HOUSE, M.D.: 30. "The Mistake"
Micky DuPree
Spoilers for "The Mistake," 11/29/05.
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I assume there won't be any complaints about "the formula" this week.
Nonlinear storytelling is one of their stylistic strengths. I wonder
why they don't do it more often. Not that I think they should tell
every episode in unreliably narrated flashbacks every week, but I don't
see why they can't throw in the occasional flashback reference point on
a more routine basis since they seem to be so very damned good at it.
The pace wasn't so much incessant this week as it felt like a playful
ping-pong match between the past and the present. I admired the way
they used an almost comedic structure without undercutting the tragic
subject matter, all of which, of course, was reminiscent of "Three
Stories" (though not as complex).
KAYLA: [To daughters] Sally Ayersman? [....] If Sally's mean
to you again, I'm just going to have to key her daddy's
new convertible.
At first, I thought this threatened act was what I was seeing later in
the episode, but no, that was presumably Mrs. Ayersman. I went back and
checked, and sure enough, the surgeon's name was the one Kayla mentioned
in the prologue. I'm not sure why they did that, though. It was mildly
amusing, but only very mildly. If there was a greater significance here
in tying Kayla's dislike of her future surgeon's daughter with the
surgeon's wife's future marital retribution, I missed it.
They faked me out by not trying to fake me out. When Kayla first took
ibuprofen in the school auditorium, I figured she couldn't be the A-plot
patient, because she had to be the red herring instead. I don't think I
was completely convinced she was the A-plot patient until I saw that
they were willing to spend CGI money on her.
Wow, John Rubenstein, another guest actor from yesteryear whose name I
recognized a lot more easily than I recognized his face.
STACY: Why not use another lawyer?
CUDDY: Because forty percent of our lawsuits last year were
about House. If you can't work with him, you can't work
here.
ROTFL. In that case, they could do a courtroom episode or disciplinary
committee episode every season without straining credulity at all.
The desktop quarter game was cute. It reminded me of House flicking
paper projectiles at people instead of charting in "Damned If You Do."
I didn't imagine it. There is a small mounted fish on House's desk.
HOUSE: That file got me on the floor of her attic with her
pouring out her soul. The only thing I did wrong was get
caught.
Except that House already knew what the file told him, apart from the
concrete details about the unwashed dishes and the toilet seat. We saw
him sit in the cafeteria and tell Wilson exactly what the file would
later tell him, even though Wilson dismissed everything House said, and
used good arguments to do so.
STACY: This one says you're O.K. with moving the disciplinary
hearing to tomorrow. This one says I've advised you of
your legal rights.
HOUSE: Uh-huh. Any legal rights I should know about?
STACY: Nope.
Whoa. In Stacy's shoes I would have been pissed with House too, but she
started off giving him shoddy legal advice because of their personal
acrimony?
STACY: Don't care about the Vicodin.
I laughed my ass off when the Vicodin bottle disappeared. >pop< Backed
up twice and laughed all three times. But then I wondered if maybe
Stacy wasn't right after all about House and Chase needing separate
counsel. If the point was to lay blame for a mistake, then Chase's case
might have looked better if House's case looked worse, in which event,
it would have been reasonable to suppose that Chase might have been
better off mentioning House's Vicodin use. Not that Chase would have
wanted to implicate House, but still.
CHASE: Vasculitis. With stomach pains. So Behcet's.
And here I was hoping the writers would save a patient who actually had
vasculitis for the last episode of the series.
Nice shot up through the glass table as the pills went flying.
CHASE: She died of DTs, your mom? Bottles stashed around the
house, mood swings, that whole deal?
KAYLA: You've been there?
CHASE: My mom. Dad left. Mom crawled inside a bottle. Made
for a great year twelve of high school.
I had previously gotten the impression that Chase's mother started
drinking first and that was part of why Chase's father left. (Rowan:
"She was falling apart long before -- ") But here causality was
reversed.
KAYLA: You O.K. with your dad now?
CHASE: No.
STACY: [Present time] Does your dad have anything to do with
this story?
CHASE: No, it's just --
I suppose that after the Vicodin bottle turned out to affect the story
after all, that should have been my clue that whenever Stacy would
interrupt to ask about the relevance or credibility of something, it
would turn out to be relevant or fishy after all. But I didn't pick up
on this as I watched it.
CHASE: I gave her some prednisone, an antacid, and I ran a
pathogy test on her arm.
The closed captions said "pathology test," but I'm sure he said
"pathogy" here and elsewhere. Is that an Aussie variation or just a
slip of the tongue?
WILSON: She's only advising Chase? Not you?
HOUSE: Well, what's the committee gonna do to me? I never even
met this patient.
WILSON: Your disdain for human interaction doesn't exculpate
you; it inculpates you.
Once again confirming Wilson's observation that office politics are not
House's strong suit, especially considering that what House saw as his
excuse was precisely what the committee would end up using to damn him.
HOUSE: She protects Chase, she protects me.
WILSON: Unless her advice to Chase is to make a deal and give
you up.
I heard an echo here of Wilson advising House to keep his head down back
when Vogler was around, though they didn't make it explicit this time
that House might have been in trouble just by virtue of being House.
HOUSE: Chase loves me. And isn't Turkish.
I wonder if that was the best Aussie accent Leonard could do, or if that
was just the best that Wilson could do.
WILSON: Cameron loves you. Chase loves his job.
HOUSE: You really think Stacy hates me that much?
WILSON: I think right now she hates you more than enough. You
think emotion only affects doctors' judgments?
Ah, House took a Vicodin after Wilson warned him about Stacy's hate for
him possibly putting him in the stew. Nice to see the old inappropriate
pill-popping again.
STACY: [To Cameron] You're colleagues. You worked together for
over a year.
Establishing that Cameron has been there more than a year but less than
two years.
STACY: [To Cameron] And everyone says you slept together.
Only four people knew about Cameron sleeping with Chase: the members of
the Department of Diagnostic Medicine. How did it get all over the
hospital? Did the locker room walls have ears when Chase gave Cameron
the Ativan and the new boundaries?
CAMERON: House has worked with [Chase] longer than I have. You
should talk to House.
Establishing that Chase has been there the longest of the three fellows.
I liked how they depicted Stacy as being good at getting to the bottom
of "Everybody lies" in a formal setting once she settled down to
business, not just taking Chase's word for things, but questioning
everyone, even House finally. Not only did it make her the midwife of
the episode's A plot rather than just the ex-love interest in the B
plot, but it even suggested a reason why House originally got interested
in her in the first place.
HOUSE: Just heard about the free clinic.
I hadn't realized before that the clinic is completely free. I think
this was the first we were told that.
HOUSE: If I'd thought [Chase] was a reasonable doctor, I
wouldn't have hired him.
Heh.
HOUSE: [Reads chart.] Uh ... Chuck. I'm going to break from
the parable of the wicked doctor and tell a little story
about a patient. Let's call him Buck.
The mini-plot with Chuck the clinic patient really didn't gel at all.
House used to have sympathy for the uninsured (like Jodi, who was about
to become uninsured in "Occam's Razor"). Now just because of a couple
of baubles (a wristwatch and an MP3 player), which could have been gifts
or could have been bought before the patient got laid off and lost his
health insurance, House was determined to scare a relatively healthy
young man with a mere cold into buying expensive individual health
insurance that he might not need as much as whatever he would be doing
without in order to buy the insurance? That really didn't sound like
House. And what would be the ultimate point? Would the patient really
continue to pay approximately $500 a month for individual coverage once
he found out he wasn't really sick? Since when does House suddenly want
to throw a little pointless business in the direction of insurance
companies?
STACY: What are you hiding?
HOUSE: I'm gay.
And the slash fans go wild.
HOUSE: Oh, that's not what you meant. It does explain a lot,
though. No girlfriend. Always with Wilson. Obsession
with sneakers.
I guess I don't get out enough, because I didn't get the line about the
sneakers. Are sneakers the big gay fashion statement?
CUDDY: We can't give a liver to a woman this sick.
HOUSE: Do you listen to what you're saying?
Heh.
Wow. Even I noticed Cuddy's cleavage this week when she leaned over.
Oh, right. Sweeps.
I knew House's first meeting with the transplant surgeon was bogus when
House sat there looking all humbly supplicant.
STACY: [To House] Anything you say is attorney-client. So you
can get advice about the bad, bad thing you did, knowing
I'll be tortured because I can't tell a soul.
I can see where as long as the hearing remained entirely an internal
affair, Stacy could say this with confidence, but given her suspicions
that both Chase and House were lying about something, and the fact that
Cuddy colluded in a dodgy transplant listing, she should have been
listening to her original misgivings about being able to continue to
represent all their interests as synonymous with the interests of the
hospital.
HOUSE: [To Ayersman] Five grand. And that's just ante money.
After the surgery, you get another fifteen.
I hadn't previously considered the possibility that House uses some of
his income on bribe money.
AYERSMAN: For the record, I hope the department takes you and
Chase and drop kicks both your asses out the back
door.
The lack of love for House in the hospital has been apparent for some
time, but I'm wondering how Chase came in for the same animosity, unless
it was just because he was one of House's proteges. Or maybe it's the
fact that the entire Diagnostics Department is run like an independent
fiefdom, doing all their own tests and procedures without regard for
turf boundaries or consequences.
HOUSE: Last Christmas party, Nurse Cutler handed you one of
those little hotdogs, and you didn't thank her.
House goes to hospital Christmas parties? Well, I guess he does, if for
no other reason than to pick up blackmail material.
The scene with the surgeon -- the real scene with the surgeon -- and the
scene with the disciplinary committee later illustrated why I had had so
much trouble with the "big musical number" in "Autopsy" even though it
was clever and well played in isolation. Outside of Wilson, House has
no friends at the hospital. Outside of the other regulars (and Stacy,
depending), he doesn't even have any allies at the hospital. I can
think of three surgeons and an oncologist that House has made enemies of
on camera, and who knows how many others he's needled off camera,
including the entire obstetrics dept. in the months following
"Maternity"? And yet he was the unquestioned, unprotested conductor of
the orchestra during the live autopsy.
Cute, flashback-House walking right past House and Stacy in the present
day, but it did look green-screened.
STACY: You blackmailed Ayersman, he performed the surgery, and
you ratted him out anyway?
HOUSE: Doesn't seem fair, does it?
I've always gotten the idea that House had a particular thing against
marital infidelity, but never before to the extent of ratting out
cheaters. In this case especially, I would have expected him to hang
onto that particular piece of information in case he needed another
last-minute transplant in the future. There's also the problem that
once you've exposed your blackmail material, there's nothing stopping
the blackmail victim from revealing to the world that you blackmailed
him, as illustrated at the disciplinary hearing. House ratting out
Ayersman after Ayersman had done what House wanted felt really contrived
for plot purposes to me, to give the committee an excuse to discipline
House.
HOUSE: You're not mad because I broke into your psychiatrist's
office.
STACY: Yeah, I was thrilled about that.
HOUSE: O.K., it was a lousy thing to do, but if what I'd found
was that everything was all kittens and moonbeams in
Markville, you'd be over it.
STACY: No, I wouldn't.
HOUSE: You're mad at me for letting you know what I did, because
you liked where things were going. And for that, I
actually am sorry. It was stupid.
The A plot of unraveling the mystery of Chase's mistake was mostly
great. The B plot, the ongoing House/Stacy story, was back to confused,
and it doesn't look as good for the he-did-it-on-purpose theory now. If
House was trying to drive Stacy away, then why apologize for anything
(even if he was sincere), since that would mitigate the effect? Why
make overtures of niceness near the end of the episode? Out of sheer
misery at having hurt her?
Was House really just trying to get Stacy fired or reassigned as he
claimed? If so, then the master manipulator wasn't even in the right
ball park with his scheme (not only misreading Stacy, but badly
misreading Cuddy as well).
Neither did House seem to want Stacy back as Wilson had originally
theorized. The only times when House recaptured that old longing were
in Stacy's attic, not later, when she twigged. House's demeanor when he
was egging Stacy on before she caught him out was more like *he* was
catching *her* out than like he was about to invite her back. Though
none of the characters has expressed this theory, his eagerness to hear
her confess was more consistent with someone who wanted above all to
make her admit she had been wrong to leave him in the first place. And
yet if that was what this has all been about -- that House wanted
vindication rather than Stacy herself -- that would mean that he didn't
accept her explanation in "Honeymoon" that there were things wrong
between them that went beyond just his leg. And if he doesn't accept
that, then why wouldn't he want Stacy back, since she left him, not the
other way around?
I feel like that old joke about the German ambassador speaking at the
United Nations. The other delegates start tapping their earpieces
because the simultaneous translation has gone silent. Finally in a
hushed voice, the translator says, "I'm waiting for the verb ... I'm
waiting for the verb ... " and then bang, he's off in a rush to catch up
with the speaker. I don't feel like I can size up the continuing B plot
properly until it's finished, just speculate on the merits and defects
of multiple theories in parallel.
HOUSE: Let me tell you a story about a patient, a patient we'll
call Fusan.
Is individual health insurance House's new crusade? That so doesn't
sound like House.
CHASE: Honestly --
STACY: "Honestly"? So you've been lying up until now?
CHASE: Let's make a deal. I won't use the word 'honestly' and
you'll quit stopping by to see House so you don't take it
out on me afterwards. How about that?
While I was a little impressed that Chase was cheeky enough to tell his
counsel off about her dealings with House, I didn't see where Stacy
overstepped with Chase. It was valid advice that using the word
'honestly' in front of the committee wouldn't win him any points. Stacy
really did vent most of her anger on House, not on Chase.
Now I'm starting to wonder if they're trying to sneak implied Vicodin
use past somebody's eyes. While Chase was going on about a suspected
strep infection, House seemed to have something in his mouth that he
proceeded to wash down with water, but at no point was there a pill or a
pill bottle in sight.
They don't do any imaging of a live-donor organ before removing it? Sam
didn't know he had cancer, and I'm assuming you can't see hepatitis on
an MRI scan, so that couldn't have been part of the study that Sam had
bribed the tech to fake. (Besides, House usually doesn't trust outside
labs' test results anyway. Did he take Sam's on faith because time was
tight and Kayla didn't have any other chances open to her?)
STACY: How could House have known?
Stacy seemed to be impressed in spite of herself at House's correct
diagnosis of cancer.
HOUSE: And I'm not the one being sued. I feel funny.
Heh.
CAMERON: She's dying either way.
It would be nice to think that this was an indication that Cameron could
deal with the terminally ill now, but I couldn't help but suspect it was
just temporarily convenient for this one plot that everyone gang up on
Chase.
FOREMAN: Chase. How many people you know walking around with a
black-market organ from a third-world surgeon, huh?
This isn't gonna be your salvation. It's just one more
thing they'll pin on you. Go in there. Be the good
guy.
The voice of reason. I was impressed that Chase actually listened to
Foreman.
CHASE: My dad died. Lung cancer. I saw him a couple months
before it happened. We never talked about it.
Finally settling the fate of Chase Sr.
CHASE: [To Sam] I was hung over when she came back to see me.
Hm. Well, I can more easily buy into the idea that Chase is susceptible
to guilt than that Cuddy is. And Spencer was good in his phony
confession scene.
CHASE: [Into phone.] This is Robert. [Pauses.] Um. What did
he die of? [Pauses.] That's impossible. I saw him two
months ago. If he had lung cancer, he would've --
[Pauses.]
KAYLA: Doctor Chase? [Chase hangs up.]
I guess I was just not alert, but I didn't see the significance of the
phone call coming at all. On the other hand, since I had expected that
if they did mention Chase Sr.'s death, it would be in a current story
line, not in a flashback, I had given up hope of ever seeing him
mentioned again, unless he had gone into a miraculous remission.
CHASE: How did you know to look?
HOUSE: [Sighs.] When he visited, he told me he only had two
months left. And when you screwed up, I did the math.
Chase Sr. told House three months. Not that anyone does the math or
anything.
CHASE: Why didn't you tell me he was dying?
Mm, to quote that great sage Gregory House, mistakes are only as serious
as the results they cause, which made House's omission look like a doozy
in hindsight.
HOUSE: He asked me not to.
So, the biggest mistake of the episode was made all the way back in
"Cursed," when Rowan walked out on Robert again.
CHASE: So you just hung me out there to be blindsided.
HOUSE: Yeah, Chase, it was all my fault.
Laurie was typically good in this scene, but Spencer was great.
I think that was the fourth time we've seen House wear a tie, first time
inside the hospital.
STACY: Is Chase telling the committee about his dad?
HOUSE: I don't know.
Well, if Stacy didn't already know, then that probably meant that House
didn't keep his mouth completely shut.
HOUSE: I thought you were going to get him to sell me out.
STACY: I wouldn't do that.
HOUSE: Why not?
STACY: You're my client too.
HOUSE: Yeah. And that's not gonna change unless you leave this
job. Or I do. So, how do you deal with a coworker that
you have feelings for -- positive or negative? I don't
want to end up like Chase. I don't want to get
emotionally caught up and kill ... you.
STACY: It's not all negative. [Pauses.] Maybe you were right.
Maybe ... maybe that is the problem.
HOUSE: So what do we do?
STACY: I don't know.
Been here. Done that. The record's stuck.
Isn't it long past time that Stacy or Wilson asked House how he feels
about Stacy now? He's never actually said, and it is relevant to what's
been going on.
SCHISGAL: Now, as for Doctor House, there is no evidence of a
failure to supervise that would lead to disciplinary
action. And yet, there is enough in the record to be
very troubled by your conduct, including certain
allegations of blackmail from members of the
transplant team and by your general refusal to meet
with your patients. It should be noted that your
patient's cancer was diagnosed as a result of a direct
physical examination.
HOUSE: Not of the patient. I met the brother. Never met
her. You want me to go a family reunion every time I
take on a patient?
Based on what we were told, I didn't see where House would have more
easily diagnosed Kayla's cancer if he had met with her (and
uncharacteristically, he actually was physically present to diagnose her
perforated ulcer). While I took the committee's point that there could
be instances in which House might diagnose patients faster if he
examined them himself straight off the bat (it's a proven fact that he
sometimes notices things that other people don't), in this case they
just seemed to be looking for an excuse to take a swat at him.
CUDDY: Doctor House, meet your new boss.
I just don't believe that someone working on a fellowship would be given
official supervisory capacity over his own boss. Not only would
Foreman's temporary authority be undercut by the possibility of House's
retribution at the end of the month, but medical bureaucracy goes in for
rank and seniority. Unless Cuddy was deliberately making a bizarre
appointment for inscrutable reasons of her own, surely a department head
would have to be supervised by someone of at least equal rank or higher.
This part of the A plot was seriously off-key for me.
Despite the unbelievability of the interim appointment, I liked House's
tiny smile in response to the news. Since the fellows will have to fly
solo soon enough in their careers, I can see House anticipating
Foreman's taste of leadership as a valuable if humbling learning
experience for Foreman. I can also see House anticipating massive
entertainment for himself. As he said the last time Foreman was in
charge, "Oh, this is fun."
I liked the modulation in House between sarcasm and sincerity this week,
continuing from last week, instead of him being a nonstop mugging
sarcasm machine as in much of this season. In fact, Laurie got to hit a
lot of different notes this week, and did so quite well. Far less
expected, though, was how well Jesse Spencer and Sela Ward carried so
many of the scenes this week (and an unlikely pairing they were, too).
I was hoping to see House's rat wandering around the diagnostics offices
in one of those little walker-balls for pet rodents. Oh well.
I'll harvest all my timeline notes and post them in order later. The
more complex episodes take more time to write about.
David Johnston
MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply (Micky DuPree) wrote:
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> CHASE: She died of DTs, your mom? Bottles stashed around the
> house, mood swings, that whole deal?
> KAYLA: You've been there?
> CHASE: My mom. Dad left. Mom crawled inside a bottle. Made
> for a great year twelve of high school.
>
>I had previously gotten the impression that Chase's mother started
>drinking first and that was part of why Chase's father left. (Rowan:
>"She was falling apart long before -- ") But here causality was
>reversed.
I wouldn't be really surprised to learn that both are true. He left
her because she was drinking too much, but after he left, she got down
to being a really major league drunk.
>
> CHASE: I gave her some prednisone, an antacid, and I ran a
> pathogy test on her arm.
>
>The closed captions said "pathology test," but I'm sure he said
>"pathogy" here and elsewhere. Is that an Aussie variation or just a
>slip of the tongue?
I think it's a slip of the captioning. He uses the same word later
and the captioning gets it right that time.
> HOUSE: Oh, that's not what you meant. It does explain a lot,
> though. No girlfriend. Always with Wilson. Obsession
> with sneakers.
>
>I guess I don't get out enough, because I didn't get the line about the
>sneakers. Are sneakers the big gay fashion statement?
I think it was just a joke of the "totally out of left field"
category.
>
>Cute, flashback-House walking right past House and Stacy in the present
>day, but it did look green-screened.
>
>
> STACY: You blackmailed Ayersman, he performed the surgery, and
> you ratted him out anyway?
> HOUSE: Doesn't seem fair, does it?
>
>I've always gotten the idea that House had a particular thing against
>marital infidelity, but never before to the extent of ratting out
>cheaters.
Of course just because House doesn't deny ratting out Ayersman doesn't
actually mean he did it.
> CAMERON: She's dying either way.
>
>It would be nice to think that this was an indication that Cameron could
>deal with the terminally ill now,
She didn't have to break the news.
> CHASE: How did you know to look?
> HOUSE: [Sighs.] When he visited, he told me he only had two
> months left. And when you screwed up, I did the math.
>
>Chase Sr. told House three months. Not that anyone does the math or
>anything.
Yes, but presumably he died two months later, so House would adjust
the truth to fit the facts.
>Isn't it long past time that Stacy or Wilson asked House how he feels
>about Stacy now? He's never actually said, and it is relevant to what's
>been going on.
I rather think that would be a waste of time. You don't think House
would give an honest, serious answer, do you?
ottomatic
"Micky DuPree" <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote in message
news:dmqtuk$f0b$1...@pcls4.std.com...
because, then it would be a formula
try to keep up
>
> The pace wasn't so much incessant this week as it felt like a playful
> ping-pong match between the past and the present. I admired the way
> they used an almost comedic structure without undercutting the tragic
> subject matter, all of which, of course, was reminiscent of "Three
> Stories" (though not as complex).
>
>
> KAYLA: [To daughters] Sally Ayersman? [....] If Sally's mean
> to you again, I'm just going to have to key her daddy's
> new convertible.
>
> At first, I thought this threatened act was what I was seeing later in
> the episode, but no, that was presumably Mrs. Ayersman. I went back and
> checked, and sure enough, the surgeon's name was the one Kayla mentioned
> in the prologue. I'm not sure why they did that, though. It was mildly
> amusing, but only very mildly. If there was a greater significance here
> in tying Kayla's dislike of her future surgeon's daughter with the
> surgeon's wife's future marital retribution, I missed it.
pining for the ponderous, no doubt
>
>
> They faked me out by not trying to fake me out. When Kayla first took
> ibuprofen in the school auditorium, I figured she couldn't be the A-plot
> patient, because she had to be the red herring instead. I don't think I
> was completely convinced she was the A-plot patient until I saw that
> they were willing to spend CGI money on her.
>
>
> Wow, John Rubenstein, another guest actor from yesteryear whose name I
> recognized a lot more easily than I recognized his face.
>
>
> STACY: Why not use another lawyer?
> CUDDY: Because forty percent of our lawsuits last year were
> about House. If you can't work with him, you can't work
> here.
>
> ROTFL. In that case, they could do a courtroom episode or disciplinary
> committee episode every season without straining credulity at all.
>
>
> The desktop quarter game was cute. It reminded me of House flicking
> paper projectiles at people instead of charting in "Damned If You Do."
>
>
> I didn't imagine it. There is a small mounted fish on House's desk.
>
>
> HOUSE: That file got me on the floor of her attic with her
> pouring out her soul. The only thing I did wrong was get
> caught.
>
> Except that House already knew what the file told him, apart from the
> concrete details about the unwashed dishes and the toilet seat. We saw
> him sit in the cafeteria and tell Wilson exactly what the file would
> later tell him, even though Wilson dismissed everything House said, and
> used good arguments to do so.
So? have you hidden a point in there somewhere?
>
>
> STACY: This one says you're O.K. with moving the disciplinary
> hearing to tomorrow. This one says I've advised you of
> your legal rights.
> HOUSE: Uh-huh. Any legal rights I should know about?
> STACY: Nope.
>
> Whoa. In Stacy's shoes I would have been pissed with House too, but she
> started off giving him shoddy legal advice because of their personal
> acrimony?
it's called comedy - this is NOT a documentary on how to be a lawyer,
no more than it is on how to be a doctor
TRY to keep up
>
>
> STACY: Don't care about the Vicodin.
>
> I laughed my ass off when the Vicodin bottle disappeared. >pop< Backed
> up twice and laughed all three times. But then I wondered if maybe
> Stacy wasn't right after all about House and Chase needing separate
> counsel. If the point was to lay blame for a mistake, then Chase's case
> might have looked better if House's case looked worse, in which event,
> it would have been reasonable to suppose that Chase might have been
> better off mentioning House's Vicodin use. Not that Chase would have
> wanted to implicate House, but still.
>
>
> CHASE: Vasculitis. With stomach pains. So Behcet's.
>
> And here I was hoping the writers would save a patient who actually had
> vasculitis for the last episode of the series.
>
>
> Nice shot up through the glass table as the pills went flying.
>
>
> CHASE: She died of DTs, your mom? Bottles stashed around the
> house, mood swings, that whole deal?
> KAYLA: You've been there?
> CHASE: My mom. Dad left. Mom crawled inside a bottle. Made
> for a great year twelve of high school.
>
> I had previously gotten the impression that Chase's mother started
> drinking first and that was part of why Chase's father left. (Rowan:
> "She was falling apart long before -- ") But here causality was
> reversed.
two different viepoints, two different views
hint: that is how things work all the time in real life,
one of many reasons why this is such an excellent show
>
> KAYLA: You O.K. with your dad now?
> CHASE: No.
> STACY: [Present time] Does your dad have anything to do with
> this story?
> CHASE: No, it's just --
>
> I suppose that after the Vicodin bottle turned out to affect the story
> after all, that should have been my clue that whenever Stacy would
> interrupt to ask about the relevance or credibility of something, it
> would turn out to be relevant or fishy after all. But I didn't pick up
> on this as I watched it.
what a shock
>
>
> CHASE: I gave her some prednisone, an antacid, and I ran a
> pathogy test on her arm.
>
> The closed captions said "pathology test," but I'm sure he said
> "pathogy" here and elsewhere. Is that an Aussie variation or just a
> slip of the tongue?
>
>
> WILSON: She's only advising Chase? Not you?
> HOUSE: Well, what's the committee gonna do to me? I never even
> met this patient.
> WILSON: Your disdain for human interaction doesn't exculpate
> you; it inculpates you.
>
> Once again confirming Wilson's observation that office politics are not
> House's strong suit, especially considering that what House saw as his
> excuse was precisely what the committee would end up using to damn him.
>
>
> HOUSE: She protects Chase, she protects me.
> WILSON: Unless her advice to Chase is to make a deal and give
> you up.
>
> I heard an echo here of Wilson advising House to keep his head down back
> when Vogler was around, though they didn't make it explicit this time
> that House might have been in trouble just by virtue of being House.
congrats, you have discovered the central theme of the show
>
>
> HOUSE: Chase loves me. And isn't Turkish.
>
> I wonder if that was the best Aussie accent Leonard could do, or if that
> was just the best that Wilson could do.
>
> WILSON: Cameron loves you. Chase loves his job.
> HOUSE: You really think Stacy hates me that much?
> WILSON: I think right now she hates you more than enough. You
> think emotion only affects doctors' judgments?
>
> Ah, House took a Vicodin after Wilson warned him about Stacy's hate for
> him possibly putting him in the stew. Nice to see the old inappropriate
> pill-popping again.
>
>
> STACY: [To Cameron] You're colleagues. You worked together for
> over a year.
>
> Establishing that Cameron has been there more than a year but less than
> two years.
>
> STACY: [To Cameron] And everyone says you slept together.
>
> Only four people knew about Cameron sleeping with Chase: the members of
> the Department of Diagnostic Medicine. How did it get all over the
> hospital? Did the locker room walls have ears when Chase gave Cameron
> the Ativan and the new boundaries?
g-o-s-s-i-p
OH! I know this one.
his behavior is less consistant than that of a marble statue,
maybe because he is human - see happens in real life above
>
>
> STACY: What are you hiding?
> HOUSE: I'm gay.
>
> And the slash fans go wild.
>
> HOUSE: Oh, that's not what you meant. It does explain a lot,
> though. No girlfriend. Always with Wilson. Obsession
> with sneakers.
>
> I guess I don't get out enough, because I didn't get the line about the
> sneakers. Are sneakers the big gay fashion statement?
>
>
> CUDDY: We can't give a liver to a woman this sick.
> HOUSE: Do you listen to what you're saying?
something to do with curing sick people, perhaps?
>
> Heh.
>
>
> Wow. Even I noticed Cuddy's cleavage this week when she leaned over.
> Oh, right. Sweeps.
>
>
> I knew House's first meeting with the transplant surgeon was bogus when
> House sat there looking all humbly supplicant.
>
>
> STACY: [To House] Anything you say is attorney-client. So you
> can get advice about the bad, bad thing you did, knowing
> I'll be tortured because I can't tell a soul.
>
> I can see where as long as the hearing remained entirely an internal
> affair, Stacy could say this with confidence, but given her suspicions
> that both Chase and House were lying about something, and the fact that
> Cuddy colluded in a dodgy transplant listing, she should have been
> listening to her original misgivings about being able to continue to
> represent all their interests as synonymous with the interests of the
> hospital.
again, the title of the show is not "How to be a Layer in Five eEasy
Lessons"
is it? I forget.
or, it's complex and you're confused
> and it doesn't look as good for the he-did-it-on-purpose theory now. If
> House was trying to drive Stacy away, then why apologize for anything
> (even if he was sincere), since that would mitigate the effect? Why
> make overtures of niceness near the end of the episode? Out of sheer
> misery at having hurt her?
>
> Was House really just trying to get Stacy fired or reassigned as he
> claimed?
W-H-E-N are you going to catch on?
I give up
Otto<who recognizes hopeless when he sees it>
sea...@altavista.com
> Spoilers for "The Mistake," 11/29/05.
>
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> recognized a lot more easily than I recognized his face.
I was shocked at how old he looked. Then again, I think the last time
I saw him was on "The Love Boat," so a little aging is to be expected.
> CAMERON: House has worked with [Chase] longer than I have. You
> should talk to House.
>
> Establishing that Chase has been there the longest of the three fellows.
When was it established that Chase has been there longer than Foreman?
> STACY: What are you hiding?
> HOUSE: I'm gay.
>
> And the slash fans go wild.
>
> HOUSE: Oh, that's not what you meant. It does explain a lot,
> though. No girlfriend. Always with Wilson. Obsession
> with sneakers.
>
> I guess I don't get out enough, because I didn't get the line about the
> sneakers. Are sneakers the big gay fashion statement?
I think the joke was that homosexuals are into fashion, including an
obsession with nice shoes. House doesn't wear nice shoes, so he
changed it to his shoe of choice, sneakers. If you have to explain
it...
> Wow. Even I noticed Cuddy's cleavage this week when she leaned over.
> Oh, right. Sweeps.
That was so blatant, I was surprised there was no comment from House.
> CHASE: [To Sam] I was hung over when she came back to see me.
You seem to pay closer attention than anybody else; could you tell me
why Chase wanted to lie here? Wouldn't being distraught over his
father's death be more acceptable than being hung over?
Francellia
"Micky DuPree" <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote in message
news:dmqtuk$f0b$1...@pcls4.std.com...
>
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> STACY: What are you hiding?
> HOUSE: I'm gay.
>
> And the slash fans go wild.
>
> HOUSE: Oh, that's not what you meant. It does explain a lot,
> though. No girlfriend. Always with Wilson. Obsession
> with sneakers.
>
> I guess I don't get out enough, because I didn't get the line about the
> sneakers. Are sneakers the big gay fashion statement?
I'm going to take a guess that it's a joke comparing womens' obsession with
shoes.
George W Harris
:> CHASE: [To Sam] I was hung over when she came back to see me.
:
:You seem to pay closer attention than anybody else; could you tell me
:why Chase wanted to lie here? Wouldn't being distraught over his
:father's death be more acceptable than being hung over?
The best reason I've heard is that he wanted the
guy to sue so the hospital would settle and he wouldn't
have to move the girls. SO, he had to make the guy angry.
--
/bud...@nirvana.net/h:k
George W. Harris For actual email address, replace each 'u' with an 'i'
chicagofan
> Micky DuPree wrote:
>
>
>> CHASE: [To Sam] I was hung over when she came back to see me.
>
>
> You seem to pay closer attention than anybody else; could you tell me
> why Chase wanted to lie here? Wouldn't being distraught over his
> father's death be more acceptable than being hung over?
House said Chase wanted the patient's family to have grounds for a major
lawsuit, to assuage his guilt.
bj
chicagofan
> On 3 Dec 2005 00:00:42 -0800, sea...@altavista.com wrote:
>
> :> CHASE: [To Sam] I was hung over when she came back to see me.
> :
> :You seem to pay closer attention than anybody else; could you tell me
> :why Chase wanted to lie here? Wouldn't being distraught over his
> :father's death be more acceptable than being hung over?
>
> The best reason I've heard is that he wanted the
> guy to sue so the hospital would settle and he wouldn't
> have to move the girls. SO, he had to make the guy angry.
OOPS... I thought I had read all the messages, but missed yours... and it
has a much better answer. The guy did need to be provoked. :)
bj
Micky DuPree
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sea...@altavista.com writes:
: Micky DuPree wrote:
:: CAMERON: House has worked with [Chase] longer than I have. You
:: should talk to House.
::
:: Establishing that Chase has been there the longest of the three
:: fellows.
:
: When was it established that Chase has been there longer than Foreman?
By implication, if Foreman had been there longer than Chase, then
Cameron would have told Stacy to go talk to both House and Foreman,
since those two would have both worked with Chase for the same amount of
time.
There were also several overt hints that Foreman was still relatively
new to the team in the first season, whereas Chase and Cameron had been
there a while. For example, from the pilot:
FOREMAN: Shouldn't we be speaking to the patient before we start
diagnosing?
HOUSE: Is she a doctor?
FOREMAN: No, but --
HOUSE: Everybody lies.
CAMERON: [To Foreman] Doctor House doesn't like dealing with
patients.
FOREMAN: Isn't treating patients why we became doctors?
HOUSE: No, treating illnesses is why we became doctors.
Treating patients is what makes most doctors miserable.
FOREMAN: So you're trying to eliminate the humanity from the
practice of medicine.
Strongly implying that Foreman was very new to the team at this point
and that this was the first case they had taken on since he got there,
while Cameron had been there long enough to know House's quirks with
respect to patients. House also had to explain to Foreman in that
episode that they were in the business of zebra hunting, contrary to the
more usual practice of medicine.
And from "Occam's Razor":
CAMERON: [To Foreman] [House's] insane ideas are usually right.
We've been here long enough to --
FOREMAN: [To both Cameron and Chase] You've been here long enough
to have Stockholm Syndrome. [Chase and Cameron laugh.]
:: HOUSE: It does explain a lot, though. No girlfriend. Always
:: with Wilson. Obsession with sneakers.
::
:: I guess I don't get out enough, because I didn't get the line about
:: the sneakers. Are sneakers the big gay fashion statement?
:
: I think the joke was that homosexuals are into fashion, including an
: obsession with nice shoes. House doesn't wear nice shoes, so he
: changed it to his shoe of choice, sneakers. If you have to explain
: it...
Yeah, I know, but better to divest oneself of ignorance than pretend to
get the joke. Thanks.
:: CHASE: [To Sam] I was hung over when she came back to see me.
:
: You seem to pay closer attention than anybody else; could you tell me
: why Chase wanted to lie here? Wouldn't being distraught over his
: father's death be more acceptable than being hung over?
As others have said, 1) guilt leading him to want the brother and kids
to be able to get a lot of money in a lawsuit. Given that, 2) the
necessity of motivating the brother to sue in the first place. As Stacy
told Chase in the course of the episode, patients don't sue doctors they
like. Even after Chase said, "I killed her," Sam was still reluctant to
sue. He told Chase flat out that Kayla had liked him, and since Sam was
still getting follow-up care from Chase, Sam must have been comfortable
with Chase too. So Chase dropped the bombshell, the lie about being
hung over, to push Sam over the edge and get him to file the lawsuit.
-Micky
Micky DuPree
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"Francellia" <nospa...@hotmail.com> writes:
: "Micky DuPree" <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote in message
: news:dmqtuk$f0b$1...@pcls4.std.com...
:: Are sneakers the big gay fashion statement?
:
: I'm going to take a guess that it's a joke comparing womens' obsession
: with shoes.
Thanks, that works too.
-Micky
sea...@altavista.com
Okay, thanks. You have a better memory than I do.
> :: CHASE: [To Sam] I was hung over when she came back to see me.
> :
> : You seem to pay closer attention than anybody else; could you tell me
> : why Chase wanted to lie here? Wouldn't being distraught over his
> : father's death be more acceptable than being hung over?
>
> As others have said, 1) guilt leading him to want the brother and kids
> to be able to get a lot of money in a lawsuit. Given that, 2) the
> necessity of motivating the brother to sue in the first place. As Stacy
> told Chase in the course of the episode, patients don't sue doctors they
> like. Even after Chase said, "I killed her," Sam was still reluctant to
> sue. He told Chase flat out that Kayla had liked him, and since Sam was
> still getting follow-up care from Chase, Sam must have been comfortable
> with Chase too. So Chase dropped the bombshell, the lie about being
> hung over, to push Sam over the edge and get him to file the lawsuit.
I guess that's it, but he must have been feeling awfully guilty to put
his career in jeopardy like that. It looks like he basically got away
with it, but it's hard to imagine a doctor pulling that stunt in real
life without facing severe consequences. The hospital would have to
conclude that either he really was hung over, or that he was purposely
exposing the hospital to liability. Either way, they wouldn't be real
happy with him.
khal...@netzero.com
> Spoilers for "The Mistake," 11/29/05.
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> HOUSE: You're not mad because I broke into your psychiatrist's
> office.
> STACY: Yeah, I was thrilled about that.
> HOUSE: O.K., it was a lousy thing to do, but if what I'd found
> was that everything was all kittens and moonbeams in
> Markville, you'd be over it.
> STACY: No, I wouldn't.
> HOUSE: You're mad at me for letting you know what I did, because
> you liked where things were going. And for that, I
> actually am sorry. It was stupid.
>
> The A plot of unraveling the mystery of Chase's mistake was mostly
> great. The B plot, the ongoing House/Stacy story, was back to confused,
> and it doesn't look as good for the he-did-it-on-purpose theory now. If
> House was trying to drive Stacy away, then why apologize for anything
> (even if he was sincere), since that would mitigate the effect? Why
> make overtures of niceness near the end of the episode? Out of sheer
> misery at having hurt her?
>
I thought this bit of dialogue was intentionally ambiguous. The tone
is that House is apologizing for having hurt Stacy, but look at those
last three sentences. He actually *says* he's sorry that she liked
where things were going. It all depends on what exactly "that" and
"It" refer to. I thought it actually supported Micky's theory that
House's true intentions were to have Stacy get over House once and for
all and go be happy with Mark.
I guess we'll see.
Kate
Micky DuPree
: Micky DuPree wrote:
:: sea...@altavista.com writes:
::: [...] could you tell me why Chase wanted to lie here? Wouldn't
::: being distraught over his father's death be more acceptable than
::: being hung over?
::
:: As others have said, 1) guilt leading [Chase] to want the brother and
:: kids to be able to get a lot of money in a lawsuit. Given that, 2)
:: the necessity of motivating the brother to sue in the first place.
: I guess that's it, but he must have been feeling awfully guilty to put
: his career in jeopardy like that.
It seemed to be the declining state of Kayla's family that added the
final straw. Chase managed to live with himself between mid-August and
early November without confessing to anything, but when Sam said he had
been reduced to disability income and the kids were about to be uprooted
from their beloved home, Chase opened his mouth. Even then, Chase
started off with the truth: "I killed your sister. I misdiagnosed her
ulcer." When Sam didn't take that bait, Chase upped the ante and came
up with the lie.
: It looks like he basically got away with it, but it's hard to imagine
: a doctor pulling that stunt in real life without facing severe
: consequences.
As House pointed out, both of Chase's parents are dead now, so there's
no reason to screw up like that again. Plus, in real life, doctors tend
to cover for doctors, even bad ones. If Chase's record is otherwise
good, doctors would be even more reluctant to hang him out to dry. As
House also pointed out, everyone screws up. Doctors look at other
doctors being hauled up for disciplinary action and probably think,
"There but for the grace of God go I."
: The hospital would have to conclude that either he really was hung
: over, or that he was purposely exposing the hospital to liability.
: Either way, they wouldn't be real happy with him.
Well, Chase was purposely exposing *himself* to liability, but of course
that couldn't help but pull the hospital into his self-sacrificing wake,
so I'm sure they weren't happy with him. He did eventually tell the
truth, though, so he kept them off the hook for gross negligence and
punitive damages. The phone records could be checked, so not only would
House be willing to back up Chase's claim that he was not hung over after
all, but there'd also be a timed and dated paper trail backing up his
claim that it was the phone call that threw him, not the byproducts of
metabolized alcohol.
-Micky
Micky DuPree
: Micky DuPree wrote:
:: HOUSE: You're not mad because I broke into your psychiatrist's
:: office.
:: STACY: Yeah, I was thrilled about that.
:: HOUSE: O.K., it was a lousy thing to do, but if what I'd found
:: was that everything was all kittens and moonbeams in
:; Markville, you'd be over it.
:: STACY: No, I wouldn't.
:: HOUSE: You're mad at me for letting you know what I did, because
:: you liked where things were going. And for that, I
:: actually am sorry. It was stupid.
::
:: The A plot of unraveling the mystery of Chase's mistake was mostly
:: great. The B plot, the ongoing House/Stacy story, was back to
:: confused, and it doesn't look as good for the he-did-it-on-purpose
:: theory now. If House was trying to drive Stacy away, then why
:: apologize for anything (even if he was sincere), since that would
:: mitigate the effect? Why make overtures of niceness near the end of
:: the episode? Out of sheer misery at having hurt her?
:
: I thought this bit of dialogue was intentionally ambiguous. The tone
: is that House is apologizing for having hurt Stacy, but look at those
: last three sentences. He actually *says* he's sorry that she liked
: where things were going. It all depends on what exactly "that" and
: "It" refer to. I thought it actually supported Micky's theory that
: House's true intentions were to have Stacy get over House once and for
: all and go be happy with Mark.
But if House is trying to drive Stacy away, then any softening at all
would be a mistake. There should be no apologizing or consideration of
her feelings. The only reason why I could see him softening under that
theory would be because her misery just got to be too much for him.
Plus, if House is deliberately manipulating Stacy to fall out of love
with him by playing up the jerk angle, it would be a potentially
deal-breaking mistake to apologize specifically for getting Stacy to
like where things were going. If his cover story is supposed to be that
he was trying to win her back, then apologizing for making her want to
be with him gives the lie to his cover. When I first saw the scene
excerpted above, I thought House had let the cat out of the bag and I
actually expected Stacy to have an epiphany at that moment as to what
Operation Target Stacy had been all about. But there was nil fallout
from those lines.
Then in the scene outside the committee hearing near the end of the
episode, House was basically confessing that he had let his emotions
override his judgment, which, if played straight, would tie in
thematically (yet another "mistake" acknowledged in the episode). He
didn't set up the problem as a choice between him and Mark, but as "how
do you deal with a coworker that you have feelings for -- positive or
negative?" At that point, we're looking more at the interpretation that
Cuddy was right all along, at least partially. Yes, House was right
that Stacy still had feelings for him, but Cuddy was also right that he
was projecting the fact that he still had feelings for Stacy. But then
I have to wonder what was House's aim in launching Operation Target
Stacy in the first place. What would he gain from an admission of her
feelings *that she had already given him in his office at the end of
"Honeymoon" and in her office at the end of "Spin"*? While "Hunting"
is a great episode in isolation, it seems utterly pointless when one
tries to fit it into what's gone before and what's come after.
My problem isn't with the fact that House still has feelings for Stacy.
That was obvious from their first scene together in "Three Stories." I
don't even mind (from a story standpoint) if House has base motivations
stemming from their history together. It bothers me when House comes
off as stupid or oblivious in all this. Whatever else he may have
stooped to, he used to be portrayed as a brutally self-aware character
and unflinchingly frank with Wilson. He admitted up front to Stacy in
"Three Stories" that he wasn't sure if he wanted her husband to live.
He admitted to Wilson in "Honeymoon" that he was happy that Mark wasn't
getting any better.
HOUSE: I was happy. He's my patient. I'm sure he's a good guy.
He's probably a great guy. Probably a much better guy than
I am. And some part of me wants him to die. I'm just not
sure if it's because I want to be with her or if it's
because I want her to suffer.
Even when House was ambivalent, he knew he was of two minds about
something, and I think they made the right decision revealing that to
us. It's one of the things that sets him apart as an unusual character,
both in the fact that he's aware of these unsavory feelings in his
makeup and in his willingness to admit to them. Even if we say that
House doesn't care what others think of him, I'd argue that's not 100%
true with respect to Wilson. (House was abashed by Wilson's anger when
House got him fired in "Babies and Bathwater.") Even more crucial,
House's willingness to fight for his patients seems to be a key feature
of his self-image, which took a hit when he realized that part of him
didn't want his patient to get better. Nevertheless, he did realize it
and own up to it.
Now House doesn't know what he's doing? He's crashing about blindly,
provoking Stacy for no reason at all, or for reasons that neither he nor
we can guess at? I can't really call it the same character anymore.
: I guess we'll see.
I don't even have that much faith. As far as I can tell based on the
writing performance from this season, Stacy could just up and leave
(after one last repetition of the "I love you but I can't be with you"
tap dance) and that's all we'll hear on the subject.
-Micky
sea...@altavista.com
> sea...@altavista.com writes:
> : The hospital would have to conclude that either he really was hung
> : over, or that he was purposely exposing the hospital to liability.
> : Either way, they wouldn't be real happy with him.
>
> Well, Chase was purposely exposing *himself* to liability, but of course
> that couldn't help but pull the hospital into his self-sacrificing wake,
> so I'm sure they weren't happy with him.
I think he fully intended to pull the hospital into it, to get at their
deep pockets. If he was financially able to shoulder the liability
himself, he could have just written a check (or checks), keeping the
courts out of it, and protecting his career.
> He did eventually tell the
> truth, though, so he kept them off the hook for gross negligence and
> punitive damages. The phone records could be checked, so not only would
> House be willing to back up Chase's claim that he was not hung over after
> all, but there'd also be a timed and dated paper trail backing up his
> claim that it was the phone call that threw him, not the byproducts of
> metabolized alcohol.
I've got a couple questions about things that either weren't covered in
the episode, or they were covered and I either missed them or forgot
about them. Did Chase tell the hospital board the "whole" truth, that
is about the hangover story as well as the real reason he was
distracted? And, is the court case still pending? The hospital board
may have accepted the father's death as the reason for the oversight,
but it would open a new can of worms if the patient's brother testified
about the hangover story.
Micky DuPree
: Micky DuPree wrote:
:: Well, Chase was purposely exposing *himself* to liability, but of
:: course that couldn't help but pull the hospital into his
:: self-sacrificing wake, so I'm sure they weren't happy with him.
:
: I think he fully intended to pull the hospital into it, to get at
: their deep pockets. If he was financially able to shoulder the
: liability himself, he could have just written a check (or checks),
: keeping the courts out of it, and protecting his career.
The question of Chase's personal finances has been left open in the
aftermath of Chase's father's death. We were originally given to
believe that Chase himself was personally rich and that he was estranged
from his father. But this season Chase claimed -- in the suspiciously
implied present tense -- that it was his father who was rich, not he
himself. So how Chase was once able to contemplate vacationing in
Switzerland (Trust fund? Allowance from the father he was mad at?) may
never be reconciled with later developments. The current status of the
family fortune (Chase inherited it? Stepmother inherited it? Chase Sr.
squandered it?) is still up in the air.
But even if Chase inherited a fortune, I don't think he could have sold
his scheme if he had just whipped out his checkbook and told Sam, "Fear
not. I will save the family homestead." Before Chase told the lie, it
would have looked like charity. After he told the lie, Sam was angry.
Sam would have wanted to end Chase's career, not just take his money, so
Sam got the whole litigation process underway. Sam's lawyer would have
gone after the malpractice insurance coverage on Chase in particular and
on the hospital in general. I don't think there would be any reasonable
way to separate them and still have a credible lawsuit. The hospital
has to be held responsible for the behavior of the doctors that it
sanctions to practice medicine in its name. It is a little surprising
that House wasn't named in the lawsuit, though, since Sam was obviously
irritated that House had never even seen Kayla, and House was Chase's
immediate supervisor, who, as far as Sam knew, never even caught Chase
being hung over on the job, much less disciplined him for it.
: Did Chase tell the hospital board the "whole" truth, that is about the
: hangover story as well as the real reason he was distracted?
I think it's safe to infer that the hangover story would be featured in
the documents filed in the lawsuit, because that was the story that had
incensed Sam to file. Since Chase knew that, he might as well come clean
about it at the hearing, to explain why the suit was filed. We know that
Chase told the committee the truth about his father because the spokesman
for the committee mentioned it:
SCHISGAL: [To Chase] You also lied, both to your superiors and
the patient's brother. But taking into account the
mitigating factor of your father's death, we've decided
not to revoke your privileges.
: And, is the court case still pending?
House said that if Chase told the truth, the hospital would settle the
lawsuit and the family would get enough money to keep their home. I
think we're meant to assume that House's assessment of the situation
would be correct.
: The hospital board may have accepted the father's death as the reason
: for the oversight, but it would open a new can of worms if the
: patient's brother testified about the hangover story.
As I said, if required, House would testify that Chase was not hung
over after all, plus there's a hard paper trail of a phone call from
Australia to the hospital two hours before Kayla was brought into the
emergency room unconscious, exactly as Chase told it. By contrast,
there's no real proof to corroborate the hangover story except Chase's
own confession, which he later recanted with a very plausible
alternative explanation. I'm not a lawyer, but I'd tell Sam to settle
rather than take it to trial and blow half his winnings on litigation
costs.
Email me with a valid return address and I'll show you a fairly easy way
to check these things.
-Micky