by Dale Dolmo

Created on: December 26, 2008

House, M.D. - Great Character, Lousy Doc
For a Sherlock Holmes fan like me, it's electrifying to watch Dr. House bring some of my favorite sleuth's less-friendly traits (lack of emotion and drug use, to name two) into the modern world. As fascinating a character as House is, however, I would not want to depend on him if I were sick and vulnerable.

To begin with the most obvious problem, Dr. House is a drug addict. In the TV universe of House, M.D., we readily accept the idea that House's abuse of painkillers causes chaos in every aspect of his life EXCEPT his ability to diagnose patients. He belittles his staff, ducks out of his responsibilities to his employer, and manipulates his best friend, and yet he can always be relied upon to solve the toughest cases. That deal works out pretty well for an imaginary doctor with imaginary patients, but real-life drug addiction doesn't make exceptions for the parts of your life the are most important to you. In the real world, there is no special magic that would keep Dr. House's patients from being hurt by his addiction just like everyone else around him. Drug users are unpredictable, irrational, and - as House's nemesis Detective Tritter accurately stated - not to be trusted. These are not qualities one would seek in a physician.

Dr. House's difficult, confrontational personality creates some superb plot complications for the viewing audience. From the point of view of a patient, however, it's not in your best interest for your doctor to constantly torment his staff. For many hospital patients, an error committed by hospital personnel is as likely to kill them as the ailment for which they are being treated. Imagine your boss makes every day at work feel like walking through a minefield; how much more likely might you be to make that (potentially fatal) mistake? Several times when the team has received surprising test results, House has accused one or more of his underlings of botching the test or making a mistake when taking the sample. Who could blame them if they had? They spend half their time preoccupied with the psychological games House plays with them, instead of focusing on giving their patients the best care. Of course, House would say that taking care of patients is "nurse's work." He's not in this business to help people - yet another reason I wouldn't want House to be my doctor.

One of the underlying themes of House seems to be that, if your doctor's skill level is high enough, you shouldn't care what his bedside

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