Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayhawk Bill
Do you actually watch the show?
Dr. House is dual certified in infectious disease and nephrology. He doesn't DO much of anything, though: he has a team of three fellows who do the work for him. He also uses a variety of surgeons to assist him--he has a habit of walking into their Operating Rooms and contaminating the sterile environment to stop the surgery he's ordered because he's just realized that it would kill his patient.
|
I watched the first two seasons. They started when I was a second yr in medical school. The show has him doing a brain biopsy. Only neurosurgeons (7 yrs of residency) do brain biopsies. They try to pass that off by having a neurologist on the team, but neurologists do NOT do brain biopsies. There was also a part of the show where House is the one manuevering the cath in a cardiac catheterization to get a myocardial biopsy. Once again, you either need to be a CT surgeon (5 yrs of gen surg and 2-3 yrs of fellowship) or Interventional Cardiologist (3 yrs of Internal med, 3 yrs of card fellowship, 1-2 yrs of interventional fellowship). Now I get your point about the idea that all these symptoms "could" happen, but the majority of the symptoms that some of his classic diseases present with are the ones that you see once in a million. I understand the concept of trying to outsmart the public, but some of these diseases are way out there. For one, Erdheim Chester in season 2 is so exceedingly rare, how the hell would he make the leap to that when he hears the non-specific findings of bloody diarrhea in a 6 yr old? Cmon now. The fact that he made that diagnosis from the start while hearing those symptoms is just silly. Also, the majority of his pathology tests that he runs, A. take days to weeks to run, and B. would also NOT be read by House.
Quote:
The first season his three fellows did more than they should have--that's a valid criticism. House is a diagnostician, though: he gets patients with unknown ailments, and the show's climax is when they're diagnosed and referred to the appropriate specialist. Of course he'll see patients with widely differing issues. Furthermore, in Seasons Two, Three, and Four they've gotten better about restricting the work of every doctor except Dr. Chase, who seems to be able to do anything, perhaps because he's Australian and perhaps because he attended Divinity School.  In any case, what you're saying here doesn't really hold true, at least not for a few years.
***
A TV show that just showed life as we know it would be boring. Seinfeld was supposed to be "a show about nothing," but it had wildly contrived plot devices after the first six episodes or so. Perhaps Murder She Wrote was a case where it got a little too bizarre--250 people in Jessica Fletcher's circle of friends die mysterious deaths and she solves the crimes, begging the question of why anybody would want to remain in her circle of friends unless they had a death wish--but all TV shows involve greater-than-average numbers of exciting things happening to the protagonists. At least in Greg House's case he's a world-famous diagnostician who allegedly attracts tough cases...even then these cases stretch the boundaries, but, hey, it's TV.
***
I like House, MD. One reason is superb acting by Hugh Laurie with a solid supporting cast. A bigger reason, though, is the screenwriting. The scripts capture what it's like to deal with a brilliant professional suffering from Asperger's, IMO.*
|
They may be trying to sell him off as Aspergers, but they arent doing a good job. Asperger's kids usually are clumsy (which his motor skills are impeccable, like when he does brain biopsies). And typically, kids with Aspergers lack non-verbal communication, which House once again is VERY good at. House actually fits more into a personality disorder category (anti-social comes to mind) than an autism spectrum disorder.
Quote:
I've known three individuals whom I consider probably to have had Asperger's, and they're all brilliant folks with significant challenges in interpersonal relations. The episodes capture that well. Few TV shows correctly portray what it's like to have geniuses around--House MD does it well, capturing both the drama and, more often, the humor.
* An episode of House MD strongly alluded to Dr. House's probably suffering from an autism spectrum disorder.
|
Once again, the problems with interpersonal relationships is not necessarily part of aspergers. It is the fact that communication is difficult. House communicates very well.