Fractionals

mmmmmmm badminton. I do love badminton.

And yet the medical part of this episode was one of the worst yet. Yes, they push the limits of what we'll believe can happen, but in this case they pushed too far. It never would have played out like that. I get the "we finally failed to figure it out before his life was destroyed" ploy, but come on.

You know I'm not a science student. Which part was so implausible?

It was more about the psychology of the characters as far as the medical choices went.

[spoilers follow]

Since when do they trust what the patient says? Wouldn't they at least say something to the patient's brother and supposed fiance? Or notice she wasn't wearing a wedding ring? Wouldn't Cameron have at least talked to the woman? Done a medical history on her when looking for toxins (or whatever) that would have shown she wasn't engaged? That could be because House wasn't there or everybody was distracted by the case, but if so, wtf?

They essentially destroyed the patient to 'save' him, without deliberating very much at all. And I don't buy Cuddy's "you presented a good argument" b.s.

Aside from that, the House storyline was brilliant and one of my favourites yet.

And by "distracted by the case", I mean, "distracted by the TRIAL."

Since when do they trust what the patient says?

They didn't, when it came to pain. But not trusting the basic validity of his memories? They rely on the patient being in touch with reality all the time! This is really not an "everybody lies" case.

Wouldn't they at least say something to the patient's brother and supposed fiance? Or notice she wasn't wearing a wedding ring? Wouldn't Cameron have at least talked to the woman?

I would think Cameron would be the least likely to do that, given her past history of meddling and how with her whol sarcastic jackass act the last few episodes she seems to be trying to change. And for her, it'd be all about respecting the patients' wishes. I expected her to go to Amy and berate her or something, but her not doing so doesn't exactly stretch the limits of plausibility. Or at least not mine.

If the patient hadn't been making false memories (not the first conclusion you'd jump to!), talking to the brother/"fiance" about it would have been the worst possible result. Guy still wants to go through with it, but that treatment only makes sense if the two never realise what his problem was...

Done a medical history on her when looking for toxins (or whatever) that would have shown she wasn't engaged?

This is something I didn't think of at the time, but that's pretty damning. Unfortunately the only explanation I can think of is IITS (It's In The Script). So fair point there.

I think Cuddy believed her "you presented a good argument" thing, but we all know it's absolute BS. She still feels guilty for not telling House about the guy he cured, which is the real reason she was moved to fake evidence, I think. But still, the end was GREAT - "On the bright side, I own your ass now."

If the patient hadn't been making false memories (not the first conclusion you'd jump to!), talking to the brother/"fiance" about it would have been the worst possible result. Guy still wants to go through with it, but that treatment only makes sense if the two never realise what his problem was...

Wouldn't they want to gently talk to the two (or at least to Amy) to get some sense of whether they already know and maybe bring it into the open rather than just kill the guy's memories. Amy's little speech to Cameron hinted that she might know. I'm not suggesting that they should have said, "Hey, he's in love with you" but they probe for information all the time.

I just think they would have tried to find out if it was possible to deal with the problem head on, and in the course of that discovered the memories were false.