are also posted at http://holtzreport.com/housemd.
Season Six began with a two-hour episode, Broken. This book follows the episode numbering convention in which the first hour is episode 6-01 and the second hour is episode 6-02. The following episode, Epic Fail, is 6-03 and so on.
A small portion of this book originally appeared in the Oncology Times ScriptDoctor column.
CHARACTERS
Fans of House know well the characters who work at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. For other readers, here is a brief introduction.
House (Hugh Laurie): Dr. Gregory House is a brilliant physician but seriously flawed person. He runs the Department of Diagnostic Medicine. His specialty is infectious diseases, but he seems to know everything there is to know about every branch of medicine. Basically, he is a medical detective who can figure out cases that befuddle all other physicians. He is not a warm and caring healer. His only interest is defeating the ailment. If the patient gets better as a result, thats nice, too.
Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein): Dr. Lisa Cuddy is the dean of medicine, the administrator of the hospital and its physicians. She is technically Houses boss, but she rarely succeeds at exercising her authority.
Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard): Dr. James Wilson is the head of the Oncology Department. He is Houses closest friend. He tries in vain to cajole House into abiding by ethical and legal standards.
Foreman (Omar Epps): Dr. Eric Foreman is a neurologist. He was one of the original members of Houses staff. At times he has been put in charge of the department.
Cameron (Jennifer Morrison): Dr. Allison Cameron is also one of the original members of Houses staff. She has come and gone from the hospital. Although she is a specialist in immunology, for a period of time she ran the hospitals Emergency Department.
Chase (Jesse Spencer): Dr. Robert Chase is the third original member of Houses staff. He is a surgeon and specializes in intensive care. Like Foreman and Cameron, Chase has come and gone from Houses team.
Thirteen (Olivia Wilde): Dr. Remy Hadley joined Houses staff in Season Four. She is called Thirteen because that was the number House assigned her when he was evaluating a gaggle of candidates after his original staff members either quit or were fired.
Taub (Peter Jacobson): Dr. Chris Taub is a plastic surgeon who left private practice and then joined Houses team at the same time as Thirteen.
Kutner (Kal Penn): Dr. Lawrence Kutner is a sports medicine specialist who came on board along with Thirteen and Taub.
Pologue
Why We Need MoreHouse
Life evolves. And so doesHouse.
In the beginning, the bizarre medical mystery... the circuitous journey in search of the correct diagnosis... and the fascinating solution dominated each episode. House himself has been an imposing, even overwhelming, character from the start, but we watched to see how the puzzle would be unraveled... marveling at the diagnostic logic and medical thrills that enlivened the ride.
Naturally, over the seasons, the characters and their lives have developed from sketches into more detailed portraits. We have become familiar with themwhat they want, what they love, what they fear. Its a necessary process of growth. Otherwise, the stories would become stale. Even the strangest medical oddities would have a hard time capturing our interest and attention week after week, year after year, if all we saw were repetitive patterns of collapse and seizure and false leads and adverse reactions before triumph arrived in the nick of time.
Compare an episode from the first couple of seasons to a more recent story. You will see that in the earlier episode the signs and symptoms, the tests and treatments, loomed large. In recent seasons, episodes still have patients with puzzling ailments, but the focus of attention has shifted. The medical steps toward diagnosis are becoming mere sketches, while the personal lives of the characters flower.
The Medical Science of House, M.D., which was written during the shows second season, examined those medical steps that were in the foreground of the young series. It focused on the process of diagnosis and treatment. This book, House, M.D. vs. Reality, follows the development of the series. Rather than merely repeating the format of the first book with new medical details plucked from recent episodes, this book takes a deeper look into the lives of physicians, the work environment of hospitals, and the larger world of health care.
Cuddy became a mother. House embarked on a strange hiring binge. Wilson struggled with how to best help his patients at the end of their lives. Thirteen wrestled with her possible futures; everything depending on a flip of a genetic coin. No one saw Kutners fate coming. Foreman was brought low by a mistake with fatal consequences. And House got clean. These are just some of the major recent events and developments in House, and they are each centered in the world of the physician rather than the diagnosis of a patient.
So lets begin this walk through some of the issues that real doctors encounter, and learn something about how those aspects of the world of health care influence not only their careers but also the lives and health care of the rest of us: their patients.
Still ... House wouldnt be House without freakish medical cases, so well get to them, in due time.
Enjoy the journey.
One
Its Just a Show
Its a TV show.
Honestly, who cares if its 100 percent real or not? Its just entertainment. People want to be entertained when they watch TV. They dont sit there and worry if its fake or not.
OMG, just watch the [expletive] show.
Those are the reactions some House fans had to The Medical Science of House, M.D., the book that discussed the first two seasons. Even the character of Greg House himself winked at those who compared his fictional world to reality. He was talking with a star of his favorite soap opera in Living the Dream (4-14). The actor couldnt understand why viewers loved his soap, which he considered useless trash.
How can you watch that stuff? asks the actor who plays Dr. Brock Sterling on Prescription: Passion, the medical show within the medical show House.
Because its awesome! House replies.
Its preposterous. There hasnt been one real moment since Ive been on the show.
