Histories (House)

"Histories" is the tenth episode of the first season of House, which premiered on the Fox network on February 8, 2005. When a homeless woman has a seizure, some of the employees at Princeton-Plainsboro think that she is faking her seizures in hopes of getting a free meal. However, Wilson takes her under his wing and convinces House to take the case.

Plot

A homeless woman heads to a rave party, but does not have the $20 to enter. She begs to be allowed in to see someone named James and the doorman agrees. Once inside, the police raid the party and she has a seizure. She has no ID and does not seem to know her name. She does however have drawings about someone named James. Her CT scan reveals a surgical pin in her arm. Using one of the woman's sketches as a clue, Foreman finds a box in an alley where she lived. Infested with bats, the box contains more drawings. From the serial number on the pin, House learns that she broke her arm in an accident on October 2, 2002. The patient's name is Victoria Madsen.

From her hospital records Wilson suspects that she has ovarian cancer. House orders an ultrasound which shows cancer (though actually, the so-called "solid, non-cystic mass on the left ovary" is not at all solid, but a simple cyst), he then wonders if it is a tuberculoma mass. The treatment gives her a fever of 105 although her biopsy confirms her tuberculoma.

The doctors put her on an ice bath to fight the fever but she disappears soon after. The paramedics bring her back into the hospital. Her heart is racing due to a cop tasering her during her disappearance. When House learns that she has no sensitivity in the area, he realizes that rabies has been afflicting her. The bats in Victoria's cardboard box are the most likely culprit. It is too late for treatment and Victoria will die shortly. During one of her agitation attacks she had bitten Foreman and transmitted the rabies infection. Wilson then administers anti rabies medication (rabies immunoglobulin) to Foreman via intra-abdominal route.

Foreman and Wilson head to the rave party house, and find a strongbox that contains photos of a healthy Victoria looking happy with a man. They also find a marriage certificate for Victoria and a man named Paul, as well as a birth certificate for James, her son. They find a newspaper clipping about the car crash in which Victoria broke her arm. Paul and James were killed in the wreck where she was driving. The trauma from the death of her family made Victoria so depressed she could not work, which is why she became homeless.

Foreman goes to Victoria's bedside, claiming to be Paul. He tells her that he has come to forgive her for the accident. In her stupor, she believes him and tearfully apologizes, then dies in peace. House trails Wilson to an alleyway, where Wilson reveals that he had a brother who disappeared nine years ago and the alley is the last place Wilson saw him.

Cuddy has House tutor two medical students who are learning to take patient histories. Throughout the episode he ignores them, humiliates them, and avoids them. Near the end of the episode, he diagnoses their patient with Korsakoff's syndrome.

External links

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• "Histories" at Fox.com
• "Histories" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Histories" at TV.com