House, M.D.

House, M.D. (2004)

21 mistakes since 28 Jan '17, 00:00

(4 votes)

Maternity - S1-E4

Factual error: House's team listed the potential offending organisms of the infection as "MRSA, H. Flu, VRE, and pseudomonas." House then suggests Vancomycin and Aztreonam. Vancomycin only covers gram (+) organisms and Aztreonam only covers gram (-) organisms. VRE is a gram (+) organism, thus it would not be covered by Aztreonam. VRE stands for vancomycin resistant enterococcus, thus it would not be covered by Vancomycin either. House's team therefore failed to cover for an offending organism that could have caused the infection during their initial differential. (00:09:10)

You Don't Want to Know - S4-E8

Factual error: Dr. House argues that the symptoms of the patient (DIC, bleeding, and multisystem failure) can be explained by the fact that they gave him the wrong type of blood (type AB). House says the reason they could make such a mistake is that they don't test blood type, they test antibodies. Dr. Foreman responds it's because the human body only makes those antibodies when you have that type of blood. This part is incorrect. In fact, it's the exact opposite. You only produce antibodies against the antigens that you DO not have. If you did, your immune system would attack your own red blood cells (RBCs), which would cause autoimmune hemolytic anemia (aiha). For example, if your blood type is A, you make antibody B and vice versa. A person with blood type AB has A and B antigens on the RBCs, but does not produce antibodies A or B and is therefore a universal recipient. Ironically, the latter is also mentioned by Dr. Wilson in a conversation with House earlier in the episode when he says "Of course you're type AB - universal recipient. You take from everybody." House then says that the patient has blood type A, but he's making an extra antibody of type B, which led them to believe he has blood type AB and therefore give him type AB blood. House then deduces that this caused the immunologic reaction, leading to the diagnosis, SLE (lupus), which can cause acquired aiha. It's correct that giving type AB blood to a person with blood type A would cause this, but the first part is wrong. If he is type A, he is supposed to make antibody B, not antibody A, so if he were making an extra antibody, it would be antibody A, not antibody B. (00:38:20)

Hamza Mughal

Instant Karma - S6-E4

Factual error: During the differential, Chase suggests the underlying condition is a systemic infection. House says this is unlikely since the patient received IV antibiotics the previous week. However, the doctor in the intro scene remarks that he thought the patient had C. Diff, which is treated with oral vancomycin, not IV. Oral vancomycin has next to no oral absorption, and would not treat a systemic infection. Moreover, even if vancomycin was orally absorbed, it would only treat infections caused by gram positive organisms and not other infections caused by gram negative organisms. (00:12:30)

Histories - S1-E10

Factual error: When going into anaphylactic shock, the patient is given epinephrine in her forearm. Epi would be given into her lateral thigh, or deltoid muscle. The forearm would be the least ideal place for an IM injection.

Occam's Razor - S1-E3

Factual error: The whole episode is caused by medications being mistaken for one another. But the reason why is actually impossible. The patient states that the pills he took (in error due to a switch) had no letter or marking on them. With few exceptions - none of which apply to the medication the patient took - the US FDA law states that all solid medications must have a letter and/or number on each pill which allows them to be identified. No pharmacist would ever give out blank pills.

It's A Wonderful Lie - S4-E10

Factual error: House diagnoses contagious ecthyma in a patient exposed to a donkey. This zoonosis is however NOT transmitted by donkeys. "Contagious ecthyma virus causes papillomatous lesions on lips and mouth, and sometimes on the interdigital areas of primarily young sheep and goats. The hosts of contagious ecthyma virus are sheep, goats, alpacas, chamois, Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep, Doll sheep, steenbok, wild thar, dog, camel, reindeer, musk ox, and man." https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-524180-9.50039-X. (00:27:07 - 00:27:40)

Safe - S2-E16

Character mistake: When discussing plasmapheresis, Foreman incorrectly classifies white cells as the heaviest (most dense). The correct order is red cells white cells, platelets, plasma. (00:25:06)

Show generally

Factual error: In an episode with a severely overweight patient who is thought to have diabetes, it is discovered he instead has Chagas disease. Cameron then informs the patient that he acquired this illness from his food when, in fact, Chagas disease is a protozoan that is spread through the bite of the triatomine bug.

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Suggested correction: While the main vector for the infection is through the triatomine bug, Trypanosoma cruzi (the parasitic organism that causes the disease) can be transmitted through food, and thus Chagas was caused by the food the patient ate. It should also be noted that Trypanosoma cruzi is not transmitted by the bite of the triatomine bug, but rather through its feces, and it's only spreads once the feces enters the blood stream (which it can do through a bite site or scratching an open wound).

Bishop73

The Itch - S5-E7

Factual error: When Dr. Cameron's agoraphobic patient goes into cardiac arrest at home following the surgery, she tells House to get the paddles ready. House, while performing CPR is talking on the phone with the patient's lawyer, informing him that patient has PEA (pulseless electrical activity) on the cardiac monitor, but Dr. Cameron defibrillates the patient anyway, restoring the heartbeat. Defibrillation is not indicated for PEA, it will not restore the pulse and might send the patient into vFib.

All In - S2-E17

Character mistake: Dates on a former patient's file indicate a birthdate of 04/24/24 and an admission date of 02/04/94 (an attained age of 69 yrs 9 months 11 days); House subsequently refers to that patient as a "73-year-old woman." (00:06:19 - 00:08:37)

Role Model - S1-E17

Continuity mistake: After the whole body scan back in the lab, Dr. Wilson tells the team that the Senator has a slightly enlarged lymph node in his left armpit. When they subsequently go to check the problem, they are working on his right armpit instead of his left.

mcook219

You Don't Want to Know - S4-E8

Factual error: Amber triggers a fire alarm by heating the sprinkler with her lighter. Unfortunately that fire sprinkler doesn't detect heat (or smoke). The sensor is located between the ceiling lamps, about two meters from the fire sprinkler. (00:09:00)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Heat applied to the sprinkler would cause it to activate and spray water. All modern fire systems will detect this water pressure drop and activate the alarm.

Show generally

Factual error: Every time there is a patient given a non-rebreather O2 mask, the bag is uninflated. The correct way of administering O2 through a NRB is to inflate the bag first, which would be the reservoir for the O2; a common mistake in many Hollywood medical shows.

DNR - S1-E9

Deliberate mistake: When extubating the patient from the respirator, the patient would have been sedated as to not cause discomfort or pain so they can die peacefully. Furthermore, the ET tube is seen being taken out, but it cuts so the actor can hold it in his mouth without choking, but in real circumstances, it's not nearly long enough to go down the trachea.

Frozen - S4-E11

Other mistake: When Kate asks House about his insomnia, he reacts by turning to look at her, except that he is now holding the computer in front of him and should be looking there to look at her, not at the coffee table. (00:17:46)

bobcarr1689

Transplant - S8-E2

Character mistake: While talking to a patient awaiting a lung Transplant, Wilson comments that there is no urine in the catheter bag "despite taking in 200 cc of fluids." I suspect that Wilson meant to say 'despite taking in 2000 cc of fluids' as it would take more than 7 fluid ounces of intake (without noticeable output) before a doctor would begin to worry about decreasing kidney function. A minimum urine output of 30cc/hr is expected for a 70 kg human at a maintenance IV rate of 25-30 ml/kg/day (~73-88 cc/hr). (00:16:01)

Epic Fail - S6-E2

Character mistake: When reviewing the results of the mercury testing on a patient, Dr. Taub says "Test results - Surprise, Surprise, Marcus Webly was wrong". The character to which Taub referred was actually Marcus Welby of 1969-1976 TV fame. (00:08:14)

Son of Coma Guy - S3-E7

Factual error: House makes a person have a seizure by switching the light on and off. This would not cause a person to have seizure as it takes more flickering than that to trigger a seizure in people with photosensitive epilepsy.

Humpty Dumpty - S2-E3

Dr. Foreman: You really want to screw Whitey? Be one of the few black men to live long enough to collect social security. Take the medicine.

More quotes from House, M.D.

Joy to the World - S5-E11

Trivia: This episode contains another reference to Sherlock Holmes. Wilson tells the (fictional) story of who had sent House a present. Wilson says it was one of House's first patients called Irena Adler. He then explains that House had feelings for the patient, but did not take it any further and therefore regards her as the 'woman who got away'. Irene Adler was an adversary who bettered Sherlock Holmes - the woman who got away. As it happens, the fist patient House treats in the pilot episode is called Rebecca Adler.

Jeff Walker

More trivia for House, M.D.

Occam's Razor - S1-E3

Question: I apologize I guessed at the episode, it was the one which featured Brandon, the boy who had the pills mix up and had sex with his fiancée at the beginning. I'm a little confused as to the ending, what was the significance of the letters on the pills? Why did the two doctors make a big deal about it when Brandon told them about it? Why was House so pleased to find those two pills in the inventory? It seemed like a sudden end to me.

Answer: You have the right episode. The big deal at the end about the letters on the pills was to show that Brandon had the wrong pills all along. House was smiling because he was right.

MoonFaery

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