Medicine on the Big and Small Screen: One Day, One Room
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Medicine on the big and small screen: One Day, One Room Therese Jones, PhD, and Les Friedman, PhD, Movie Review Editors House episode (season 3, episode 12) “Don’t touch me.” House, understanding immediately what One Day, One Room has happened to Eve, says, “Oh, God.” Cast Members: Hugh Laurie, Jennifer Morrison, Omar It is this scene of recognition that ties Eve to House. Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Lisa Edelstein, Jesse Spencer Asked why she wants him to be her doctor, she explains, Starring (Episode Special Appearances): Katheryn Winnick, “It’s like you hurt, too.” Geoffrey Lewis The episode then turns away from its winning formula, Episode Director: Juan José Campanella. Originally Aired: becoming a study of House encouraging a patient to tell January 30, 2007. Running Time: 44 minutes. Streaming her story, in order to begin healing. Given that House Available on Amazon prefers consulting test results over listening to patients— who he believes always lie—this task proves particularly Reviewed by Michael R. Blackie, PhD challenging given that Eve wants House to disclose the source of his suffering before she will discuss the night he success of the television drama, House MD, she was raped. House, who never refutes her belief that he largely lies in the surly and outlandish antics of its suffers from some hurt, eventually recounts a history of titular character, the Vicodin-addicted physician, child abuse by his father, to which she replies, “I’d like to GregoryT House. The show, ran for eight seasons, and still tell you what happened to me now.” Although the veracity maintains a faithful fan base despite going off the air six of House’s disclosure is questionable, the value of sharing years ago. stories is not. House’s behavior, an acerbic combination of diagnostic The episode’s title, references an observation Eve makes acumen and arrogance, thrills audiences because he acts during an earlier conversation with House, who has told in ways we all wish we could.1,2 He embodies a maver- Eve she is pregnant as a result of the rape, and assumes ick force who gives the finger to hospital bureaucracies, she will want to terminate. She, at first, refuses this op- gleefully violates the Health Insurance Portability and tion, declaring a belief in the sacredness of life. Most of Accountability Act, and nearly always saves his patients the remainder of the scene matches House’s cool logic from certain death. with Eve’s religious convictions, until, in frustration, he The show’s structure follows a predictable pattern: a asks why she insists on arguing a point neither one will patient presents with a rare disease or a baffling set of agree on. “Because,” she says, “life is a series of rooms and symptoms that other physicians find impossible to diag- who we get stuck in those rooms with adds up to what our nose. House’s ability to solve the diagnostic riddle, seems lives are.” to justify his bad behavior and absent bedside manner. Eve’s philosophy, like the episode’s departure from its Viewers can be certain of how each episode will end; what formulaic structure, asks us to remember the essential surprises them and keeps them coming back for more is place of storytelling in our relationships with others. never knowing what outlandish things House will do along the way. References One episode denies viewers these reassuring pleasures. 1. Burger A. Masculinity and Medicine: House as Doctor “One Room, One Day” features Eve, a young woman who and Patient in House M.D. Gender Scripts in Medicine and has been raped, and despite House’s stated disinterest in Narrative. Editors: M Block, A Laflen. New York. Cambridge her case because he doesn’t find it scientifically challeng- Scholars Pub: 2010; 353–72. ing, insists that he be her doctor. 2. Jeschonek R. Be Like House. Editor: L Wilson. House Stuck doing clinic duty, House meets Eve, who, along Unauthorized. Dallas. Bendella Book: 2007; 97–108. with a parade of other patients, believes she may have a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Of all the patients he Dr. Blackie is Associate Professor of Health and Humanities sees that day, only Eve tests positive. When House tells her in the department of Medical Education at the University of the results—she has chlamydia—Eve becomes emotional. Illinois at Chicago. His e-mail address is [email protected]. As he hands her a prescription, she knocks it away, yelling, 50 The Pharos/Autumn 2018.