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HOUSE: Simulated Surgery, Real Deceit
A young man named Nozick ("no sick"... get it?) suffers from agoraphobia (fear of public places) and collapses at home. He resists emergency responders who want to transport him to the hospital for evaluation. House's former fellow, Cameron, knows the patient and she recruits the team to help establish a diagnosis right inside Nozick's bedroom.
As usual, the guest star patient quickly decompensates and emergency surgery is needed. Anxious Nozick adamantly refuses to leave his bedroom. House announces a clever scheme: Let the patient consent to surgery that will be performed in his own house but, once asleep, transfer the anesthetized patient to Princeton-Plainsboro Medical Center for the exploratory procedure. Following surgery, drag Nozick back to his own bed before he wakes up.
You got a problem with that?
It is a different twist on sham surgery. Yeah, you read right - sham surgery. It's real medical terminology. Tell the patient you are going to perform a procedure on them, take them to the O.R., put them to sleep, apply a dressing and take them back to recovery.
Sham surgery and other sham treatments populate the medical literature. They demonstrate the power of placebo therapy to gauge treatment efficacy in randomized clinical research. For example, does removal of frayed knee cartilage improve long-term knee comfort? A study is designed where half of the patients receive knee arthroscopy with damaged cartilage removal while the other half merely receive peek-a-boo arthroscopy. The patients themselves are blinded as to which procedure(s) they received, and both have stitches and swelling after surgery. Six months later, surprise, both groups share similar statistics regarding comfort and function.
Just a thought; would phony 'gastric banding' lead to progressive weight loss simply because the patient believed their stomach was 50 percent smaller and thereafter were satisfied with smaller portions?
Faking surgery is more complex and more risky than swallowing a sugar pill.
Many medical ethicists claim that the routine use of invasive sham procedures is unethical and should only be reserved for special occasions where no alternative exists. They claim that research volunteers cannot render a valid consent because if they knew beforehand that they were going to receive the sham procedure they would never agree to undergo the procedure. The ethics of medical practice can also be applied to fictional medical dramas. As seen in House Episode 507 - 'Itch', there is no way Nozick would agree to undergo exploratory surgery if it meant leaving his home. That is where House's approach went astray and nobody intervened. Things went badly for the patient up until the end of the show when House opened Nozick's abdomen without anesthesia to remove some old bullet fragments.
Once again, I ask myself in horror, "Does anybody ever sign consent forms on House? Does it really matter?"
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As usual, the guest star patient quickly decompensates and emergency surgery is needed. Anxious Nozick adamantly refuses to leave his bedroom. House announces a clever scheme: Let the patient consent to surgery that will be performed in his own house but, once asleep, transfer the anesthetized patient to Princeton-Plainsboro Medical Center for the exploratory procedure. Following surgery, drag Nozick back to his own bed before he wakes up.
You got a problem with that?
It is a different twist on sham surgery. Yeah, you read right - sham surgery. It's real medical terminology. Tell the patient you are going to perform a procedure on them, take them to the O.R., put them to sleep, apply a dressing and take them back to recovery.
Sham surgery and other sham treatments populate the medical literature. They demonstrate the power of placebo therapy to gauge treatment efficacy in randomized clinical research. For example, does removal of frayed knee cartilage improve long-term knee comfort? A study is designed where half of the patients receive knee arthroscopy with damaged cartilage removal while the other half merely receive peek-a-boo arthroscopy. The patients themselves are blinded as to which procedure(s) they received, and both have stitches and swelling after surgery. Six months later, surprise, both groups share similar statistics regarding comfort and function.
Just a thought; would phony 'gastric banding' lead to progressive weight loss simply because the patient believed their stomach was 50 percent smaller and thereafter were satisfied with smaller portions?
Faking surgery is more complex and more risky than swallowing a sugar pill.
Many medical ethicists claim that the routine use of invasive sham procedures is unethical and should only be reserved for special occasions where no alternative exists. They claim that research volunteers cannot render a valid consent because if they knew beforehand that they were going to receive the sham procedure they would never agree to undergo the procedure. The ethics of medical practice can also be applied to fictional medical dramas. As seen in House Episode 507 - 'Itch', there is no way Nozick would agree to undergo exploratory surgery if it meant leaving his home. That is where House's approach went astray and nobody intervened. Things went badly for the patient up until the end of the show when House opened Nozick's abdomen without anesthesia to remove some old bullet fragments.
Once again, I ask myself in horror, "Does anybody ever sign consent forms on House? Does it really matter?"
Related Topics:
Labels: agoraphobia, House, TV
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