Wouldn’t it have been a relatively simple matter to culture a sample and check for the presence of bacteria?

Is there any reason they couldn’t?

As for a completely plausible justification for having House perform the autopsy himself, it was “deemed too important to his life-threatening ongoing investigation” into the cause of the epidemic; and, given that Dr. Cutty owns the legal and moral jurisdiction at the hospital, naturally Cutty would permit him to conduct his business.

SS RN I <3 your post!

Viewing HOUSE as a mystery show, I was happy I guessed “whodunit” within seconds — “get that teddy bear out if his face,” I muttered to myself.

I’m watching the first season on DVD, and if you happen to do so as well, look for all the times they have the teddies in the shot. Sort of a reverse red herring in a way. Hidden in plain sight. I swear in one scene I thought Cuddy was standing next to one while directing the search.

All the characters have done procedures that they wouldn’t in real life. It’s called “dramatic license” and you’ll go crazy if you nitpick every action that logically would be done by another hospital employee (from drawing blood to doing CT scans and MRIs. About the only thing I’ve seen the young guns do that they WOULD do in real life are the spinal taps (and talking to the patients & families).

I agree 100% that we overuse antibiotics and a reckoning is due. I actually have to tell our health care providers that I don’t want an Abx unless it is clinically indicated and I don’t feel shortchanged if I leave the office without a prescription for something.

What’s also unbelievable is that the coughing volunteer was allowed to go around seeing patients. Sure wouldn’t have happened in any hospital I’ve worked at, ESPECIALLY with newborns. If the volunteer supervisor didn’t catch her, the first nurse who heard her coughing around the babies would have thrown a fit.

I liked the tie bit, too. ;) Every study I’ve ever read shows doctors are the WORST about basics like handwashing between patients.

I hope everyone remembers the line from the first episode about when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. I love this show but it should be called “zebra of the week.” There’s nothing wrong with the premise that House is called in when it turns out to not be a horse, but this is NOT everyday medicine.

Finally, the intuitive leaps don’t bother me at all. Brilliant diagnosticians in real life make those leaps as well. My old boss at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center used to say “This doesn’t smell like a” whatever, and he was usually right. It’s inexplicable and rare but the patients benefit from it.