Comments on: House – Episode 4 (Season 2): “TB or Not TB”

By: Jaque

Jaque — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:40:42 +0000

TB vaccinations are only really effective in children, in adults they are almost pointless. There are 2 main strains of TB, the vaccine is made from one of them so works on that strain, but isnt even nearly as effective on the other strain. The 2 strains are mainly found in 2 different places, one bein Africa. So if he wasnt vaccinated as a child, maybe it wasnt worth bothering, as the vaccination would not work as well on the african strain?

By: Diseraph

Diseraph — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 06:10:55 +0000

@Nimby:
Nurses are not absent! They rush into rooms, stand behind desks, etc. The reason they are absent from everything else is because House doesn’t trust them, so his team frequently does things for themselves.

Yeah thats not good enough. Both Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs both point out that doctors simply cannot survive in the hospital without nurses. In ICU, the nurses are often 1:1 or 1:2 to the patients and I’d like to see a ward where doctors actually doing all the medications and do differentials AND appear to be available in shifts for all the patient care (of course barring -god forbid- nurses go on strike).

I know its to increase the drama in the show but I’ve yet to have someone in their right mind that feels they have to scream or collapse before the passing by nurse helps out (not saying it doesn’t happen, just never has happened to me in the last 5 years of codes). For cardiac side, those cords sitting on those patients are meant to be sending information to critical care nurses and should give notice abnormalities long before the patients starts getting upset about chest pain.

Only reason I can see that they wanted to lower the nurses’ presence is because in reality nurses would have attitudes that could rival his and we can’t have that! :)

By: Cougar

Cougar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:58:42 +0000

The PPD test in the arm does not make a diagnosis of TB, it only proves that he has been exposed to it, it would be positive also in somebody that received the TB vaccine.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:58:46 +0000

The oral streptomycin jumped out at me as well, but then it does make the scene easier when he’s cataloging and pricing his pills. A syringe just wouldn’t work as well.

And to be fair, streptomycin is not a very common drug.

By: Great debator

Great debator — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:15:20 +0000

Pretty much everything that needs to be said has been. Great site. Can’t believe I only discovered it last night when I’ve been watching House md for years! First 3 seasons are the best. Those who are disappointed with the medicine now will hate the show when they turn it into a Grey’s (Sex and The Hospi) style show. Why ruin a winning formula. I’m really disappointed with the female co producer of the show (forgotten her name) who suggested the show take this direction after season 2. Prepare for a stereotypical dumbing down of the show as a result of her input.

By: Ashtara

Ashtara — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:27:27 +0000

“Why is no one treating him wearing a mask? Why he wandering around the hospital and not in isolation? Why is he not in a negative-pressure room?”

Well, I have no answer for the last two, but I assumed the doctors treating him had been vaccinated for TB.

By: budding doc

budding doc — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:05:33 +0000

I also noticed the stupid mistake in giving sebastian streptomycin as tablet.The writer David Foster himself is a physician and I wonder how he could do such a petty blunder!

By: boomboom

boomboom — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:31:34 +0000

It seems as if the people who dealt with tuberculosis in this episode got it all wrong.
At the very beginning when Dr. Sebastian is shown to successfully treat a kid with tuberuculosis who has a tension pneumothorax. Pneumothorax is an extremely rare complication of tuberculosis and I have yet to see a patient who develops tension pneumothorax because of tuberculosis and I practice in a country which has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world.
When Dr. Sebastian refuses to take meds he inadvertently says that he wont take streptomycin tablet. Streptomycin is ONLY given as an injection because its oral absorption is zero: which is a basic medical fact.

By: Aurora

Aurora — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:08:44 +0000

TB vaccines aren’t required here, but in his line of work I’m pretty sure it would be, at least, highly recommended.
He was convinced he had TB, and he wanted to go back to Africa, which might explain why he didn’t bother to point out that the immunization would cause a positive test, but House was sure something else was wrong with him and definitely should have pointed it out.
I agree, though, with the timeline issues. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t TB treatment take several months to cause a significant change?

And even if no one actually thought he had TB, shouldn’t his occupation indicate he might very well be a carrier? So they really should have taken more precautions.
Then again, we all know how horrible they are at taking precautions for everything, especially in this season…so many examples.

By: Nimby

Nimby — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:26:40 +0000

@G_Switzer:
Nurses are not absent! They rush into rooms, stand behind desks, etc. The reason they are absent from everything else is because House doesn’t trust them, so his team frequently does things for themselves.

Scott, in your review, you said this:

A nesidioblastoma would explain most of Dr. Charles’s symptoms, but *wow* that’s a convenient tumor. Small enough that it can’t be seen on x-rays or MRIs. Intermittent, so it only releases insulin periodically. And yet strong enough to lower the sugar level in his CSF. It’s more of a deus ex machina than a diagnosis.

I don’t think you’re being quite fair to the show. You seem to be saying the tumor’s convenient because it’s hard to discover medically and it fits all the symptoms… but isn’t that the point?
I wouldn’t say that the criminal in a murder mystery is too “convenient” a solution to give it credit since all the clues ended up pointing to him/her upon close, thoughtful examination, would you?
Hardly a deus ex machina.