Comments on: House – Episode 14 (Season 4): Living The Dream

By: Shapte

Shapte — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 22:34:13 +0000

“Tonic water is loaded with quinine” Cuddy dixit.
Yeah, um… That’s only if you’re used to drinking from the bottles that your great-grandma forgot in the attic from her days as a registered nurse in the British Empire.
Nowadays, only trace amounts of quinine can be found in tonic water – and the FDA limits its use to 83 ppm.
That being said, nice episode anyway.

By: Scott C

Scott C — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:03:33 +0000

Watched the rerun of this ep for the first time and, with the benefit of hindsight, I think it’s actually a sly commentary on Kal Penn. It’s also wonderful satire.

I have no medical knowledge at all but–after the first ten minutes–felt confident the diagnostic stuff would be goofy. When the POTW bitches about how ludicrous his soap opera is, House says something like, “Right, unlike TV shows that are completely true to life, like … hm, can’t think of any.” In this context, having the “House” actors run around spewing medical nonsense actually makes sense. (Yeah, I know my argument would be more persuasive if the writers didn’t fudge the medicine as often as Scott says they do … but at least here they have a clever excuse.)

Back to Kal Penn. At this point, the producers knew he was quitting the show to work for the Obama administration. So they come up with an episode where an actor playing a doctor on a medical soap longs to do something more meaningful and “real.” And the first person he discusses these longings with is Kal Penn’s character, Kutner. Penn must have been the writers’ creative jumping-off point for this episode.

Also, the reason behind House’s uncharacteristic wrongness was sophisticated in a literary (if not medical) way. The POTW — a “fake” doctor–is abusing “fake” alcohol that causes a “real” allergic reaction. But House, the character, is an addict in the reality of the show. There’s something deliciously through-the-looking-glass about House missing a symptom–and stumbling professionally–because of the fake doctor’s make-believe substance abuse. I dunno … am I giving the dumb writers too much credit here? :)

By: trlkly

trlkly — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:16:36 +0000

@wkmaier : That would be odd, as an avid soap watcher* such as House should know that soaps will replace a character if an actor dies.

*As established back in Season 1 or 2, House loves his mindless TV.

By: Jmo

Jmo — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:24:03 +0000

According to the package insert of methylprednisolone for injection, recommended “high dose” therapy (for life-threatening situations) is 30 mg PER KILOGRAM over 30 minutes. For a 150lb (68kg) person, that’s over 2 grams. Sure, over a 3 minute period (the time he asks Cuddy to wait until she calls security) it’s a mere 200mg, but that’s twice what was called an “overdose.”

But hey, I consider the medicine in House to be like the science in science fiction. I still love watching the show. :)

By: Non Edible Nacho

Non Edible Nacho — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:51:35 +0000

“It seems House’s season finale is yet another near death experience for House.”

THANKS FOR THE SPOILERS!

Agh…

By: TC

TC — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:39:54 +0000

Quinine causes maculopathy, so reduced VA could cause the reduced reading rate.

By: SALTY

SALTY — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:01:12 +0000

Cuddy saying that 100 MG of Solumedrol is an “overdose” was completly ridiculous….Not even close to the truth.

Scott, I know you said that 100 mg is common, but I have had 1000 mg of IV Solumedrol for 3 days in a row.
(Yes, I said one thousand X3 days=3000)

I can’t recall the episode, but they also did the same thing regarding Valproic Acid and it being “lethal”….

By: Captain Defenestrator

Captain Defenestrator — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:01:54 +0000

“Accreditation inspections involve a team of inspectors, not just one, and are not usually carried out on an annual basis unless there is a known problem.”

Are you saying that having House on staff isn’t a known problem?

By: tarik

tarik — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:56:29 +0000

This is the worst episode of House m.d. House was happy even nearly euphoric. Where is the misanthropic House m.d. the season 4 was very disappointing in terms of both medicine (as this blog revealing) and soap opera (Foreman is nonfunctional and no need to mention about Chase and Cameron)

By: Roehamster

Roehamster — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:26:25 +0000

I really hope that this episode was some kind of in-joke for the production crew. Otherwise, I stake an early claim that this is the point where a truly great show finally Jumped the Shark, knowingly – and with a parting wink to the audience.