Observation Notes

Relevant Background Information: The show House is a medical drama that follows the
professional and personal life of Gregory House. Dr. House is very witty, arrogant and
he is constantly breaking the rules. He is very self-destructive, and he is also addicted
to his pain killers. This show takes place in a hospital in New Jersey called Princeton
Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. House and his team of 3 very intelligent doctors work to
solve time critical cases to diagnose and treat patients when no one else can figure it
out.
Actors:
Dr. Gregory House: The main character, he is very rude, and enjoys misery. Although
he has a very negative personality it is clear that he is passionate about his job.
Lisa Cuddy: Lisa is the Head of the Hospital. This is who supervises House, and who
argues with House the most about his ways. She and House have a love hate
relationship, and often times place bets with one another.
Allison Cameron: She is 1/3 people on Houses team. She is very intelligent, and often
times she makes decisions with her heart, and her feelings which sometimes gets her
into bad conversations
Robert Chase: Also very intelligent he is 2/3 people on Houses team. He agrees with a
lot of what Houses says, and often times is called a kiss up. He is a very hard worker,
but has a hard time with his inner self due to hardships in his past.
James Wilson: Wilson is the top Oncologist in the Hospital. And although he is not apart
of Houses team, he helps them solve cases very often. Not only that, but he is also
Houses best friend. He is constantly helping House, trying to get him to work on his
character but also being there for him when he is having his breakdowns.
Eric Foremen: Dr. Foremen is the third person on Houses team. He often times
challenges Houses ideas, and questions he practice and his intelligence, and he is
proved wrong every time. Dr. Foremens specialty is neurology, and he also comes from
a very troubled past which conflicts with his work ethic.
Artifacts:
Houses Cane: House never goes anywhere without his cane, and oftentimes it is what
people notice about him first, along with his limp. Along with that when having a very
difficult case, House uses his cane to think whether it be throwing it around or leaning
his head against n.
Dr. Camerons Attitude: The way she acts is very significant. Cameron really cares
about her patients, and the people that she works with. She has a very positive and
vibrant attitude, and loves making the people around her happy. Although her kindness
gets in the way of her work sometime, her attitude is what brings the team together.

Commented [1]: Tyra-Great work on assignment one. You have selected a

very interesting topic, and I am anxious to see what
information may be out there with regards to individuals
like the character House. After all, why as viewers do
we tend to like such sometimes "unlikable" characters?
In revision, here are some things that I want you to
work on/add/revise:
How did you mark time in this episode? Reading the
observations, I was a little confused by the summary
because I was unclear as to "when" everything was
happening. Check the assignment one example for a
model, OR explain how you marked time for the
observations in a short note at the beginning of the
observations. Either option is fine, but please clarify
the timing issue.
Give your readers a bit more context about the
person you chose to interview. Who is this person?
Why did you choose to interview him/her? Is this a fan
of the show? How did the interview affect what you
decided to try out as search terms? How did the
interview affect what you may consider researching for
assignment two?
Your proposal was very solid--one of the few very
focused proposals. In many ways, the proposal read
like an introduction, which is good. One suggestion I
would make is to tighten the focus a bit by explaining
that House is a high-functioning drug addict which
seems to do well in his profession. From here, you
may pose some questions about the prevalence of
drug addiction in high stress jobs such as the medical
profession.
I would like you to add images, slideshows, and clips
from House. The best way to go about this would be to
add the relevant material in the course portfolio in the
space you have designated for assignment one. This
will serve two purposes: on the one hand, it will provide
some more context for your readers, and it will also add
visual appeal to your overall course portfolio.

Dr. Houses Attitude: Dr. House is very rude, and narcissistic, and most people dont like
him. But his method of not getting close to people, or the patients shows in his work,
and is in direct correlation with his success of his profession.

House: Season One Episode 21: Three Stories

These observations took place over an hour long episode
This episode begins with house meeting with Stacy, whom he is still in love with, and
she is asking him for help to diagnose and heal her husband. Although he has
resentment he agrees to help her. He then goes to teach a class of medical students,
talks about three patients how all complain about leg pain, and the students have to
discuss and figure out what is wrong with the subjects and a treatment plan. The first
patient is a farmer, and he has a puncture wound, which they think is the snake bite.
The second is an older volleyball player, who they feel has tendonitis. The last patient
was playing golf, and was in extreme pain, but it turns out he was addicted to pain
killers.
When finding the snake and trying to inject him with the venom, the farmer then began
to have a seizure, and began to have a heart attack. The volleyball player after
conducting test was then found to have a thyroid gland problem, was given medicine.
House, his team, and the medical students then begin to dig deeper into finding the cure
for the farmer. House throughout this entire time seems to be very hard on the students,
with calling their brainstorming ideas dumb, and he also talks to his fellow teammates
about Stacy, and whether or not he should help her husband.
When dealing with the farmer, they gave him another anti-venom for the snake bake,
and he does not have any type of reaction. House then explains the volleyball player is
not respond to treatment and Houses team and the medical team then try to find what is
wrong with her. Then the man who was playing golf who had extreme pain who they
assumed was addicted to drugs, came back and complained of pain again. After
conducting another test, House came to the conclusion that something was wrong. The
farmer is not responding to treatment, and it is determined that he is dying, and right
after that House tells the medical students that the drug addict begins peeing blood.
House then tells the farmer that he is dying, and the farmer states that he wants to go
home to see his dog. The volleyball player is put through a scan, and find nothing wrong
in her neck. House then learns that the farmer was lying about being bit by a snake and
finds out that his dog bit him, and that is why he is in the hospital. Houses team then
goes to the farmers house to see the dog. The man who they thought was a drug
addict, turns out he has a condition called muscle death, and the volleyball player began
experiencing extreme pain is put through an MRI and she is diagnosed with cancer, and
tells her due to the size of the tumor her leg may have to be amputated.
House progresses throughout the episode becoming much more aggressive with the

Commented [2]: Maybe be a little more specific when

the three patients come in throughout the show? I don't
usually watch these sort of shows so I'm a little
confused. Are these happening at the same time or
chronologically? Sorry I'm just not sure.

students, and even tells them that they will kill someone in their medical career. The
man who was bit by the dog found out that in his dogs saliva there was a deadly virus
and it penetrated the tissue, and they may have to remove his leg. And the golfer who
has

muscle death in his leg is having surgery and may have to get his leg amputated. So
interesting enough all patients have a possibility of having their leg amputated.
House then comes into the room of medical students, and when hearing the story of
the man who has muscle death, they recognize that he is telling his own story. It is
revealed that House does not want to have his leg amputated although it is the safer
option, and goes through with an alternate riskier surgery. At this point all patients begin
having their surgeries. When house recovered from his surgery he called in the nurse
and told her he needed medicine because he was going into cardiac arrest, she said
she had to call the doctor and while doing that he went into cardiac arrest. House was
dead for one minute before being brought back to life. House was then told he would die
if he did not get his leg amputated. House said hed rather die, and asked to be put in a
chemical induced coma. Stacy who was with him at the time period was his medical
proxy, was told there was another option, and she doctors to do the surgery ultimately
saving Houses life.

House: Season One Episode 11: Detox

These observations took place over an hour long episode
This episode begins with a very young couple driving fast in a car, and the boy in the
car starts coughing up blood, scaring the girl who is driving which causes her to get in
an accident. It turns out the boy has internal bleeding, that has been occurring before
the crash, and has a certain type of anemia that no one his age should have. House
gets his team into the office and they start brainstorming ideas, and they have to come
up with what is wrong with him in a couple of days if they dont figure it out.
Meanwhile, house is hassling the pharmacy about getting his medication. Cuddy sees
the way he is acting and tells him he is addicted, House denies. Cuddy and House then
come up with a bet that if he stays off the pills for a week, then he wont have to do
clinic duty for a month.
They test the boy for drugs, he is negative, they tested him for infection, and lupus, it is
negative. They then did a biopsy so check for cancer and it was negative. The patient
began losing his eyesight in the left eye, and became blind. Houses team then
discovers he has a retinal clot.
The next day House can be seen struggling to function. He is tired, out of breath,
dizzy, and of course in pain. Houses team thinks something is wrong with his heart.
While testing for that, Cuddy gets a massage therapist for house. The testing for the
heart was negative. The team begins to remove some of the blood from the eye in order
to try and get the blood clot to clear itself, right after the surgery, the sight in his eye
comes back. The patient begins throwing up, and House figures out his liver is dying.
The team begins to have some discrepancy about House, and whether or not he is in
his right mind. House and his team come down to Hepititis E, or Lupus. House tells the

Commented [3]: I really like this observation. It is

pretty peculiar that that specific medical procedure may
have to be done. Thank you for bringing that to
attention because if you didn't, I wouldn't have caught
that until your next bullet point.

team to treat for Hep. E but, the

Commented [4]: We are back at the guy whose liver is

dying right? I would say clump the topic of the boy with
the dying liver together in the paragraph and the
thoughts/actions of House together in the paragraph.
Sorry, it was a bit confusing for me for a second there
until I read it again.

team is torn 2-1. They ultimately go against House, to begin with, but end up agreeing
to do the treatment for Hep. E.
House is struggling with his detox, and it is very clear he is in a lot of pain. He hits his
hand, breaking to fingers to focus the pain on the hand. Then when trying to give the
patient the treatment for Hep. E, he begins to hallucinate thinking someone was on him.
He states he thinks he wets the bed, but when turning him over there is blood
everywhere on the bed, and the patient then goes into shock.
The team then begins to treat him for lupus, gets him a liver transplant, and then
House begins throwing up, and going through with drawls. Dr.Foremen then gets
Houses medicine for him and tells him to take it before he kills the child. House does
not take the medicine, and then begins to think about Joulz, who the patient was
hallucinating about. It turns out that Joulz is a cat that died of old age a month ago. The
team then goes to dig up the cat and begin to do an autopsy, and while doing that a
liver comes in for the patient. While doing that House barges in and says do not remove
the liver, and the patient has termites inside of him, which was what was in the cat. The
surgeon calls for Cuddy and tries to kick House out.
When stopping the transplant, everyone is angry at House, and as usual when
checking out the House it turns out that he was right. The put the patient on the right
medication, and the episode with House admitting that he was an addict.
Interview Questions/Responses 1. Have you seen house before?
2. What do you think of houses behavior? 3. How do you think his behavior helps contribute to
him solving cases? 4. Who is your favorite character? 5. Do you think if House behaved
differently, it would affect his work?
1. Yes 2. I think House's behavior is egotistical. This is both beneficial and harmful to not only
his patients, peers, but himself. House's actions are high risk because he puts lives in danger
with his medical theories. House isn't questioned because of the medical risk based off of his
theories it's his lack of concern for them. House hardly ever questions himself and if he does he
does sarcastically to mock his peers concerns. He also causes legal issues by breaking into
houses to gather more information that may help him cure patients. This is a financial risk for
the hospital and he also puts his career in danger as well. Depending on perspective I believe
House's behavior can be a good or bad thing. 3. As I stated in the previous question House's
behavior helps him solve cases because of
his ego he's not afraid to follow through with high risk situations. In his eyes nothing can go
wrong. 4. My favorite character is House. He's a standout character, the protagonist. He can
come off rough for first-time viewers but I believe by the end of watching the series everyone
can agree that his humor and medical skills will grow on them. 5. If House behaved differently it
would affect is work negatively as well as his peers and students. He wouldn't solve nearly as
many cases and he also wouldn't bring the energy that encourages everyone around him to
support him in solving a case or question it.

Commented [5]: How did they decide to treat him for

Lupus? Did they give the reason/symtoms why while
they were treating the Boy with the Dying Liver? If they
did I think it'd be cool if you included the reasoning. It
just helps the reader understand where House and his
team are coming from.

Analyze
There are multiple observations of Houses behavior. House is very rude, and sarcastic.
He shuts others out, and often times uses them for his own selfish ways. But, House is
also very intelligent. He is never afraid to take on a challenge, and he solves every case
that is handled to him, even when most people are against his judgement. Although
House displays this rough exterior, he goes through multiple internal struggles. He is
addicted to pain killers, and he also cares what his team thinks of him, even though he
tries to show he doesnt care about their opinion, or them. Despite all of what has
happened, House does care about is friends, and it is very obvious that he cares about
his job, and his patients. House has also had hardships in his personal life when dealing
with love and relationships. He dated a woman for years, and now towards the end of
the season we see that this woman has not only moved on and married someone else,
but she is now a lawyer for the hospital that House works at, and because House often
times takes risk that can be deadly, they work together often. It is very clear that House
is still in love with her, and because he is still in love with her he cannot move forward in
any new relationships. Ultimately House acts very rude, he can be very disrespectful
and act as if he does not care about anyone.
Something that I would like to look into more is how much of an effect Houses behavior
has on his work and if he acted a different way would it change his effectiveness. I say
this because most doctors do not act like House in real life, or even in the medical t.v
shows which is also what I think interest me even more in this t.v show. Search terms I
would use would be Dr. Houses behavior, and correlation between behavior and
effectiveness.

Chart
Search Term Sources I can access based on these
terms Dr. Houses behavior 1. "Hugh Laurie's 'House': No Pain, No Gain." NPR. NPR,
n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. 2. "Dr. Gregory House, The Ultimate
Empiricist." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. 3. "Add It Up: Pricing Out A Visit To
TV's 'Dr. House'" NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. 4. "After Seven Years, 'House'
Keeps
Treading Water, But Does It Very Well." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

Commented [6]: I think its cool that you included the

multiple layers to House's character. I've only passed
by this show and I always thought he was put-off-ish
but with the layers you've given to the reader, I feel like
everyone can actually feel for him a little bit more. It
also makes you wonder if there are any doctors in real
life like this. Anyways, thanks for making House an
onion with the additional layers you've given him.

Propose
House has been a phenomenon since premiering in 2004. With receiving ratings from
some of the top t.v critics with an 8.8 IMDb, and a 9.2 from TV.com, this show is a hit.
Over its 8-year duration, this show has attracted a broad audience, from people who are
interested in the medical field, to medical personnel, to people who just enjoy good t.v.
One of the questions that many people have when watching House, is how does the
main character, Gregory House, who is arrogant, breaks almost all of the rules, and is
an addict, a genius diagnostician? Without House, almost all of the patients would have
died, and there have been patients and doctors that come to House because of his
prestigious record. When observing all of the sources, the area of research and inquiry
that will be explored throughout this assignment will be how does someone with the
behavior of House, have such a mind blowing medical knowledge. As well as if he
behaved differently would it affect his work.