Comments on: House – Episode 6: “The Socratic Method”

By: daughter

daughter — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:15:38 +0000

Interesting – I didn’t think a person could survive into their 30’s or 40’s with untreated Wilson’s. My mother has it, and from her stories I don’t think she could have lived into her 20’s without treatment. She also has a clotting disorder that can cause excessive bleeding. It’s called polycythemia vera, which means she has too many blood cells. But that wasn’t what the writers chose. Otherwise it would have been really eerie to watch.

By: scientist

scientist — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:35:49 +0000

I love that he was able to see the KF rings so easily. In reality, there are like 2 neuro-opthomologists in NYC that are reccomended for this screening (not that others might not pick them up) but I guess that goes back to the doctors doing all their own tests. I think it would be diagnostically superior to have a completely integrated system whether that be through 1 person (very very smart and well trained…) or a team that always works together, but currently our system is not set up that way.

As a note, I work in a psych. dept. and we diagnose schizophrenia that started in 30’s (or later) all the time…psych. in unclear. And I don’t think a single one of these people was tested for Wilsons or it was even mentioned.

By: Karpov

Karpov — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:10:39 +0000

Watcher… Maybe it was a year since the beggining of the chapter… that will explain the happy birthday song. :)

By: Watcher

Watcher — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:58:02 +0000

Doubt very many people are still reading this far back, but for those who say the show didn’t imply that she was cured overnight–the fact that House was playing Happy Birthday on the piano at the end does imply that she was not cured overnight–it implies she was cured in a matter of hours!

By: DAK, a person who has Wilson\'s disease

DAK, a person who has Wilson\'s disease — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:54:55 +0000

Wilson’s is a treatable disease. Depending on the severity of the copper levels and symptoms, patients take chelators to remove the excess copper, zinc salts to prevent more copper from being absorbed, or a combination. WITHOUT treatment, Wilson’s disease is fatal.

BTW, I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 41. I’d already had two children by then.

By: Gosia, med student

Gosia, med student — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:42:39 +0000

huh, I thought that Wilson’s disease patient needs a Tx! Isn’t it uncureable?

By: Holger, M.D.

Holger, M.D. — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:22:57 +0000

@jin: With the normal light it´s not that easy to see, and the usual light check is for the pupils, not the cornea.

Problem with this episode is that the symptoms are all wrong. Wilson causes cirrhosis, neurological symptoms and dementia. It does not cause (isolated) psychiatric problems. Treated several patients with Wilson myself. But that´s ok for me, it´s just TV. But they should at least use an ultrasound with a liver tumor, and not put a needle in the kidney. Bad research ;)

By: jin

jin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:31:58 +0000

hi.. just saw this again on rerun.. was wondering if anyone knows… wouldn’t it be easy to diagnose wilson’s disease since all doctors when they look at patients shine that light in your eyes and would have seen that copper color?

By: sripradha

sripradha — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:28:00 +0000

This episode was certainly ridiculous in all aspects. I am still at my first year at med school ………but still I can’t tolerate that schizophrenia thing and ….hell …..the ultimate diagnosis….Wilson’s disease.I know Wilson is a disease to House but certainly not to the patient at least

By: House 106: The Socratic Method « monash medical student

House 106: The Socratic Method « monash medical student — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:00:50 +0000

[...] Chase and Cameron ultrasound Lucille’s liver and find cirrhosis and a cancerous tumor. Of course, as Polite Dissent mentions in his review, why are specialists doing this U/S and interpreting them? What was the radiologist/US technician doing? [...]