Which is more ridiculous, the medicine in House or the law in Law and Order? I’d vote for the medicine in House, because I’m actually expecting someone to come up with a disease for which House wants to do a head transplant.
Haven’t seen Law and Order since… not sure I’ve ever seen it, actually. But my understanding was that House is reasonably accurate, if not realistic. This is way off?
I’d vote for the law in Law and Order simply because I know less about medicine.
I think the medicine in House is worse. There are lots of things that get glossed over/missed, and plenty of things that are flat-out wrong. L&O glosses over a lot of things, but, AFAIK, doesn’t get as much just flat-out wrong. The worst they do, IMO, is “speed up” the process. Arrested on Friday, Arraignment on Saturday, Trial on Monday.
I vote for the law in L&O because I know more about medicine.
Priceguy: House is a rabid lemur at play in the pages of the Merck Manual.
Such was the life of Solomon Grundy.
Law and Order actually makes detailed “for dummies” explanations of certain legal concepts, which is kinda cute. I can forgive them for speeding things up because it’s television, and they generally loosely relate their cases to events in the news. House, on the other hand, has the most cockamamie situations I’ve ever seen (not that they aren’t entertaining), like the Cuban refugees who risked their lives on the open sea just to see the famous Dr. House and have him be a total dick to them.
Wouldn’t that be a body transplant?
I don’t know very much about medicine.
The law in L&O is compressed, and the allocation of resources is unrealistic (an executive DA and an ADA totally devoted to a single case?) but in general there’s no outcome that fits the “would never happen” category, even if some of the steps involved in the journey do fit.
The medicine on House has gotten increasingly absurd. Plus, there seem to be no nurses working at this hospital–or phlebotomists, or respiratory therapists etc. They have completely gone for drama over plausibility and have entered the realm of the ridiculous on more than one occasion.
But I watch for the personalities and the dialogue. And the show does highlight some funky, rare diseases.
This is why I watch it- the diseases aren’t bad at ALL. They might be pulling some of the more dramatic signs and symptoms together (like the crazy 3% that two symptoms might occur together and give you some crazy new effect), but its all technically IN the manuals as “these are possible”. So I love watching House to learn about the diseases and all, it’s the TREATMENT that tends to get pushed towards the wayside, I do agree there.
But the cases aren’t bad, just the treatments get a wee bit… dramatic.
What about all the stuff that goes on during the trials that a judge would never allow? Does that make you cringe when you watch it? I don’t know much about it, but stuff like the DA sometimes making quasi-speeches while they’re supposed to just be questioning a witness.