Comments on: House — Episode 6 (Season 5): “Joy”

By: Chic

Chic — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 03:23:35 +0000

Very late to the party, I’d just like to add to the “Cuddy is unethical” theme that her personal interest in the baby’s health is what landed Becca in the hospital in the first place. That is no excuse for her later behaviour of course, but did prove useful, so let’s not make her out as the villain after all. And she was ready to take advice which opposed her wishes, so it’s not like she was completely unreasonable.

The adoption process as shown on House got me wondering: is it really that quick? Cuddy got the green light and found a mother close to giving birth in a matter of days. Basically she would have had the baby a couple of weeks after Wilson gave character reference on her. Is this realistic? I know nothing about adoption in the U.S., but I remember that on Friends, Monica and Chandler seemed to have more time to bond with the birth mother, and thus with the baby. (Or was that just because the story arc lasted over several episodes?) Doesn’t it make the bonding with the baby easier if the adoptive parents have experienced the waiting, the anxiety, the anticipation, the preparation? Or am I being too romantic about this?

By: Dangor

Dangor — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:02:24 +0000

Dr. Scott. Thank you I enjoyed your comments. I am a cognitive neuropsychologist and I am frequently irritated by major blunders in the fields I have some understanding. However I hoped that in the the field of general medicine this serial was more realistic. Now due to your observations I am able to check myself.

By: Dan G

Dan G — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:02:56 +0000

I know I’m pretty late to this party… But yeah, there were many things that confused/annoyed me in this episode. However, IMO the opening and closing scenes were both visually stunning- for different reasons, obviously, but you get the point.
Also, I have no medical training whatsoever, but was I the only person thinking “OCD” throughout at least the first half of the ep? The coffee, the decor/tidiness, the attention to time and so on..? Maybe that was deliberate.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:55:43 +0000

Giving birth in the US can and often does run a whole lot more than $4000 or $6000. My sister’s first child was $44,000, although he had to spend two days in the NICU. The birth of my daughter ran about $12,000; there were no complications, and I only spent the one night in the hospital, leaving as soon as they allowed me to be discharged.

By: Balok

Balok — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:22:33 +0000

Another comment from a country where “House” is shown a year late. I will add my voice to the chorus of “the symptoms don’t match FMF *at* *all*” crowd. My late father had FMF, so I know what the symptoms are. The only remotely realistic part of the episode was that it took something like 30 years before he was diagnosed — up until a doctor of Sephardi Jewish origin saw him and figured it out immediately, every time he would come down with a high fever and abdominal pain, they would take him to the hospital and do a zillion tests and then send him home. Even *after* he was diagnosed with FMF, whenever he would have a flare-up, he would go to the hospital, where the doctors would do tests that the “House” writers have never even heard of in an effort to connect the symptoms to his other health problems or the medications that he was taking for his other health problems. When my mother would try to tell the doctors that it was probably his FMF, they would tell her to go away and leave the medicine to the “experts.”

By: Donavon Cawley

Donavon Cawley — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:00:59 +0000

Gius,
Americans have to pay for all medical procedures. ALL medical procedures. If you have insurance, then you’re fine. If not, then you pay out of pocket. If you can’t pay out of pocket, then you get to declare bankruptcy. Wheee!

Anyway, giving birth to a baby will probably run you anywhere from 4,000 to 6,000 USD. According to the Internet. I’ve never actually had a baby, so I wouldn’t know from personal experience.

By: GaiusMarius

GaiusMarius — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:06:40 +0000

Sorry I’m late, the french season of house is one year late. Since my wife does not speak english, I have to wait a year.

I wont add my comments on the episode, which are similar to those up there, but I have a question: do you guys actually have to pay to have your baby delivered? Here in Quebec this is free (all medical acts are), I tought it was the same down in your country. Is it?

By: Skooma

Skooma — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:37:39 +0000

The incubator looked way too good to be a meth-head. If Cuddy is her attending it’s a conflict of interest to be sure. How does a pregnant meth-head pay for hospital care, especially a private room? I would assume Cuddy is picking up the tab. Cuddy got totally owned at the end. What are the odds the incubator turns out to have some sickness. Suddenly wanting the kid back isn’t really surprising, at least to me.

The cold open was trippy and their house is surreal and sterile. I liked that element.

Wasn’t Colchicine an anti-gout medication which was abused before and almost killed someone in the first season?

By: John

John — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:37:16 +0000

Oh man, that FMF diagnosis was too ridiculous.
Soon as house said it I yelled out, “ABDOMINAL PAIN!!!”
Scared the heck outta my roommates…

By: Esther

Esther — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:08:31 +0000

The baby didn’t have Fifth Disease. She had Bronchopulmonary dysplasia.