Online Self Diagnosis Challenged in House ‘Epic Fail’ by Alison Cox
"I read it on the internet, so it must be
true."
As
most of us know, the truth can be extremely
murky when it comes to the internet. More often
than not, in an age where the Internet has become
one big unmoderated message board, opinion is
easier to find than fact. And when it comes
to using the Internet for medical self-diagnosis,
online opinion isn’t something to be taken lightly.
The most recent episode of House, "Epic Fail," tackles the topic of online medical reliance of information for self-diagnosis when a video game developer turns to cyberspace for help after coming down with a mysterious ailment. With a laptop in his hospital bed, he races to formulate various hypotheses based on internet research and suggestions from the open opinions of internet surfers. Needless to say, his compulsive computer use interferes with the House doctors and their professional attempts to help him.
Who hasn’t turned to the Internet to solve
the riddles of various aches, pains, lumps,
bumps, rashes, and other symptoms? When you’re
stricken with the unknown, the web can often
provide clues to finding peace of mind and,
on rare occasion, verification of a hunch. As
many of us have found out over time, self-diagnosis
on the web is a dangerous private practice,
especially when it leads to a state of panic
after going around in circles.
So what does all of this web based medical direction mean?
House,
having just been released from rehab after kicking
the painkiller habit, takes charge of his life
and isn't ready to return to work, fearing it
will lead him back into the addictive depths
of Vicodin. As a result, Dr. Eric Foreman leaps
at the chance to fill House’s shoes. But fans
already know that Foreman is no House and couldn’t
possibly wear such big, quirky and eccentric
shoes. At the conflict crux in "Epic Fail,"
with House out of the picture, we soon see that
House’s special brand of diagnostic medicine
would be the best treatment for the web surfing,
self diagnosing video game developer who suffers
from a slew of mysterious symptoms, which includes
hot hands and a strange burning sensation.
As "Epic Fail" played out, I conducted my own online experiment and punched in "burning hot hands symptom" into a variety of search engines and got everything from home remedies on how to deal with burning hot hands after handling jalapenos without gloves to peripheral nerve damage and every medical remedy in between. With one eye on House and the other online, I started to get sucked into the perils of self-diagnosis on the web. After weeding through the useless nonsense, tainted opinions, and just plain garbage, there was no way I could get a definitive answer to "burning hot hands" in order to draw some sort of meaningful health conclusion.
Meanwhile,
House takes up cooking and perfects his killer
pasta sauce as a method of recovery. Watch those
jalapenos! By the end of "Epic Fail," House,
with the help of his therapist, comes to the
conclusion that perhaps quitting the medical
profession isn’t the best solution. Perhaps
diagnostic medicine will be the answer for House
and eventually put him through the ultimate
test of handling what he does best, without
the crutch of the narcotic kind.
As for the video game developer with burning hands, his condition only reinforced the fact that turning to the web to diagnose a mystery ailment isn’t the best solution either. Just because you read it on the internet, doesn’t mean it’s true, especially when you don’t know the source. Trust me, my own House experiment led to an epic fail.
"Foreteen" was a very necessary element to this particular episode - which explored how the department functions without House. Omar Epps did a GREAT jerk; Olivia Wilde was stunning AND good (she had one of the best lines of the episode, after tasting House's cooking.) And for once, it seems fans appreciated Taub. I've long been an apologist for this character, and his one-liners, and slapstick video game scene, proved my point.
I did my own review of this episode, but didn't get into the dangers of online self-diagnosis as you did - probably because I didn't notice it as much as other elements. Good thing, because my wall of words would be longer.
Medical research is just like anything on the Internet. There are good sources and bad sources, and information has to be screened by the viewer - in other words, it's our own responsibility to assess the integrity of the source.
After herniating a spinal disc and FINALLY getting a weekend MRI, I brought home the films, looked up normal and abnormal spinal discs and was able to determine exactly which disc was herniated, and that it was pressing into my spinal column. By Monday, the doc's office told me what I already knew, adding, "You must be in a lot of pain." Duh!
Not that I disagree that some symptoms cannot be diagnosed through Google. I've tried e-cureme.com, and potential self-diagnosis results can range from the minor to downright deadly. Seeing doctors is almost always the best thing, but with the state of health care in this country, I can see why people try to find the answers on their own.
Without House, this episode would have been a disaster. Foreman and Thirteen are incredibly bad, and somehow the writers had to focus on them after the amazing season premiere. I like what they are doing with House and regardless of whether the change is permanent or not, it is very interesting.
As
most of us know, the truth can be extremely
murky when it comes to the internet. More often
than not, in an age where the Internet has become
one big unmoderated message board, opinion is
easier to find than fact. And when it comes
to using the Internet for medical self-diagnosis,
online opinion isn’t something to be taken lightly.
House,
having just been released from rehab after kicking
the painkiller habit, takes charge of his life
and isn't ready to return to work, fearing it
will lead him back into the addictive depths
of Vicodin. As a result, Dr. Eric Foreman leaps
at the chance to fill House’s shoes. But fans
already know that Foreman is no House and couldn’t
possibly wear such big, quirky and eccentric
shoes. At the conflict crux in "Epic Fail,"
with House out of the picture, we soon see that
House’s special brand of diagnostic medicine
would be the best treatment for the web surfing,
self diagnosing video game developer who suffers
from a slew of mysterious symptoms, which includes
hot hands and a strange burning sensation.
Meanwhile,
House takes up cooking and perfects his killer
pasta sauce as a method of recovery. Watch those
jalapenos! By the end of "Epic Fail," House,
with the help of his therapist, comes to the
conclusion that perhaps quitting the medical
profession isn’t the best solution. Perhaps
diagnostic medicine will be the answer for House
and eventually put him through the ultimate
test of handling what he does best, without
the crutch of the narcotic kind.