# House 5/1 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348 "2007-05-01T18:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/21 "2007-05-02T13:05:12Z")
I thought Hector hurt his paw when House (my TV boyfriend) slammed the door to his bedroom. The final Vicodan toss makes sense to me if Hector is really hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/22 "2007-05-02T14:15:37Z")
I didn’t like the episode. House lecturing a writhing, moaning kid, telling him to go ahead and die so his brother can live. House seriously trying to kill the dog. Foreman torturing a kid with that “too sick to sedate you” bullshit. Yuck. And then they ended on a sappy note, with the dog that limps _just like House_. Oh, well, I do like Foreman’s crisis of conscience though, and the House/Wilson interaction is always nice. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/23 "2007-05-02T14:21:33Z")
Can’t decide whether I loved or hated this episode (leaning towards the former) but if Foreman leaves I will cry and sob and cling to his leg as he heads for the door. No way is Omar Epps leaving the show… ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/24 "2007-05-02T15:42:04Z")
I thought he was limping because of his arthritis. And I thought Cuddy said the younger brother didn’t have enough marrow to donate. That harvesting scene was awful! So, is House a sociopath, as he referred to himself? He really doesn’t care about people but neither does he play games or manipulate to get his way. ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/25 "2007-05-02T15:45:35Z")
I thought I heard Wilson say that Hector had arthritis - so that’s why I thought he was limping. I take care of a dog named Jessie that could be Hector’s twin brother. Jessie would often limp for no good reason. He’s twelve and also somewhat arthritic. I love the show, but one thing that irks me about it is the fact that they have to go to the patients house to investigate the environment on every single show. Anyone else find this annoying? . ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/26 "2007-05-02T16:02:43Z")
[QUOTE=meek] I love the show, but one thing that irks me about it is the fact that they have to go to the patients house to investigate the environment on every single show. Anyone else find this annoying? [/QUOTE] I just started watching a couple of months ago and thought why they did this must have been explained in a previous season. Has anyone ever heard of any medicl facility that does this, or are such investigations fabricated to give the show a CSI vibe? I get the impression these investigations occur without the patient’s knowledge or consent. Has this been established in previous shows I’ve not yet seen? ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/27 "2007-05-02T16:07:10Z")
[QUOTE=meek] Anyone else find this annoying? . [/QUOTE] As a long time watcher, I’m at the point where I’m searching for other alternatives at that time. Really now, in the real world we live in wouldn’t the boys father have broken House’s leg off and beaten him to death with the bloody stump! He’s becoming even weirder and weirder with each episode. Jumped the shark in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/28 "2007-05-02T16:17:17Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] So, is House a sociopath, as he referred to himself? He really doesn’t care about people but neither does he play games or manipulate to get his way. [/QUOTE] Huh, I would have said that House constantly plays games and manipulates people to get his way. Just recently: - He rode in a wheelchair for a week so he could get a parking place. - He conned Cuddy into swapping airline seats with him so that he wouldn’t have to treat a sick passenger. - He sent Wilson flowers with a note saying they were from Cuddy, to see if that would be enough to get Wilson to make a move on Cuddy. - He allowed all of his friends to think he was dying from cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/29 "2007-05-02T16:31:32Z")
[QUOTE=Nature’s Call] I just started watching a couple of months ago and thought why they did this must have been explained in a previous season. Has anyone ever heard of any medicl facility that does this, or are such investigations fabricated to give the show a CSI vibe? I get the impression these investigations occur without the patient’s knowledge or consent. Has this been established in previous shows I’ve not yet seen? [/QUOTE] I seem to remember in the first couple of episodes that there was a specific reason that House asked one of the Doctors to go to a patient’s house - I think House thought the patient was lying about something or other - he tasked Foreman with it because Foreman, before he was a doctor, was a criminal - that became a major point at that time. Back then it was supposedly done without the patient’s knowledge or consent - now, who can tell? It was one of those things that started in one of the first episodes and is still hanging around - I don’t get it anymore either. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/30 "2007-05-02T16:52:28Z")
the crew are diagnosticians, they get patients (generally) when all other attempt to diagnose/cure have failed… They are often sent to the locations to look for environmental clues (as the patients are generally unable or unwilling to speak up)… At least once, it appeared to be done in a “dont tell the patient” kind of way, but otherwise I have no problem believeing that authorization is granted (when possible) off screen… much like the other tests are run off screen. This week, again, the visit to the house provided the needed clue, just much later than it should have - histoplasmosis is “common” enough you’d think it’s symptoms would be more obvious. So, I don’t find it surprising, given the focus of the show… ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/31 "2007-05-02T16:54:46Z")
The first time I watched this episode I totally missed the fact that the “treat” that House threw to the limping Hector was a Vicodin. Also drug-related: House wrote a prescription for pain medication and gave it to the leukemia boy’s father. I thought House’s prescription-writing privileges had been suspended because of the Tritter investigation. Did I miss something? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/32 "2007-05-02T17:05:30Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] The first time I watched this episode I totally missed the fact that the “treat” that House threw to the limping Hector was a Vicodin. Also drug-related: House wrote a prescription for pain medication and gave it to the leukemia boy’s father. I thought House’s prescription-writing privileges had been suspended because of the Tritter investigation. Did I miss something? [/QUOTE] Well, the Tritter investigation was thrown out in the end… so any ‘early’ penalties wouldve been withdrawn… and while House may have been prevented from writing his own prescriptions (something I think he can’t do anyway) they never specifically said he couldn’t write for patients. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/33 "2007-05-02T17:12:05Z")
I’ve pretty much decided to accept it for surreal version of reality that it is. The interactions of the characters, the plot lines, etc. are so fascinating that I can forgive a lot. I just wish the writers would think a little more sometimes. I find myself looking forward to seeing what kind of outlandish super-assholish behavior House will engage in, and get away with, next. Pretending to have cancer in order to get high from an experimental drug (and presumably depriving a real, suffering, patient of the opportunity) has to be the worst so far. I don’t think I’ve seen all of the early episodes. Have they established whether or not he was such an asshole before the chronic pain problem or are the pain and the vicodin consumption the reason for his behavior? My impression has been that they’ve purposely left that question open. ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/34 "2007-05-02T17:20:44Z")
I was kind of “eh” about this episode. In the end, there were just too many medically questionable decisions made, even for the sake of drama. Even the very FIRST decision, to get the healthy(ish) brother sicker, would have been enough for me to get a second opinion. I would have burned out of that hospital LONG before I needed to fear for his life. Also… yeah, histoplasmosis, while rare, ain’t that freakin’ rare. It’s one of the more well-known fungal diseases, and while I don’t know exact procedures for diagnosis, it seems that the very first thing they’d check when they couldn’t get a culture would be fungals. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/35 "2007-05-02T17:37:31Z")
[QUOTE=davidm] I don’t think I’ve seen all of the early episodes. Have they established whether or not he was such an asshole before the chronic pain problem or are the pain and the vicodin consumption the reason for his behavior? My impression has been that they’ve purposely left that question open. [/QUOTE] No, his ex, Stacy, said House was pretty much like that all along, before his surgery and the constant pain. It’s been suggested House’s personality may be a result of childhood abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, a Marine whom House has described as “having a strong moral compass” and who is played on-screen by R. Lee Ermey. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/36 "2007-05-02T17:41:33Z")
I’m disapointed in the ending. The moral delemma of a choice between one life and another gets tossed out at the last minute and both are saved. I think there would have been a better impact if one or both died. However, this was more about Foreman proving he has what it takes in the last minute. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/37 "2007-05-02T17:45:42Z")
Does anyone remember what Wilson’s ex-wife said “Hector” stands for?? ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/38 "2007-05-02T17:47:20Z")
[QUOTE=davidm] I find myself looking forward to seeing what kind of outlandish super-assholish behavior House will engage in, and get away with, next. Pretending to have cancer in order to get high from an experimental drug (and presumably depriving a real, suffering, patient of the opportunity) has to be the worst so far. [/QUOTE] I think that is a bad assumption, that he only wanted “to get high”… House is in chronic pain due to his leg… non-trivial pain… that’s been established again and agian. The Vicodin allows him to work… as was stated, while he is “an addict” - he is a fully functioning addict, not your “normal” addict (where the drugs take away from functionality). I saw that particular episode (and a couple of others) as him looking for an alternative treatment for his pain that might allow him to kick the vicodin, and the only stuff out there is in the experimental stages…atleast he isnt suggesting that a patient pursue that, but that he himself is willing to pursue it. The one consistent thing, he does not care what others think of him… he isn’t out for approval ratings… he gets away with his actions because of his successes, in the episode in question he did alot within his power to keep the crew from delving into it, they went down the path of “curing him” and ended up ruining his chances at the treatment - at which point he might as well let them think he just “wnated to get high” vs. letting them know anything else. just my thougts… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/39 "2007-05-02T18:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U] Does anyone remember what Wilson’s ex-wife said “Hector” stands for?? [/QUOTE] “Hector Does Go Rug” is an anagram for “Doctor Greg House”. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348/40 "2007-05-02T18:15:12Z")
[QUOTE=simster] I think that is a bad assumption, that he only wanted “to get high”… [/QUOTE] All true. My statement was a bit simplistic. It was still wrong to fake cancer to gain access to the resources of the drug trial. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-5-1/402348.md?page=3)