House, M.D.
House, M.D. mistake picture

Kids - S1-E19

Factual error: When House is looking over his whiteboard of symptoms for the swimming patient, the symptom "Intercranial Hemorrhage" is shown on the board. However, this is an error. The correct term is "Intracranial Hemorrhage." Anything inside the head is referred to as "intra" not "inter." This is a common mistake for laypeople, however the highly trained and knowledgeable Dr. House should not have made that error. (00:31:25)

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)

Role Model - S1-E17

Factual error: House and Foreman tell the Senator that he has toxoplasmosis, which is caused by a fungus. Toxoplasmosis is actually caused by a protozoan parasite.

Occam's Razor - S1-E3

Factual error: House is playing 'Metroid: Zero Mission' on his Gameboy at various times. The Metroid series does not feature space monkeys, nor are there distinct levels. The sounds coming from the game in the show do not match it in real life, and Samus morphing into a ball is most definitely not a failure state.

Control - S1-E14

Continuity mistake: As House describes the lady's symptoms, in the front shot Chase has a small book/pamphlet in his hand. The camera changes to a side shot in the middle of House's description and suddenly the book is on the table and no longer in Chase's hand. This happens right in the middle of House's line and Chase doesn't make any quick movements to account for this discrepancy.

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

The Socratic Method - S1-E6

Continuity mistake: When House is talking to Luke about the Vitamin K deficiency and eating the hamburger, the lid on the ketchup bottle is closed on the shots facing House and open on the shots facing Luke.

Show generally

Continuity mistake: Most of the time, whenever House puts down his Nintendo DS, the angle at which it is bending changes. For example, in one shot, it is not bent at all and in the next it is almost closed.

House, M.D. mistake picture

Informed Consent - S3-E3

Continuity mistake: House is about to inject Ezra Powell (Joel Grey) with what is supposedly a lethal dose of morphine. In the shots where they pan out to show House addressing the room at large, the syringe is very full, almost completely. When they zoom in on House holding the syringe, it is only filled a fraction of that much - maybe a quarter to a third. This doesn't happen just once, but every time they switch between shots.

House, M.D. mistake picture

Paternity - S1-E2

Revealing mistake: In the opening scene during the game, one of the shots of the boy is reversed. You can see that the text "Tartans" on his jersey is mirror imaged. (00:00:25)

Meaning - S3-E1

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where House and Allison are walking down the stairs, they round a corner and we see a dolly shot down a short hall with a glass wall in front. During this shot, a camera, cameraman, and dolly are visible in reflections on the glass. (00:08:20)

david benton

Living the Dream - S4-E14

Factual error: In episode 414, "Living the Dream," the patient Evan is given a nerve function test. We see Kutner and Taub performing the test by puncturing Evan's legs with needles. Modern nerve function tests actually rely on electrical impulses from a small computerized device, with no needles necessary.

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

Suggested correction: House ordered an EMG (electromyography) to test for motor nerve entrapment. During an EMG, one or more small needles (electrodes) are inserted through the skin into the muscle. The electrical activity picked up by the electrodes is then displayed on an oscilloscope. An audio amplifier is used so the activity can be heard. When an electrode is inserted, a brief period of activity can be seen on the oscilloscope, but after that, no signal should be present.

House, M.D. mistake picture

Kids - S1-E19

Continuity mistake: Foreman is doing a sonogram of Mary's brain. As she comes out of her absent seizure Foreman's probe jumps from the left side of Mary's head to her right.

Maternity - S1-E4

Revealing mistake: The baby that opens the episode is a real one in the close shots and a doll in the others. First of all he doesn't move, and second, his skin colour is totally different.

Sacha

Dr. Wilson: Is there a light somewhere that goes on when I have food?
House: Green for food, orange for beverages, red for impure thoughts. That bulb burns out every two weeks.

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.

Show generally

Question: In the last episode of Season 1 (Honeymoon) towards the beginning when House first asks for a diagnosis from the other 3 doctors, he asks something along the lines of "Have I missed anything?" after he explains what to do. After he says that Dr. Chase says "Kitchen sink" House starts to say something then stops and says "Oh, you minx" What did Chase mean when he said kitchen sink?

Answer: It comes from the phrase "Everything but the kitchen sink." He's saying that House has thought of "everything but the kitchen sink."

Garlonuss

More questions & answers from House, M.D.

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.