Dog House

Last night's installment of House had our merry medical band discussing the ethical dilemma of allowing a patient to die. The medicine is analyzed thoroughly by the excellent Polite Dissent, so I will not go into it here (which works out, since I have no idea what I am talking about). The patient of the week is an elderly researcher who collapses while dissecting rats (who, in a nice "Twilight Zone" moment, take advantage of the situation and turn the tables on him). For various medical-sounding reasons, it looks bad for the researcher. He wants to die, preferrably assisted by a giant dose of morphine.

Chase is for it, Cameron is against it, and Foreman is against it but not emphatically so. House strikes a deal with the patient: give us 24 hours to solve the problem. If we fail, we will help you die. When they do fail, House pretends to follow through on his promise. This scene was the most telling one in the episode, as it shows us glimpses inside each character as they react to stress. Cameron looks aghast and protests vigorously, but ultimately leaves in horror. Foreman hesitates between stopping House and helping him, but finally leaves when it becomes apparent that House will follow through with it no matter what Foreman does. Chase calmly stays and closes the blinds.

Cameron and Chase represent the opposing viewpoints in this debate. I was surprised by Chase's firm stance on this. In most episodes, he is portrayed a weak person, easily swayed by strong personalities or the prevailing political winds. Here he presents his case and follows through with it (although I must note that a premise of his argument is that "everyone does it, even if no one acknowledges it"). There are no negative consequences to his actions, since House does not actually kill the patient, but he is "rewarded" in the story by actually being right about the diagnosis.

Cameron is true to form. She has a strong conviction but she does not directly confront anyone with it. Her response is passive-aggressive: she refuses to work. House is frustrated by this, of course, and attempts to deal with this in a similar manner (by assigning her the task of reading some of the researcher's controversial articles, for instance). She is eventually roused into action by following through on her conviction to treat the patient no matter what the patient wants, to cure him as painfully as possible.

In the end, House tells Cameron that he is proud of her. It is quite clear that House does not want his patient to die but his actions do not help his position. He lies constantly to everyone around him. A scene in this episode implies that he is doing this in response to the Big Lie Cuddy and Wilson told him in the beginning of the season. He also does it to trick the patient into giving him more time to solve the problem and cure him. Of course, everyone assumes that his motives are more selfish, that he is stringing the patient along so that he can assuage his ego and solve the unsolvable. Although House seems to take this in stride, he is once again leaning on a cane and popping pills. A psychosomatic response to the peer pressure, perhaps?

I see a prime opportunity to bring in Stephen Fry as a psychologist brought in to treat House. Mr. Fry can even keep the British accent!

On a different note, I learned yesterday that a British composer named Simon Matthews composed a movement named after Pluto, as a sort of addition to Holst's "The Planets." There is an excellent discussion of it over at Something Old, Nothing New, complete with links to other lively discussions. Although the obvious facet to this story is the fact that the new piece made its debut at the same time the astronomical community decided to "demote" Pluto, the consensus appears to be that the piece itself is not that good. I must admit that this whole notion intrigued me. I have been a fan of "The Planets" ever since I was a kid and I often wondered why Pluto was not included. Apparently, others wondered too. Despite the negative reviews, I could not resist an opportunity to hear this thing. I downloaded it from iTunes and gave it a good going-over. Short review: it's not half-bad, but it's not half-good either.