Humpty Dumpty (House episode)
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| House episode | |
| "Humpty Dumpty" | |
 |
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| Episode No | HOU-203 |
|---|---|
| Airdate | September 27, 2005 |
| Writer(s) | Matt Witten |
| Director(s) | Dan Attias |
| Guest star(s) | Sela Ward as Stacy Warner, Ignacio Serricchio as Alfredo, Christine Avila as Luisa and J.R. Villarreal as Manny |
| All House episodes | |
Humpty Dumpty is the third episode of the second season of House, and the twenty-fifth episode overall.
Contents |
[edit] Plot Overview
Dr. Lisa Cuddy's longtime handyman, Alfredo, falls off her roof, causing breathing problems. While on route to the hospital, Cuddy notices that his two little fingers on his right hand are turning dark. Cuddy requests House and his team take the case, but she also sits in on all the diagnoses, often suggesting dangerous treatments trying to save Alfredo's hand. House maintains that she's lost perspective because she hasn't been a real doctor in years, and is acting entirely on personal guilt and emotion.
After Alfredo's hand starts to show signs of gangrene, House decides it needs to be amputated. Cuddy fights him on this point until she realizes it's the only way to save Alfredo's life. During the surgery, Dr. Chase notices that his other hand is starting to show the same symptoms, giving the team much less time to figure out what is going on.
[edit] Diagnoses
They weren't able to figure out what was wrong so when the patient's right hand developed gangrene, they had to amputate. Only later did they discover the cause before they had to amputate his left hand. Alfredo is diagnosed with endocarditis, caused by psittacosis received from a chicken. He works on Saturdays as a wrangler at a local cockfighting arena. Because of his asthma, he was made vulnerable to the infection. As Cuddy puts it "If a bird is infected, you can get Psittacosis just by breathing his dust."
[edit] Clinic patients
- Unidentified Man:(Note: Foreman's patient) Foreman has an African American patient with high blood pressure to whom he gives medication "targeted to African-Americans". The older man has heard of drugs that were given exclusively to blacks due to racism and he doesn't want to be experimented on so he comes back and gets House. After telling House he doesn't trust this new drug and won't take it, House gives him "the same medicine we give Republicans" except he gives him the medicine that is better for blacks. Foreman later gets upset that House lied to the patient.
[edit] Notes
[edit] Medical Terms
[edit] Music
"Delicate" by Damien Rice:
[edit] Arc Advancement
[edit] Characters
- House and Cuddy: Cuddy reveals that she knew House in University of Michigan, although she claims only by his legend. Cuddy was just an undergraduate at the time while House was getting his M.D.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] The Show
[edit] Behind the Scenes
- Crazy Credits: Following the episode, a blurb about the American Humane Association aired, assuring the audience that no animals were harmed during the cockfighting scenes.
