Lies and Healing






"Treating illnesses is why we became doctors. Treating patients is what makes most doctors miserable."
Dr. Gregory House, portrayed by Hugh Laurie






"The truth of the human condition is that everyone lies. The only variable is about what." This is another House-ism, a quote from the fictional Dr. Gregory House of the Fox TV Series, House (reruns available on USA Network). I've learned many positive and negative lessons from this intense and complex character.

The staff at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital puts up with House because of his brilliance. This head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine is himself a self-medicating chronic pain patient due to an infarct that caused death of a major part of one of his thigh muscles: He limps and walks with a cane.

His communication style is shockingly blunt and even intentionally offensive. It's part of the way he teaches, and also part of the way he keeps colleagues and patients from becoming close to him. There is a deeper part of him that really does care about others, but he can also detach from his patients to solve their medical mysteries. If he has to risk their lives to accomplish this, he's fine with that, too.

What do I admire about House? He understands that there is always the "problem behind the problem." He knows that the patients lie. If they are conscious, they lie about facts relevant to their condition. There are hidden clues to their illness in their home environment and their relationships with others. House will send his staff to break into their homes to look for these lifesaving clues! He even knows that the diagnostic tests can mislead his team of medical sleuths and waste precious time. Knowing that his colleagues are also all-too-human, he won't allow a pet theory to prevail without proof. Logic comes before friendship in his world.

I have found in my own work with patients that they will "crash" if I try to provide only short term relief without being sure that:

• The brain is aware of what is going on in the body.
• Muscles supporting the joints (especially in the spine) work well enough to keep bones from moving dangerously out of place.
• Organ function is decent.
• Emotional stress is manageable (and managed)!

• impairment of peripheral vision
• disturbances in sensations - 'pins and needles' and/or numbness - usually in the hands feet; sometimes around the mouth
• lack of coordination of movements, such as writing
• impairment of speech, hearing, walking
• muscle weakness
• skin rashes
• mood swings, memory loss, mental disturbances