An article in the British Medical Journal accuses him of medical paternalism.
Calling Dr. House (via ScienceRoll) a “paradigm of a paternalistic physician,” who, “repeatedly disregards their wishes in order to diagnose and treat their illnesses,” Mark Wicclair of the University of Pittsburgh wonders why, at a time where American patients value autonomy, so many love the crusty, oft poor-mannered, doctor?
Too bad the full article is hidden behind a firewall, but Dr. Wiccalir argues “that the positive depiction of medical paternalism in the fictional world of the series does not apply in the real world.”
Safe to say, if there were real Dr. Houses roaming American hospitals, patient response may be decidedly more mixed.
Related posts:
- Would you rather have Gregory House or Marcus Welby as your doctor?
- How House, M.D. is affecting patients’ expectations of medical care
- Medical guidelines
- My take: What makes a good medical blog?
- House, MD and Filipino doctors
- Who is the medical adviser on House, M.D.?
- Training the well-mannered physician
KevinMD.com on Facebook
{ 7 comments }
Absolutely. How quickly would a doctor be sued if he fired off as aggressively as House? Pretty sure there’d be more than one reprimand issued pretty quickly, if not an outright termination from most practices.
Maybe I’m watching a different “House”…the program I see depicts a doctor going to extremes to figure out what’s wrong with his patients, usually defying administrators who only want to cut the patient loose for financial reasons. Even though the character’s an ass, it’s not hard to imagine why the public would be drawn to that. In reality, it’s tough enough just to get a doctor’s office to return your phone call.
I can’t understand why people like this show. From the patient’s perspective, it’s a show about an arrogant ass of a Doctor. From the medical perspective the show is ridiculous.
That being said, House is gruff, he says exactly what he thinks, he practices the way he wants, he calls his peers idiots when they deserve it, he disregards administrative BS….
Sadly, I think that is why I love it. House says what I sometimes want to say but can’t, does what I occassionally want to do but would be fired in a heartbeat if I did. House is a perfect, guilty, vicarious pleasure for a frustrated provider.
I’ll tell you why patients are drawn to this show. Yes, he is a total jerk with no bedside manner. In that respect, he’s like countless other physicians roaming the halls. But even if he doesn’t seem to care about his patients as people, he DOES care about what’s wrong with them. He’s not willing to accept the first, easy answer as being the correct one so he can get on to his next patient as quickly as possible. He will keep looking until he finds the answer, no matter what it takes.
In a perfect world, sure, most patients would want a doctor with a kind personality AND the drive House has. But with the state of medicine today, most of us would just as soon have the jerky doc who actually took the time to make our lives better than the nice doc who wants whatever is fast and cheap so she can move through the appointment book that’s already 30 minutes behind.
It’s a show. It’s fiction. It’s made to entertain. This guy needs to lighten up some.
Greg House would have been cited as a disruptive physician under the JCAHO guidelines. Doesn’t the reviewer realize this is FICTION? I Love House!
duh, he’s always right.
Comments on this entry are closed.