Episode 11: Words and Deeds
Aired 1/9/07
As emergency workers struggle to douse a raging blaze, a firefighter
named Derek Hoyt walks out of the burning building intact. Suddenly,
he gasps for air and becomes delirious. When he staggers back towards
the building, he complains of being freezing.
Cameron examines Derek, who is covered in skin grafts. His last
procedure was six months ago. His body temperature is wildly swinging
up and down. She wants to refer him to House, who is currently at
a preliminary hearing pleading not guilty to all charges. The judge
sets an evidence hearing for a later date.
Back at the hospital, House gets the details on Derek's case. Thinking
of the skin grafts, Chase suggests a hospital-acquired infection.
House orders a blood culture and a round of antibiotics. Cuddy summons
House to her office and orders him to talk to Tritter. She blames
the entire situation on House. Tritter kept setting traps for him,
and House continually fell into them. House actually seems somewhat
chastened.
Cameron visits Derek and explains they think he has Mercer Disease,
a common bacterial infection contracted in the hospital. Derek asks
if Mercer makes everything look blue. Cameron immediately realizes
that it's something else entirely. House suggests male menopause
or really high estrogen and low testosterone levels. He instructs
his team to run a hormone panel.
The doctors attempt to draw blood from Derek, but when they get
the needles into his arms, he freaks out and demands that they be
removed. He grabs Cameron and begins choking her as Foreman tries
to restrain him. Foreman injects a sedative and Derek goes limp.
A very contrite House pays a visit to Tritter. He admits that he
can be described as anything from arrogant to unhinged, but he has
to act that way because of the constant, crushing pain he deals
with. His pain can be described as intolerable only on a good day.
He knows that he has handled it incorrectly. Tritter thanks him,
but is sure that House didn't mean a word of it. Tritter says he
will see him at the hearing.
Back at the hospital, the team updates House on Derek's case. They
insist it has to be neurological. Foreman wants a CT for a frontal
lobe tumor and an LP for meningitis. An absent House agrees and
leaves. The team chases after him, wondering why he isn't shooting
down their ideas. He says it is because he has to go upstairs and
check himself into rehab.
Without House, the team starts their first differential diagnosis.
Cameron immediately wants to consult House, but Foreman and Chase
think this is their chance to grow up. And with House undergoing
detox, he won't be much help. Chase recalls an old House comment:
"Everybody lies." With all of the skin grafts Derek has
had, he must be in tremendous pain. He must be hiding his pain to
keep his job. They need to find the pain. Suddenly they are paged.
Derek cannot breathe.
Chase quickly recognizes a heart attack and they stabilize him,
but realizes it won't last long. Derek has been hiding a series
of chest pains. Now they have to figure out what's causing these
attacks. Cameron goes to see House and finds him puking in his rehab
dorm room. House advises them to look for an external or environmental
cause that all three attacks share in common.
After some thought, the doctors summon Derek's firefighting partner,
Amy. Derek then suffers another attack. The doctors perform a battery
of tests on Amy, who's clean of any spores, molds, toxins or possible
physical causes. Cameron asks Derek if he's in love with Amy. He
is unable to admit to it because Amy is engaged to his brother.
The team reports back to House to figure out a plan. When they
theorizes that the only way to cure Derek is to end his love for
Amy, House has a radical solution. They can fry his brain to clear
any thoughts of Amy. A procedure like that will need Cuddy's permission,
and the doctors are actually able to talk her into it.
Cameron explains the planned procedure to Derek. This electroshock
therapy will wipe out Derek's memory. His feelings for Amy, his
firefighter training and his childhood. Cameron begs Derek to tell
Amy how he feels. If not, he's choosing to wipe out his entire life
for a secret.
Tritter pays a visit to House in rehab because Cuddy goaded him
into it. He's still not going to talk to the DA. House rails that
Tritter's word means nothing. Tritter says he'll never trust an
addict, and even House's actions lie.
The doctors perform the procedure on Derek and then test his mental
faculties. They bring Amy and his brother in. Derek has no memory
of either of them. The team informs House that everything has basically
worked out. Later, Cameron and Amy observe Derek through a window.
Cameron congratulates Amy on her upcoming wedding, but Amy has no
idea what Cameron is talking about. She's not marrying Derek's brother
nor do they even date.
The doctors place an emergency call to House, who's at his evidence
hearing. Derek's memories were false. They fried his brain for nothing
and whatever was plaguing him is still there. They talk through
the symptoms and House orders his team to set up Derek with a selective
vertebral angiography. As House limps out of court, the judge threatens
to find him in contempt. He leaves anyway.
House has realized that all of Derek's issues go back to the initial
thoughts on menopause. The test reveals spinal meningioma pressing
on an artery and affecting Derek's brain. They need to schedule
surgery to remove it.
At the trial, Cuddy is on the stand when House barges back in.
The DA shows Cuddy the pharmacy log and asks if this indicates that
House stole oxycodone from Wilson's dead patient. Cuddy explains
that it does not. The DA states that Cuddy testified earlier that
it did, but she presses on. Dr. Wilson informed her that House had
tried to steal the same patient's oxycodone before, so Cuddy went
down to the pharmacy and swapped out bottles. House stole a placebo.
She has a pharmacy inventory report reflecting her order. Tritter
vehemently protests that this report is obviously forged. The judge
asks why Cuddy didn't come forward with this evidence earlier. Cuddy
admits that she never thought it would come to this point. The judge,
while making a point to chide House, declares that Tritter tried
to make an example out of House and dismisses the case based on
both Cuddy's testimony and her efforts to protect House. However,
House is still guilty of contempt for walking out earlier, so it's
a night in jail for him.
As the bailiff leads House out, Tritter stops him. House bristles
for a threat, but Tritter merely wishes him luck and says he hopes
he's been wrong about him.
At the hospital, Cameron explains to Derek that this latest treatment
has worked. He can move on and begin creating new memories.
That night, Cuddy and Wilson visit House in jail. Cuddy is angry
that House forced her to forge evidence and perjure herself. She
makes it clear that she owns him now. It may entail clinic duty,
unruly patients or extra hours. Whatever she wants, he's going to
do it. She walks off. Wilson slips House a cup of medication from
the rehab supervisor. House greedily gulps it down. Wilson realizes
that the rehab supervisor has been slipping House Vicodin. House
smiles, proud of his scheme. Wilson, distraught and despondent,
worries that nothing has changed.
- From Fox.com
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