House: The Doctor as a Patient?

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

"One of the problems with working for House - you start seeing zebras everywhere." I love that quote about a circus being in town and hearing hoofbeats that turn out to be zebras instead of horses. You see one thing so often that you don't think of it meaning something different. And that was exactly the case today - House fooled the other doctors into thinking he had a failing liver by taking a well-known supplement. I actually preferred this medical mystery to the main one, but perhaps that's because I guessed the ailment fairly early on for once. It also wasn't the greatest episode for clinic cases, though both were amusing. Wilson sees a compulsive nose-picker who has developed an infection because of a cut, and House sees a kid with an intolerance for green food coloring, brought on by chugging week-old green beer. Neither were memorable, but both were a bit funny (and disturbing!).

House "Blowing the Whistle" (S08E15): A military man, Brant, returns from Iraq in handcuffs, being charged with treason (he downloaded a secure file and uploaded it to a non-secure site). At the airport, he suffers a seizure and is brought to the hospital, though Park thinks he's just faking to avoid prison. [possibly.] They suspect blood clots at first, but soon the patient experiences stomach pain and urinary bleeding, and has an enlarged spleen, so they rush him to surgery. But, the patient won't allow any more medication until he's given a live television interview, as he wants to get out "the truth." [oh boy...] After some negotiation, he agrees to take medication if he gets two pages of information about his father, also a military man. [who apparently instilled way too much importance on "honor" into his son.] Soon, his foot hurts, plus, House learns that Brant's hair suddenly went grey recently. [I never knew that going grey could happen in a matter of days!] The patient runs a fever of 104, but the papers haven't arrived yet so he continues refusing medication. Brant's brother decides to be the conservator, and it's soon revealed that the brother covered up what happened to their father, because he didn't want Brant knowing that their father was a drunk driver. [apparently this is the "only time" the brother "broke the rules."] The disease appears to be malaria for a while, but then House realizes it's typhus, which would also allow Brant to plead "not guilty." [funny, when they discounted typhus in the beginning, I turned to my husband and said "bet he used to have hair and it's typhus anyway" ... I'm never right about these things!]

Adams is concerned that House isn't being as observant as usual, but Chase shoots her theory down, as House controls what they see of him. Adams gets a new signature from House and compares it to one six months ago - they're different enough that she takes them to Wilson, who thinks that House should have an exam. [drugging a patient with sleeping pills so he could take a nap? classic House.] When

Cr: Adam Taylor/FOX

Taub beats House in a video game (playing while doing diagnostics, of course), Adams is ready to go directly to Foreman, though the others are still hesitant. [I found it funny that the "last straw" was House having a bad round in a game, LoL.] Taub secretly takes a stool sample from House, and, after examining it, the team confronts their boss, who believes the test but not the diagnosis. [to me, this signals that he's messing with them, but apparently that wasn't triggered in everyone.] House steals candy bars by putting them in a soda cup, but the team witnesses him steal one less in order to close the cup, then just use a bigger cup later on. This change in behavior alerts Chase to the fact that House is faking the problem, and House later realizes it was Chase who alerted Foreman. [I watched the scene where Chase "figures it out" twice and still don't really know if that was enough for him to go on...] As punishment, House planted baby rats under the floorboards at Chase's apartment. [talk about one of House's rougher plans!]