House — Episode 4 (Season 6): “Instant Karma”
Filed under: Comics
An interesting premise initially on this week’s episode of House, but a slight episode over all. It was in many ways a rehash of House vs God, only not as clever
Jack Randall is the son of a billionaire. He has been sick for over a week with worsening abdominal pain, fever, dehydration, diarrhea, and weight loss. He has seen a variety of doctors, the last who prescribed intravenous antibiotics for a presumed case of Clostridium dificile (i.e. “C. diff” — a cause of severe antibiotic-related diarrhea). When it became clear that Jack did not have C. diff and was not improving, his father brought him to Princeton-Plainboro Hospital demanding that he be seen by House. Cuddy, as always, acquiesced (she has become the Neville Chamberlain of hospital administrators. Didn’t she used to have a backbone?)
House wants the team to start over from the beginning with the history and physical. While performing the physical exam, Cameron feels a left-sided abdominal mass. This is confirmed by an x-ray and revealed to be a fecal impaction (a big hard ball of poop) revealing that Jack is severely constipated. This is a new finding, as previous x-rays were normal. The team decides that this represents toxic megacolon due to Hirschprung’s Disease (a congenital condition caused by missing nerves in one section of the intestine). They want to perform a barium enema and colon biopsy to confirm. Jack feels much better after the procedure and disimpaction and is laughing and joking. Suddenly he begins staring straight ahead and then breaks into a convulsive seizure. Foreman gives him some diazepam (Valium — among its other uses, it is good at stopping seizures). An examination of the eyes reveals swollen optic discs, a sign of intracranial hypertension. Foreman orders furosemide (Lasix – a diuretic, i.e. “water pill”) and then orders more diazepam and then some phenytoin (Dilantin — another seizure medication). He is worried that Jack’s intracranial pressure will get so high the brain will herniate, so he rushes him into surgery where Chase drills burr holes in the skull to relieve the pressure.
Jack is looking a little better after the operation, but the team notices that he is building up fluid in his brain and abdomen again. Closely examining the head CT, Foreman notices an irregularity in the way the fluid is building up and finds this suspicious for early brain cancer. House concurs. A biopsy is taken, but it is negative. Now House suspects that Jack has adenocarcinoma (cancer) of the stomach, and this is what is causing his symptoms. Jack has another bad seizure, but this time with a normal intracranial pressure. The team gives him some diazepam to stop the seizure and proceeds with the scope — but there is no sign of gastrointestinal cancer either. In the meantime, Jack has fallen into a coma. Chase suggests the cause may be infection caused by an antibiotic resistant germ, but all the cultures have been negative. Cameron suggests that Jack may be having abdominal epilepsy — in other words, he has seizures, but they show up as severe stomach pain, and this then in turn led to his other symptoms. House agrees and Jack is started on gabapentin (Neurontin, an anti-seizure drug). An EEG (brainwave) evaluation is started but reveals no seizure like activity. However, Cameron notices that Jack has developed a rash all over (and I mean all over) his body.
The differential diagnosis of Jack’s condition now includes an allergic reaction to his medications, autoimmune disease (lupus and vasculitis), or polyarteritis nodosa (another type of autoimmune disease). House considers starting Jack on Prednisone to treat the polyarteritis, but when Cameron tells him that the rash is also on the genitals, he deduces that Jack has Degos disease, an incurable terminal disease caused by inflammation and blockage of small and medium sized blood vessels. House breaks the news to Jack’s father and lets him know that Jack has less than a day left to live. Jack’s father decides to invest all his assets in extremely risky ventures, knowing he will lose everything. He has decided that by doing so well in business, he has tempted fate and his family is suffering. Therefore, if he is ruined financially, his karma will even out and Jack will improve. House mocks him, but doesn’t stop him (and apparently makes some money on it). As the financial papers are signed, Jack has a cardiac arrest and flatlines. The team is able to resuscitate him, but it’s touch and go. Talking with Wilson a short time later, House has one of his patented aha! moments and realizes that Jack does not have Degos, but has Primary Antiphospholipid Syndrome. They give him some heparin and immunoglobulin and he miraculously recovers.
The medicine had some problems this week. As usual, major complaints are in red, minor in blue, nit-picking in green:
I’m no neurosurgeon, but I don’t think you just whip out your trusty Ryobi cordless and drill a burr hole like that.
At the very least, clean the skin first — I don’t want any nasty skin bacteria pushed into brain which is what you are drilling into.
Also, a sudden drop in an increased intracranial pressure is likely to cause a brain herniation — the very thing they were trying to avoid.
This is the second episode of the season (and we’re only four episodes into the season) where the misdiagnosis of the patient was made by biopsy.
While writing the script for the classic film noir The Big Sleep, the screenwriters couldn’t figure out who murdered the chauffer. They called up Raymond Chandler, who wrote the original book, and ultimately he admitted the plot was so complex that he didn’t know either. I think this happens in House a lot when the writers get lost in their own plot. Case in point — the seizures: First they suggest the increased intracranial pressure is causing the seizures (could happen). Then they suggest electrolyte imbalances could cause the seizures (could happen) — but if the latter is the case, then what caused the increased intracranial pressure in the first place?
The team kept referring to the abdominal fluid returning or recurring. What did they do to remove it in the first place?
Furosemide is, at best, a second-line agent for treating increased intracranial pressure. If you’re going to use a diuretic, acetazolamide is the best choice. Mannitol is a good choice as well.
Cameron’s suggestion of intubation and hyperventilation was another good option.
Phenytoin 500MG is not an unreasonable dose to break a seizure in patient who weighs 60-80 pounds.
I notice Cameron only ended up giving 50MG. Was this a continuity error in the script, or willful disobedience on her part? And 50MG would be an appropriate dose for an 6-10 pound child, way too little for this kid.
If your patient with C.diff is a previously healthy kid, with no recent antibiotic use, and no record of C.diff exposure, and he requires oxygen, then your C.diff case does not have C.diff.
I defy anyone to get a good fundoscopic exam on a seizing patient in the middle of a brightly lit room. Can’t be done.
You’d think after six years, Jennifer Morrison would know how to pronounce ascites.
Labs don’t run extra blood tests without an order. Especially tests that require prep, like fasting before a cholesterol test.
Here is another example of the writer’s trying to have it both ways. If the lab ran the tests, then there would be a computer file with results, not just a single piece of paper. But if Chase ran the test himself so there was not a full computer record, then who ran the extra tests?
I thought the medical mystery was interesting this week and deserves a B. The final solution fit fairly well, though I think Degos fit better. I give it another B. The medicine overall was average, though there were some positive signs — like the team actually performing a history and physical. I give it a C+. The soap opera was okay. Nothing great, but nothing out of character either. It earns a C.
Last week’s House review
A list of all prior House reviews
October 12th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
So, it looks like Remy really is gone for good… ‘leavin on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again’, & with Taub seemingly gone for good also, “Oh my god, it’s 3 years ago” is actually a reality just as I predicted.
Nice to see Chase feeling true remorse/guilt over dragging Foreman in to his murder plot but it’s still disturbs me that he doesn’t really regret doing it, he just regrets having someone else liable along with him, and he also FEARED what would have happened to them should they have been caught in a lie during the M&M. To see Chase squirm when it looked like there were no other solutions to explain/get around the discrepancies other then to come clean was classic…. House saving him & Foreman by giving them a way out for the M&M that explained the cholesterol discrepancy between the two tests leaves interesting things to possibly happen for the remainder of the season..”you guys owe me for saving your murdering butts” comes to mind… House has ALWAYS loved a good bit of Blackmail…. “Better a murder then a missed diagnosis” he tells Chase when Chase asks him why he helped them.
I guess now “Chameron” can get back to being all lovey dovey cutsie now that Chase is over this…? or will they? Cameron suspects, but what does she really suspect? Could be the beginning of the end for Jennifer Morrison & Cameron because if she can’t trust Chase and can’t work with him….hmmmmmmmm.. :)
I also wouldn’t be surprised that by going to Thailand, Remy was going for an experimental Huntington’s treatment that she never could have gotten in the States because her disease was starting to worsen. She was blacklisted from participation in further clinical trials in the U.S. IIRC because of what Foreman did for her last Season… It neatly fits the facts of her leaving for no real reason and why the Huntington’s arc that was SO important before was largely shelved and ignored without resolving it. Plus the writers left the door open for a return for Olivia Wilde/13 at some point in the future so as long as there’s life for 13 there’s hope….Remember during the previous Huntington’s arc, 13 did ‘quit’ for 1-2 episodes and felt sorry for herself and withdrew from everything and everyone important to her, just like 13 is also acing now. The similarities are too eerily familliar to ignore.
Speaking of House, it was a very new side of him to actually volunteer to tell the kids dad that his son was dying. You could see him hesitate and kind of fumble for the words a bit as if doing that was something he hadn’t done in a very long time (if ever). Nice to see House & the team were ultimately wrong but the kids dad was an idiot for signing away is fortune in a sure to lose deal because of his guilt over something that couldn’t be humanly controlled. Kudos to Hugh Laurie for another great performance.
A scene with House and Dr. Nolan would have been nice to keep the continuity of House’s continued progress toward being more human, and if the writer’s don’t regularly touch on the fact that this SHOULD be an ongoing struggle, it will make the last 4 episodes of Season 5 and the 1st 2 of this season meaningless…You can’t just miraculously cure him then expect to walk away from it….
A very good episode that seemed to set several story arcs for the rest of the season, so now the writers will hopefully be even more challenged to continually exceed themselves week after week.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Great review, as always, I was sorta shocked if they were gonna have 2 deaths in a row.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I’m so glad somebody else was bothered with the “ascites” bit! Thanks again Scott, these always help me when I have that vague “something is off” feeling about an episode but can’t quite put my finger on it.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Pretty average episode by House standards. I’ll need to watch it again more thoroughly, but I found my attention drifting during the original airing. Going to give it a second viewing later tonight. Judging from the preview of next week’s episode, they are really going to milk this “murder of the dictator” sub-plot…seems kind of annoying IMO.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Scott,
You’re right, Cuddy normally has a backbone, but not when it comes to billionaire donors to the hospital. Remember the Vogler arc from Season one? He walked all over her for half the season before she finally stood up to him. Although it would have made sense for her to mention to this week’s billionaire that House doesn’t have a license.
By the way, do doctor’s automatically lose their licenses when the voluntarily seek medical treatment for an addiction (or other psychiatric conditions)?
October 12th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Official Comment
Whether a doctor loses their license or not depends on the rules of the state in which they are licensed and the scenario in which their addiction is revealed.
For example, I sat on a hospital board reviewing the case of a doctor who forged his co-worker’s signature on a prescription for narcotics. As the investigation proceeded, it became clear he had done this on numerous occasions before. But because he admitted his problem “voluntarily” to the state board before any charges could be brought, he was allowed to keep his license as long as he attended a drug counseling program.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Official Comment
It wasn’t just the way Cuddy acted at the beginning with Randall, but the way she acted with the lawyers in the end just made me cringe. She’s becoming the Rebecca Howe of Princeton-Plainsboro — started off as a strong female character, but becoming more of a parody of herself with every season.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Hi, I watched all previous five seasons of House over the last two months and read all the reviews on the site, but I never wrote a comments because I thought no on would be reading them by now
but there’s something that I would like to ask the doctors on this site, something that happens on many episodes including this one and the previous one:
House and the team go from one diagnostic to the next until they settle on the right one, but I always thought that they shouldn’t tell the patient what they’re thinking he or she has until they can confirm it but on House they always do it, even if it’s cancer or worse
I don’t mind about the ethical stuff because that’s part of the fun on House but isn’t it just being bad doctors to do that? to tell someone they have something without being sure? I mean, what´s the rush? why can´t they wait a few more hours for the test results to confirm what they think? the patient is not going anywhere and nothing changes with the patient or relatives knowing
October 13th, 2009 at 12:05 am
@ Scott:
Since when was Kirstie Alley ever a ’strong female character’ on Cheers?? Didn’t you mean the Rhea Perlman character Carla?
October 13th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Initially Alley’s character was written to be the new Diane, and was a much stronger character, who was in charge of the bar, and whom Sam had to work around.
Eventually she just became what she became.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Official Comment
Rebecca was a strong character her first year or two — she didn’t take guff from anyone and gave as good as she got. But in the subsequent seasons she got weaker and weaker and just a sad shadow of her former self.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:17 am
I always thought that it makes House and the team look incompetent when they tell the patient or relatives that they have a certain disease and then something happens to the patient that doesn’t fit with that diagnosis
it’s just like if investigators working on a murder case announce they arrested a killer and then another identical murder happens so they have to let the innocent guy go, that would make the police look incompetent and probably get sued
October 13th, 2009 at 12:29 am
question for Doctor Scott regarding House & disease…
how often are people diagnosed with some new disease? How does that even work?
I’m surprised House hasn’t ever gone that direction, so I assume new things are rather rare?
October 13th, 2009 at 1:37 am
It was definately a positive sign medicine wise that the team did a history and physical…but you didn’t mention the biggest House med turnaround, a sign so positive I was blown out of the water. A kid goes flatline and NO ONE reached for the paddles. I’d almost give it an A just for that.
October 13th, 2009 at 2:56 am
The symptoms the boy was having sure didn’t seem to be like the ones for the disease he had.
Why not?
October 13th, 2009 at 3:45 am
[quote]The team kept referring to the abdominal fluid returning or recurring. What did they do to remove it in the first place?[\quote]
didn’t they say that they had a shunt put in or something? im pretty sure they did
when i was wathcing the ep i was thinking that 13’s Huntington’s had just taken a turn for the worst and she was gonna die soon, but after reading what Hugh L wrote an experimental treatment does sound better
also, is that actually Hugh Laurie posting on here? because that would just be so very, very awesome.
btw Nick F, house has diagnosed a previously unseen condition. it was the one with the Cuban couple. she ended up having a third ostium. season 3 episode 24 “Human Error”
October 13th, 2009 at 4:04 am
I noticed that Cameron mispronounced “ascites.” An inexcusable mistake.
One thing that has always bothered me about Cuddy is her clothes. Way too sexy. A woman in her position, who throughout her career has probably had a hard enough time being taken seriously, would never dress the way she does. The female attorneys on “Law and Order” have been more realistically costumed, especially in the series’ early years.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:57 am
This is my first comment – so to start with thanks a lot for this great site.
You mention “The team kept referring to the abdominal fluid returning or recurring. What did they do to remove it in the first place?”. Cameron mentions (12:28 into the show when the team reviews the brain scans, just prior the brain cancer discovery) “we’ve inserted shunts to drain it”
You also mention “Especially tests that require prep, like fasting before a cholesterol test.” Isn’t it that the fasting is not required anymore for cholesterol tests (as opposed to triglicerides test)?
October 13th, 2009 at 5:27 am
Many thanks for your reviews.
…and I think it was a Makita not a Ryobi :-)
October 13th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Another great review Scott. Keep up the good work. @doa766. That’s twice you’ve made that comment and no reply. Hmmm. Reminds me of an episode when (whilst jumping from one diagnosis to another) they landed on AIDS! Foreman was trying to convince the poor patient he had “Aids” (he meant Hiv) in an argumentative rather forceful unprofessional manner only for further tests to prove otherwise.
Their English could be better. Eg. The lab results *suggest* disease X/Y/Z but then that would be less dramatic.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:06 am
@Hugh L: You’re much mistaken. It’s Cameron who’s going to leave seen (last episode of her’s to air in November – it’s been officially confirmed. 13 and Taub are only gone for a little while. Great news for the rest of us, yay!
October 13th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Question for Scott: why did Chase and Foreman fear the M&M so much? The show didn’t really explain what an M&M is; they made it sound like an inquisition that could have legal or professional consequences for the participants. I thought M&M was a purely scientific meeting whose purpose is learn what went wrong in a particular case and not to assign liability or blame.
Were Chase and Foreman worried about looking incompetent, or was it possible that criminal charges would be laid as a result of the meeting?
October 13th, 2009 at 8:11 am
You notice they didn’t shock the flatline this time? Sounded like advertisement too with Foreman yelling “He is flatlining! Everybody look at me doing this right this time!”
October 13th, 2009 at 8:37 am
In the past, House has never been happy with a diagnosis of an incurable disease. If it’s a decision between two diseases, he would always say something to the effect of, “If it’s x, he’s dead. If it’s y, he has a chance. Let’s go with y.”
Why the commitment to Dego’s Disease, even when the POTW’s father points out, “You’ve been wrong before.”? It sparks the drama of the father giving away his fortune, but it’s not like House to be so fatalistic.
Error, or post-detox character development?
October 13th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Thanks for all your reviews, Scott. I’m not a doctor (except in the Ph.D. sense), but I watch “House” religiously — got hooked last fall and eventually caught up on all the reruns on USA Network.
To your question, “The team kept referring to the abdominal fluid returning or recurring. What did they do to remove it in the first place?” — I think Cameron at some point said that they had put in a shunt (?) to drain fluids.
(BTW, this medical stuff in the show usually goes way over my head, so it’s a miracle that I remembered this detail at all. Your reviews really help this layman to understand these kinds of things.)
October 13th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Official Comment
I assumed the “shunt” they were referring to was the one they put in the burr hole they drilled in the brain.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:44 am
@doa766
I don’t know if you are quizzing us, but I have noticed that you are repeating yourself.
To the rest, we are seeing the character development of House before our eyes, and Dr. Nolan’s influence. House v. 1.0 through House 5.0 would not have stopped hounding Jack Randall until he was in tears. Good call on short selling the stock though. That wasn’t being a jerk, that was being clever.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Please, M&M stands for…?
I know about the candy one. :-)
October 13th, 2009 at 10:00 am
When the patient had his first seizure, Foreman said he had lateral rectus palsy in his right eye because he appeared to have an adduction deficit. This could be caused by a third nerve palsy or by internuclear ophthalmoplegia, while a lateral rectus palsy would cause abduction deficit.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:03 am
I loved this episode. It was very reminiscent of one the shows prior to that bizarre decision to remove Cameron, Foreman, and Chase from the team.
Episodic television is not about experimentation–it is about doing really good work within established boundaries. The audience enjoys the familiarity of having a group of characters with whom they have bonded come into their living rooms once a week. Have you noticed that Bart Simpson has NOT grown up? Change, for change’s sake, is a bad thing in this medium.
“All in the Family” never recovered from the decision to have Mike and Gloria move out. “CSI” will likely never recover from the departure of William Petersen. “Law & Order”, the best example of good work within established boundaries, never recovered from the loss of Jerry Orbach and Steven Hill.
It’s all about capturing a delicate chemistry between the characters: House, Cuddy, Wilson, Chase, Foreman, and Cameron have that chemistry. It works. Leave it alone.
Great reviews, btw. I enjoy the medical stuff, though I can’t claim I understand all of it.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Wouldn’t it have been more interesting if someone had talked the billionaire out of throwing away his wealth and House had still come up with the solution?
I have to agree that the way they reach a diagnosis, tell the patient or the patient’s spouse/parent/SO their conclusion, treat it, find out they are wrong, repeat until the hour is up doesn’t seem right. It’s almost like throwing things against the wall to see what sticks.
While it seems reasonable that in difficult cases doctors would go through a trial and error/process of elimination process, you’d think that by now, the team would stop telling the patient “you have such and such disease”, and then later have to admit that they were wrong, but “now we really know what you have.”
The writers really need a way to break out of the 50 minutes of wrong guesses and then House having an “aha” moment while talking to Wilson or Cuddy, but given that it is an hour show, I have no clue how they could do that.
On the other hand, in the clinic (much missed), House almost invariably nails the diagnosis on the first try, often without lab tests and with the patient lying to him.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Official Comment
M&M = Morbidity and Mortality Conference. Hospitals have these roughly once a month or so where the physicians sit around and discuss patients who have died or had serious complications since the previous meetings. The idea is to look for patterns and to learn from mistakes. The ones I’ve attended have been pretty casual — a bunch of people sitting around a table — but then Princeton-Plainsboro is supposed to be a a huge hospital.
(Wikipedia link: Morbidity and Mortality Conference
October 13th, 2009 at 10:20 am
@wkmaier: Morbidity and mortality meeting to discuss mistakes that might have been made during patient care and lessons to be learnt.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Official Comment
doa766 :
It’s a complex situation. Let me hit two major points quickly, though there are other considerations as well.
It depends on the doctors. Some like to be very assured with the patient: “this is what it is.” While some prefer to hedge their bets: “This is what we think it is,” or “It could be one of these things.” There is no right or wrong way of doing it, it all depends on the doctor — and House’s team is all Type A personality.
Don’t forget that it’s not just the doctors. Patients want to know what’s going on as well — on the show they’ll often demand to know what is going on — so the doctor often has to make a diagnostic statement one way or another; he rarely has the luxury to wait until all the information is in.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:54 am
They didn’t shock the kid when he flatlined. I was so happy!
October 13th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Good episode, but I have to say I miss Wilson. I hope he will play a bigger part in the later episodes. And I am enjoying the old team back for as long as it lasts – which sadly isn’t very long.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Is it just me or does the show really feel like week this season?
Don’t get me wrong, BROKE (episode 1-season 6) was GREAT!!
Well written, well directed, well presented but now it seems like we’re missing not only conflict but also action and more and more I see a must drama alike show comming.
Hope to be wrong, we already have Grey’s anatomy and E.R. stuff.
U guys don’t hate me but.. just read (on the comments above) that Cameron is leaving?
REALLY??
THANK GOD!
I hate female withered characters.
BTW!
Thank u so much for this great site!!
October 13th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
RE. the M&M: so the only people viewing the dossier would be their Princeton-Plainsboro colleagues? NOT the doctors from pseudo-Rwanda or the UN or Interpol or whatever? Doesn’t that reduce the likelihood both of a question based on the cholesterol discrpancy and of the question ever leaving the conference room? Is there any record made of the M&M conference, something that could be used against Foreman in the future if he lies or just says he can’t explain the cholesterol numbers?
Bummer that one no longer has to fast for cholesterol–because now my doctor tests triglycerides so I still have to fast. Wouldn’t *Dibala’s* doctors run his triglycerides, though, and therefore a fasting/nonfasting discrepancy would be expected? Wouldn’t the problem of the discrepancy and its solution (fasting or not, on medication or not) depend on whether the sample Chase confected had higher or lower lipids–and are we ever told which?
Wouldn’t having the dramatic physical problems Dibala had, and the treatments for them, affect his cholesterol?
I really was hoping they would find out that Dibala did have scleroderma (i.e. that Chase’s recommended treatment was correct) but died anyway, perhaps from the preceding treatment which had been stopped too late.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
BTW!
That’s Cuddy’s job: to look great and powerful, that’s the only way she could be running that hospital.
Believe me..
A woman who knows how to dress is a woman who knows how to make things function and more important is a woman who knows how to take advantage of being a woman.
Well.. maybe high heels can be changed.
October 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Hi everyone…
@Tom… I totally agree with you. They should let the cast alone, and bring great guest stars. But i think that decisions have already been made. So, i just can hope for the best on that.
The episode was a good one. The face that House does when he told the billionaire that the medicine is what cured his son and he insisted on the karma stuff, was just an instant, but it was priceless.
I really don’t like Chase and Foreman trying to “fix” what they did. But, what the heck.
Cuddy dressing the way she does? Man.. I think she can… Too good looking for a woman her age. I still remember the pole dancing she did in one episode… Amazing.
I really hope that, if cameron leaves, then 13 takes her place. “not that she’s the hottest woman on earth”.
Heishiro.
October 13th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
really liked this episode, I watched it several times…
October 13th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Foreman and Chase have every right to be afraid of the M&M. Just because these are colleagues, it doesn’t mean they can just admit wrong-doing and get away with it. Any one of the other doctors could report them to the authorities, the press, the liscencing board, or all three.
To all of you out there: I loved all discussion that “The Tyrant” ignited! I love to see critical thinking, not just the blind following of a politically correct world.
P.S. I miss Taub!
October 13th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Slightly OT
@sound67:
“13 and Taub are only gone for a little while”.
Do you have any confirmation of this, or is this just your opinion??
re: Cameron
Ok, what I suspected with Cameron looks like it really is happening…. I just searched the internet and found confirmation that Jennifer Morrison has indeed already left House for good, and her last episode will air sometime in November. Looks like her and Jesse couldn’t work together on the show either.
Too bad to see the cast dynamic shaken up in such a fundamental way but as long as it’s handled right, it could actually make the show even better!
http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jennifer-morrison/news/156638
http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/09/24/exclusive-jennifer-morrison-leaving-house/ – CONTAINS POSSIBLE FUTURE SPOILERS
http://www.film.com/tv/house/story/report-jennifer-morrison-leaving-house/30235357 – CONTAINS POSSIBLE FUTURE SPOILERS
October 13th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
1a) I hope 13 comes back. Call me a sucker for the ladies, but I love them both. Cameron for her sweet but different type of strength…comes on. It takes a great deal of heart to marry someone you know won’t live for another year. I wish there more people like Cameron in the world. People would that without question, put others before themselves first. In one episode, she goes through hoops to spare a woman from a death sentence the whole hour. Another episode, she tells Wilson she didn’t cheat on her husband…”How could I live with myself?”
1b) And Thirteen…aside from the fact the LBGT community is so under represented, I liked the struggle she has with her dying. She doesn’t take much **** from House either, unlike others. If anyone knows what is happening to Thirteen or Taub, I’m all ears.
2) Scott (or Dr. Scott), I want to thank you for posting the reviews you do. I was under the impression House was written by doctors. However, after your fact check, I’m wondering if I heard correctly, or if maybe they haven’t practiced medicine in a long time. I wonder if the writers read these reviews, perhaps they might triple check a few things! For a while, I resented my doctor for not giving me a “differential” or list. Now I understand making a list isn’t so easy.
3) While I agree Cuddy is certainly strong, I don’t think she is so much a pardoy this season, so much as she doesn’t have time to be anything else other than the boss lately. The screen time is being stolen by nearly every other character.
4) I’m slightly concerned with some of the writing this season. “Epic Fail” was a bit juvenile in its dialogue. Gay jokes and ball jokes. Come on, seniors in high school can come up with better stuff. Usually House is smarter or just more cut throat.
5) Is there really a specialty in diagnosis? I remember House said he was Board certified in infectious disease and diagnostician in one episode. I’m not a medical doctor (undergrad in math), but I find House has given me an interest in it. Is there a particular book that might be good for non doctors to see the art of diagnosing in action or a good book to feed an interest in medicine?
6) Something I wanted to ask you (sorry!). It once came up in an episode about using a placebo (prescribing an actual patient). Is this legal? ABC news once did a study and said something like one in three doctors did this. I find this extremely disconcerting as I would not be able to trust my doctor if I went to him with a legitimate concern and was given medicine simply in hopes my mind would fix it.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
@ Tom:
Just to be clear a placebo is not actual medicine. It is usually a sugar pill made to look like a pill. House even used lemonheads in a 1st season episode as a placebo to give to a drug seeker who had the misfortune to run across House.
He said to the Pharmacy Tech ” I need Vicodin and change for a dollar”. He went to a candy dispenser and bought lemonheads and switched them for the painkillers which were then given to the drug seeker…. Later the drug seeker came back asking for “a refill” & was smiling so whatever effect he was getting from them was purely psychosomatic.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
first time poster, long time lurker here, so hi :)
a small note regarding the first medical mistake, chase did clean the skin, at 11 mins 34 seconds you can see him rubbing a piece of cotton wool against the boys had, it lasted for less than a second and is very easy to miss I guess, but he did do it.
October 13th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
in the episode in season 3 with that huge dude, cameron cave him 3 grams of phenytoin before discharging him, so he would like, stay admitted. 3 grams. as compared to this episode’s OMFGCRAZYWTF 500mg. so yeah. i know he was a fat dude in the other one, but still. like woah.
October 13th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
@ Tom: You might try Berton Rouche. He wrote medical mysteries. They are outdated, but are interesting (and I noticed that a couple of the early House episodes appear to be loosely based on one or two of the stories). Also, he is a good writer and gives info about the diseases.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
“The team kept referring to the abdominal fluid returning or recurring. What did they do to remove it in the first place?”
They did mention they had put in shunts to drain the fluid.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:40 am
@Tom
M*A*S*H survived numerous cast changes throughout its 11 seasons: Wayne Rogers and McLean Stevenson left and were replaced by Mike Farrell and Harry Morgan. Larry Linville left and was replaced by David Ogden Stiers. Gary Burghoff left, but wasn’t replaced. Cheers was another series that survived cast changes. So did Married…With Children (minor cast changes, admittedly). All In the Family suffered from the loss of Mike and Gloria simply because of how the series was structured. All four primary cast members balanced each out. It’s not the same situation, I don’t think, with House. Moreover, Gloria and Mike left the show and were not replaced properly. Cameron and Chase were replaced, which helped maintain the show’s balance.
In other words, if you lose a character on your series and you add a character to fill a similar, but not exactly the same, role, your show has a better chance of survival. (The loss of Radar on <M*A*S*H is the only notable exception I can think of.)
BTW, did anyone else notice that in this ep, Cameron called Chase, “Robert”? It’s about time they started to refer to each other by their first names.
October 14th, 2009 at 5:11 am
I’ll give the writers license to imagine that there’s some kind of “deal” that can make a company go bankrupt overnight.
If House shorted stock in the company, it must be publicly owned. If the company was publicly owned and the guy deliberately put it out of business, he would be up on criminal charges of fraud, and the police would have taken him away in cuffs.
After all, there’s just no way karma demands a criminal act that will put hundreds of people out of work have them lose their savings. He could have, as another pointed out, given it all to charity. After all, that’s what a “vow of poverty” generally entails.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Sgt Tritter: “House, you’re under arrest!’
Dr. House: “What are you talking about?”
Tritter: “Insider trading. ”
If they got Al Capone for income tax evasion….
:-)
October 14th, 2009 at 9:34 am
To the medical types on here: How did Chase get a blood sample from a corpse? I thought that when someone died, their blood stops flowing and then congeals as they cool down? I suppose I must be wrong, because no-one else has mentioned it, but it really bugs me.
Re: Cuddy’s dress sense: it’s perfectly possible to dress well and smartly without displaying the amount of cleavage she does, or wearing those ridiculously uncomfortable shoes. On the other hand, it’s TV, not real life. How could anyone cast Lisa Edelstein in their TV show, then not show off her gorgeous figure? I can suspend my disbelief quite willingly on that one.
Is anyone else bugged by the large numbers of lesbian and bisexual women characters, while there’s not a single gay male?
October 14th, 2009 at 9:59 am
RE: The M and M: Even if Princeton Plainsboro M and M’s are usually more informational than inquisitorial, I got the impression that, because House is unpopular, the other doctors would take the opportunity to crucify the diagnostics department. Foreman said something to that effect when taking with Chase.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:32 am
@Greg: Absolutely, it would be payback time. No doubt House had great sport mocking other doctors’ failings during previous M&Ms.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:58 am
After the intense episode last week this one was a bit drowsy…yet somehow it left room for more and one cannot really shake the feeling that storm is lurking behind the corner. Chase was a lot like he was in the first two seasons, insecure, squirming to get away which frankly was out of character – he became way more assertive and self aware in season 3 which after all was the reason House fired him (You learned everything you can or you learned nothing at all – remember that one?). Than again he was trying to get Foreman to work with him he was hunting for solutions and was trying to conceal not only himself but Foreman as well – still he was not entirely himself – at least the “him” he was after leaving House and starting to go solo. Foreman on the other hand was typical Foreman – objecting denying and frankly doing nothing but complain – this guy will never be able to walk alone or do something without somebody looking over his shoulder. As for his morality and ethics – could he be more hypocrite? He destroys the evidence than he gets morally about this he needs to lye on the M&M yet he is disgusted to lye and wants somebody else to lye for him or to do his job. He claims to have “none of the responsibility and all of the liability” and in reality he wants it if possible the other way around – all the fun and none of the bad stuff. Chase outranked him even in the end – he went to Cuddy to confess so that Foreman doesn’t get screwed. All in all I didn’t like Foreman very much when the show began but I practically despise the guy now. As for how he handled his personal life and his one shot at a good relationship (albeit with a deadline – literally!) – he was probably glad he got away. I will not comment the medicine because frankly I am unfamiliar with almost all the diagnoses they pushed this episode. The procedure screw ups (such as drilling a hole through unshaven and intact skin or inserting a shunt to drain the excess fluid OUT of his head instead back to his bloodstream) were already commented and I do not think somebody even notices this stuff anymore (except our host here – 10x for six years of great work Scott!). I am actually a bit disappointed that this episode was so calm – after all Chase committed a murder and House accepted that with just a slight shrug? But I am sure we’ll have plenty of action especially with Jenn leaving – and I am really sorry about that. She really grew up as a character on the show and I will miss her – and considering how much I still despise 13 I’ll really hate it if she stepped up to take Cameron’s place….Let’s just wait and see…
Almost forgot – somebody asked twice about the telling the diagnosis immediately or waiting until sure. Of course D-r Scott already answered it but I’ll add some of my own wisdom over the years. I never tell my patients that I am sure about the diagnoses (I am not talking about tooth caries here – that stuff is really 100% clear from the very start) however there are much more murkier areas and I tend to be cautious in such situations. I usually say: “The symptoms: this, that and that indicate that you have the xxxx. It is also possible to be yyyy. I advise you to start this course of treatment because it is the one most likely to give results. You have to consent of course or if you do not trust my judgment you could go and see another doctor.” Frankly I am a bit surprised on how well patients on “House” accept errors (and they mistake a lot!). In Bulgaria people are much less lenient and tend to threaten to leave or sue over such blunders. This is the main reason to proceed with such cation as well with the reason not to give the patient false hope or false scare..
October 14th, 2009 at 11:15 am
This new House has gotten a shaky start with a case of the terrible two’s(episode 2 and 4 seemed just lazy).
When the production value of the first two minutes is ten times that of the rest of the episode its a real head scratcher.
On the other hand, they are trying to break the formulaic nature of House and explore other ways to get through ethical issues and medical malaise.
Having House in charge again can’t come soon enough..
October 14th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Hey, on the medicine side, look! They didn’t shock a flat line!
October 14th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Well, I for one am glad that I’m apparently not the only one who thinks the discontinuation of “My Name Is Earl”, the second-best show on American TV, has been a very very Bad Idea that should be reconsidered asap.
October 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
When they drilled the hole in the kid’s skull I laughed – I have that same drill. Can I be a neurosurgeon?
October 14th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Re Cuddy’s fashion sense
My doctor is an attractive young (mid 30s, which seems young when you’re over 50) woman who dresses a bit like Cuddy.
The last time I saw her she had trouble getting a consistent blood pressure measurement. She tried several times; each time my reading was a little higher than the last. (True story. She attributed it to a calibration problem with the meter, but I like to think it was her fashion sense. :-) )
October 14th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the medical insight. There were too many different diagnoses here for me to follow after a while.
I will miss Cameron a lot. She adds a balance to House. I think I enjoyed those earlier episodes because of the check and balance aspect provided by the different personalities. I do not miss Taub one bit.
I watched a re-run on TV of the show where House tells Chase he must go do tests on the infant who died under his care. Chase goes down and prays over the infant before he begins. With his year of seminary and feelings of reverence for life I imagine he will be fighting some kind of internal war within himself after the choices he made last week.
I was not surprised by House’s figuring out what was going on with Chase and Foreman. It interested me that House said he wasn’t worried about Chase because he didn’t think Chase would face this situation again.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
@Kate:
“It interested me that House said he wasn’t worried about Chase because he didn’t think Chase would face this situation again.”
I think House was facetiously referring to the fact that since a Head of State of a Foreign Government died at Princeton Plainsboro, once word of that ‘got around’ that there wouldn’t be too many more of them making a choice to come through their doors.
Remember, this is coming from the man who also said to Chase; ” Better a murder then a missed diagnosis”.
October 15th, 2009 at 4:31 am
“Better a murder than a misdiagnoses” Somehow that line sounded flase even comming from Hugh Lauries mouth… I am pretty sure that Chase decision will come back and bite everyones ass and it will happen pretty soon. I cannont even begin to fathom how Cuddy will react though – if it was House decision she would of “screeched like a hiena – very sexy I admit” – 10x House! – but she would probably still cover for him. But Chase? She’ll hang him out to dry! Frankly I can’t wait…
October 15th, 2009 at 7:22 am
If Cameron is really leaving, that might put the kibosh on my theory that they were planning to pull a “Dallas” and reveal that the entire fourth and fifth seasons were a dream (or, more likely, a hallucination).
October 15th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I actually liked Chase before last week. I would have rather they let Taub falsify the tests and be sacked by Foreman (leaving us with the original cast). Making Chase unpopular and allowing Cameron to leave spells disaster. Especially whilst the imagination of the writers seems to be reaching it’s limit. On a positive note it’s still far better than the extremely irritating repetitive condescending voice of Merrywitch in Sex & the Hospi (Grey’s Anat).
October 15th, 2009 at 10:57 am
As someone who has taken pain meds for several years(no, they are not prescribed), I can say that House is doing amazing for a former addict. It’s like smoking. You might not be taking them, but you’re ALWAYS thinking about them. I’d like to see him do some follow-ups or have someone at least check in on him to see how the rehab is coming.
Anyhoo, pretty good episode. Although the “spoilers” site I found was WAY off about what to happen this episode.
Keep up the great reviews!
October 15th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
So what happens to the hypothetical bacteria on and in a patient when the team’s first diagnosis points toward infection and they briefly treat with antibiotics then change direction to, let’s say, autoimmune and a treatment of steroids? As a patient when I’ve been given antibiotics I’m always told to take them all even if I start to feel better because failure to do so could result in an antibiotic resistant strain of the infection. It seems that by just showing the germs the antibiotics and not the full course that the House team is setting up larger problems for later on. I realize that this week the treatment wasn’t changed as above by the team but it does seem to happen often in the series.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
@ Balok
“If Cameron is really leaving, that might put the kibosh on my theory….”
Check out my post above with the links to confirmed stories/sources that Jennifer Morrison has already left House and the last episode she will be in will air sometime in November.
Now 13, is under contract through the end of this season and is only gone on a temporary basis. She’s expected to be back within a few episodes.. Looks like a creative story arc with her going to Thailand under “mysterious circumstances”….
October 15th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
What really puzzles me is that 13’s condition has been utterly forgotten since the start of this season. Is she feeling better? Was she (eek!) misdiagnosed?
And I don’t quite understand how those lawyer types wanted to sue the hospital for the bankruptcy of Mr Randall’c company? Ill advice, negligence?
October 15th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
@ Vlad:
13’s Huntington’s, IMHO was deliberately forgotten by the writers so it could be brought back as a dramatic twist at some point in the future.
I am willing to bet we will see 13’s “reappearance” around the time in November when Jennifer Morrison’s last scenes are aired.
re: The Lawyers.
If you watched the rest of that scene it was brought up that they would sue not only him but Princeton Planesboro as well if he was insane, presumably for negligence on the part of his physicians for not treating something that the lawyers are implying should be obvious to see….. Since they are not trained medical professionals, their opinions mean little as is demonstrated by House.
House pointed out; “He’s irrational, so are most people. Unfortunately it doesn’t make them insane” (just idiots is implied….). Then the lawyer says “If he signs that paper he’s not only going to destroy his own life but the lives of 1000’s of people who rely on this company to make a living. If he IS insane we will sue this hospital….” then Cuddy interrupts to calm the scene a bit & shut them up.. After a bit more back and forth the (ex) billionaire signs the paper presumably just flushing all his money & assets down the toilet…
October 15th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Re: Makita surgery; i noticed that drill a while ago (s5e24 i think). i seem to remember seeing on grays anatomy that neurosurgery drills run a lot faster than a DIY hand drill.
Re: ‘Billionaire Bankrupt in a day’: I think the idea is that he is bankrupting himself, not his company. He just seems to trade stocks, options and futures – it’s never made entirely clear. Quite what the board meeting at the start was, and what his company does, is never made clear. Does he run a bank? Some giant stockbroker? (Does anyone remember a book whose storyline is about a company that does nothing but supply, maintain and account itself?) I think house’s short sell was based on a knock-on effect on the market, ie. his shares were in other companies, not in POTW’s dad’s company.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Oh, and i don’t think 13 could really be mis-diagnosed. She ran the genetic test herself after house guilted her into it sometime in series 4. I like the theory of heading abroad for some barely-legal huntingdon’s drug trial – seems like an interesting mix of her slightly reckless side with regards to her remaining years and her on-off attempts to treat it.
And did anyone think that running straight from pediatrics to the OR and immediately drilling a burr hole was a little strange? surely people need to scrub etc? or do they just use the OR as a treatment room in emergencies and then re-clean the room afterwards? Also, Chase seemed to be ready and in a surgical gown rather quickly
October 15th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
@Hugh L. and Tom: I don’t think the clinic patient House gave the Lemonheads to was supposed to be a drug seeker. He was just an idiot who thought he had fibromyalgia.
I also think that Cameron is BORING! 13 is a far more interesting foil for House. She actually has a personal life, and has better lines. Nice seein’ ya, Jen M!
October 15th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I liked the fact that not only House did not object to what Chase had done, he actively helped him cover it up. So I think had he known what Chase knew he would have done it as well.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:44 am
*slight spoiler*
According to this week’s TV Guide, the info about Jennifer Morrison’s leaving permanently is a rumor–she is only leaving for a few episodes. Same for Olivia Wilde. Their long-term fates haven’t been decided.
I don’t believe it mentioned Taub.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:53 am
@ Shanna
Got a link for that? :)
October 16th, 2009 at 1:59 am
According to this: http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jennifer-morrison/156638 they say she’s leaving as of 9/24/09 & I can’t find anything newer then that on their site that disagrees with it….
October 16th, 2009 at 4:12 am
@Cutthroat ghost: (I like the name by the way). House Md oversimplifies medicine in the interest of time and drama. For example an autoimmune and infection can coexist. 2ndly when you suppress the immune system with steroids increased susceptibility to infection shouldn’t be surprising. Antibiotics given to patients receiving immunosuppressants should by bactericidal as the immune system cannot be relied upon to get rid of static bacteria. Hope this helps but if not, as Dr Evil, I don’t care.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
@Hugh
It’s in the print magazine.
October 17th, 2009 at 3:32 am
@ Scott
As a real doctor check this out: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/9uukn/so_my_exwife_is_basically_dying_shes_seen_5/ I think the poster is looking for any insight.
October 17th, 2009 at 4:08 am
As soon as they said the child was gonna be dead soon, I said they´re wrong, never had two consequent deaths! And I was right:-)
1. Thirteen gone? Or is she coming back some time? Can´t wait for it. Don´t tell me, I wanna remain unspoiled!
2. I was also confused about the extra tests. Even when I once obtained more detailed results of a test I ordered…
3. Shouldn´t there be a positive ANA in antiphospholilpid syndrome?
October 17th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
They can’t sue the hospital for running his business bankrupt. It was his choice. While misguided, nobody has any real proof he is insane. In grief, but not insane. Also, this person isn’t a patient at the hospital, the son is the patient. They have no legal obligation to do anything.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:39 am
@ Hugh L.
Ah say, now ah say, it’s a joke, son.
October 19th, 2009 at 11:07 am
OK, I don’t have much of import to say.
First off:
“Cuddy, as always, acquiesced (she has become the Neville Chamberlain of hospital administrators. Didn’t she used to have a backbone?)” LOL!!!!! That was great! Now, every time I watch House and Cuddy acquiesces, I’m going to think of Neville Chamberlain and wonder who the Nazis are going to be this week.
Second:
Chase and Foreman weren’t expecting an inquiry to Dibala’s death? If this was real life, news media outlets would be all over this, the government would be both asking questions and answering questions, late night news shows would have a field day. It’s kind of a big deal when a foreign leader dies in your hospital. People start asking questions. And that’s even if Chase didn’t do anything wrong. (But Chase saying that he’ll just say that he saw cholesterol lowering statins on a cart and swiped them? That’s actually believable when it comes to PPTH.)
Finally, no doctor could really ever want to do a Morbidity and Mortality Conference, but the fact that Foreman is whining about it, about he’s too busy, about House trying to push his responsibilities onto Foreman (waa waa waa–does House have his medical license back yet?) would raise my suspicions, even if I would be as spineless as Cuddy.
Just my two cents.
Kat
October 19th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Scott, thanks for the link and the information about the M&M Conference.
Last one I remember on House was also on Chase–back in season 2 when Chase’s father died and he messed something up. House took the brunt of the heat for him. I forgot the name of the episode, but it was when Stacy was still around.
Kat
October 20th, 2009 at 12:03 am
About that hand drill. Now I’ve seen some pictures of hand held medical drills, but a hand drill to the head? I understand that you can use a drill bit with a geometry that will cut only hard substances and not soft ones. But call me crazy, I don’t think that its a good idea to have a hand held drill making holes in someones head. Please tell me that in the real world there are precision drills mounted on locking gimbals or some kind of harness so a patent doesn’t have to worry how many cups of coffee their surgeon drank that day.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:01 pm
I don’t know how intense the questioning gets at an M&M, but I figured it didn’t matter. This was a “Tell-Tale Heart” kind of situation, where even if no one was looking for a murderer, Chase and Foreman were going to be paranoid about being accused. Maybe someone would ask questions or maybe everyone would just sleep through the whole presentation, but guilt is going to mess with Chase and Foreman’s heads regardless.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Had to wait for the episode to show up on Hulu.com to see it.
Unlike Dr. Scott, I didn’t find the episode “slight” – I thought it was pretty intense.
Interesting how, at the very end, the father looks perfectly happy after his son is cured, even though he’s plowed his entire financial empire into the ground – I guess he felt his karma did change. I’d like to think of it as an affirmation of life over money, but still …
Also had to chuckle over the way House referenced “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
October 28th, 2009 at 1:13 am
I thought the episode wasn’t too bad – a standard House episode, if you will. My issue with it though was the ending. Way, way, waaaay too predictable, and thus boring.
As harsh as this sounds, if the ending had been that the father signs away his fortunes and then the kids dies (or even just the kid dying would have been “good”), I would’ve liked it much better due to it being a change from the typical “patient is saved and everyone is happy” ending.
October 31st, 2009 at 5:01 am
About the short stock: I suspect House was simply lying about having done it. If so, there’s no need to speculate about its ethics or if it’s going to come back and bite him in the ass; he was simply messing with Wilson (who was telling him he wasn’t really a jerk after all — i.e., House was trying to convince Wilson he was a jerk).
I could, of course, be wrong about this. However, there’s been no indication before that I know of that House has any familiarity with the stock market.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Hey ! It’s like the old team is back together again !
If we’re following what the shark did after he had finished jumping over House, MD, the answer appears that he converted to Christianity and became a Televangelist. Then turned his sharky talents to writing for the show.
This one is the parable of the rich man who thought that Karma meant he could lose his wealth and save his dying son. The “Instant Karma” of the show’s title. Foolish man loses both the son and the wealth that could have provided some kind of cushion to his grief. Buddhists bad.
Hugh, America must be the world’s most brilliant country if you have been offered permission to stay in it – just for signing up for four more years of this.
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Did anyone notice that House calls for “intracranial electrodes” to be applied to this kid to check his seizure activity? That’s not an EEG, that’s brain surgery. Intracranial electrodes require electrodes to be placed on the brain surface and are only used when the skull needs to be opened up for epilepsy surgery or similar reasons. What they should have and did use was an EEG, as you can see from the electrodes taped to his head when he goes in for the Ryobi intervention. The equipment use was fine, although you’re only going to catch a grand mal seizure (which should be pretty obvious on its own) with that few electrodes, unless by coincidence the seizure starts directly under his forehead, but the terminology was not even close.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
M&M stands for morbidity and mortality (I think).
December 17th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Is it me or was the MD at the beginning treated for C. diff with IV antibiotics? Even if you were dumb enough to treat for C. diff in this case, who would use IV antibiotics for C. diff?
February 25th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
About Cameron pronoucing ‘Acities’, I think its more realistic.
Anyone who knows me knows I can’t pronouce things over 4 letters the right way, but I like the way I pronouce them and continue to do so.
Maybe Cameron is like me.
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