Emancipation (House)

"Emancipation" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of House and the ninety-fourth episode overall. It aired on November 18, 2008.

Plot

Sixteen year old Sophia, an emancipated minor working at a factory, suddenly clutches her chest and coughs up blood. Meanwhile, House comes into Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and House claims he did not ask Cuddy out; although Wilson does not comment, House suspects something is up. The team takes on the case and Foreman suggests Sophia's collapse is due to pregnancy, but Kutner does not believe it, nor the notion that she is taking drugs, as Thirteen suggests. House orders an echo, but Foreman asks to be let go temporarily to do clinical trials. House refuses, claiming he might need him for the current case. Taub and Thirteen go to Sophia's apartment and discover a bong, suggesting drug use, but Kutner believes Sophia needs steroids for vasculitis.

Unfortunately, House tells Foreman to put her on beta-blockers, yet Foreman informs the rest of the team to take care of it and leaves. While Kutner administers the beta-blockers, Sophia claims the bong belonged to her ex-boyfriend and admits the doctors have no reason to trust her, insisting she has not used drugs. Believing her, Kutner aptly switches the medication to steroids. In the meantime, Foreman is doing clinic duty, but Cuddy wonders if he is trying to prove something to House. She hands him a case involving 4-year old Jonah, who is suffering from bloody vomit and diarrhea. His older brother Evan is surprisingly knowledgeable about medical procedure and thoughtful of him. When Sophia develops a psychotic breakdown, Kutner admits to giving her steroids and House blames Foreman for leaving it up to Kutner.

Foreman suggests prinzmetal angina, causing an artery in the brain to spasm, and House reluctantly agrees, but orders Foreman to trigger a spasm. Again, Foreman tells the team to set it up and page him when they are ready to run the procedure, due to Jonah's ongoing case. When attempting to look in his digestive system with a camera, Jonah starts giggling uncontrollably and Foreman is stumped. Talking to Cameron and Chase for a differential, Chase notes the case is not interesting, but since House is not the primary, they will look into it. However, he warns Foreman it will not be enough to prove anything.

During an MRI scan, Kutner notices activity in the limbic system of her brain, indicating she was lying when she claims her parents are dead. Confronting her, Sophia reveals she is emancipated because her father raped her and her mother did not do anything about it. Back at the differential, Kutner suggests she might by lying about the rape and House notes it could due to emotional stress, explaining her symptoms, thus orders a round of anti-anxiety drugs. Alone with Wilson, he explains his reason about not asking Cuddy out, but Wilson insists on not giving opinions or insights, making House less than thrilled. Meanwhile, Cameron and Chase are just as stumped on Jonah's case, with Cameron noting that Foreman needs to focus on one case or the other. Just as Thirteen administers the anti-anxiety medication for Sophia, Foreman realizes the drugs are not helping, as her urine has turned dark-colored.

Continuing the differential, House wonders about Sophia's homemade furniture and Thirteen reports holes in the wood, indicating they were pressure treated, thus saying it would have released arsenic into the air. When Foreman gets paged by Cameron and Chase, who still have not found anything regarding Jonah, Chase states they need more help than they can provide, but Foreman is still reluctant to ask House.

Meanwhile, Thirteen removes the arsenic from Sophia's body with chelation, but the patient suffers a seizure after the treatment is over. House concludes the arsenic was fighting what is killing Sophia and tells them to put it back in. The team considers leukemia, thus Sophia requires a bone marrow donor. A biopsy confirms acute promyelocytic leukemia and although the patient is adamant in not contacting her parents for a bone marrow donation, Thirteen leaves to find Sophia's parents herself, only to discover the patient had stolen the identity of the real Sophia. The patient admits to identity fraud, but still refuses to call her family, noting that when she gets sick enough, the team will give her the donation without parental consent.

Foreman, Cameron and Chase still mull over Jonah's case until Chase suggests if the patient's mother or brother has anything to do with his symptoms. An idea hits Foreman: the mother states she only gives one tablet of vitamins to her sons each day, but Evan must have urged Jonah to take more than he requires. Foreman diagnoses Jonah with an iron overdose and because Evan did it out of good intentions for his brother, Foreman assures him his brother will forgive him.

The next morning, the team has found a partial donor for "Sophia", but it is nearly impossible for her to receive a second donation if the first fails. House tells them to treat the patient no matter what, but deduces her rationalization over not calling her parents overrides her emotional desire to not contact them. He confronts her, claiming she must have done something to them, rather than the other way around. The patient finally admits to killing her infant brother. She tells House he drowned taking a bath while she was supposed to be watching him. House states if she dies by refusing treatment, her parents will hate her for killing their remaining child. "Sophia" relents and asks her parents to help her. They come to the hospital and reunite with their daughter.

With both cases solved, Foreman confidently tells House he will do clinical trials, having proven he can handle two patients at the same time. House gives his approval, leaving Foreman bewildered, but House explains that all Foreman had to do was tell him, rather than ask. As House leaves, Wilson notes his friend made a noble gesture, but that what House wanted was to prove to Foreman that he (Foreman) can handle the situation. House denies the accusation. Wilson wonders if House is still interested in talking about Cuddy, and House insists he is not.

Music

This episode features "Through the Dark" by Scottish singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch.

References

External links