Unit 3
Journal Entry
Francis DeMers
Imagine that you are a patient being treated by Dr. House. Consider an illness that your fictional character is likely to have, and outline House’s approach in treating it. Does he listen, is he interested in you, do you think he considers some of the limitations associated with biomedicine? Given DTC advertising what are your expectations around treatment?
Sam has booked an appointment at the hospital’s free clinic. He has been having chronic headaches and neck pain, he is starting to get tingling and numbness down both of his arms. He has had some trouble sleeping, although he is not sure if it is due to the headaches. Sam is examined by Dr. House. Sam is somewhat offended by House’s brusque manner and apparent lack of empathy.
Dr. House conducts a routine exam and has bloodwork drawn for analysis. He asks several somewhat obscure questions, asking if Sam has been out of the country recently “No, I can’t afford to travel is Sam’s reply.” Has anyone you live or work with traveled out of the country? “Not that I know of? “Have you been swimming in the last several weeks? “I swam in a friend’s pool about two weeks ago.” Was the water clean? “As far as I could tell, there was a lot of chlorine in the water.” Dr. House continues to ask questions, but doesn’t really seem to pay much attention to Sam’s answers. He does examine Sam’s skin very closely, but he gives no indication of his findings.
Dr. House tells Sam that he would like to admit him to the hospital for further testing. He is recommending a CT scan and an MRI along with other tests. He tells him that he believes Sam might possibly have picked up a viral infection from the pool water. Sam tries to explain that he really can’t afford to take time off from school or work right now and he asks, “Can’t you just give me some pills for the pain?” Dr. House responds “When did you get your medical degree and what makes you think I’m going to give you pills, when I don’t know what’s wrong.” Once again Sam is taken back by Dr. House’s manner and he asks if he can be seen by another doctor. Dr. House replies: “Oh of course you know better than I do what is wrong with you!” Sam is now offended and he says that he is going to leave and go somewhere else.
This is my interpretation of how I anticipate a visit with Dr. House would go based upon the way I saw the character portrayed in the show. Dr. House is portrayed as a very competent physician but he is generally lacking in “people skills” and his “bedside manner” is not his strongest skill.
The show does portray the use of often invasive and at times excessive testing and diagnostic procedures. Dr. House works with a team that tries to determine the cause, of difficult to diagnose illnesses. He does have a tendency to look for unusual or unique causes for the illnesses that he sees. I do think though that Dr. House also has a certain distrust for the “medical system” as he was a victim of a medical error. His brusque and offensive manner is also due in part to both his expertise and his personal experiences. He may have some good reasons for his typically rude behavior but he shouldn’t allow it to interfere with his treatment of his patients. Dr. House is also jaded by his work and he often allows his ego to interfere with his practice of medicine.
As portrayed on the show Dr. House does generally follow the typical procedures of the biomedical model. He does frequently use some rather unconventional methods but he doesn’t appear to embrace any form of alternative medicine.
I do think that Sam would expect an easy solution to his headaches, DTC advertising sells us on the answers to all of our problems being contained in a pill. Sam would probably leave the appointment feeling disappointed with his treatment and without an actual solution to his medical issues.
