Meaning (House)

Meaning is the first episode of the third season of House, M.D., and the forty-seventh episode overall.

Plot Overview

House has recovered from multiple gunshot wounds and is back at work, taking on two cases simultaneously: Richard, paralyzed after brain cancer surgery eight years ago, who drove himself on his motorized wheelchair headfirst into a swimming pool; and Caren, a young woman paralyzed from the neck down after a yoga session. As House begins to diagnose and treat them, the team notices a distinct change in his attitude toward the patients, and Cameron even catches Richard's wife thanking House for his sensitivity to her husband's situation. House suspects that Richard could possibly walk again, but he has no specific medical proof to back up his hunch and the various treatment avenues he pursues lead nowhere. Cameron and Foreman refuse to indulge House and his theories, which they feel he's pursuing merely to make the case interesting for himself. Cuddy and Wilson also are convinced House is creating a mystery out of Richard's case to cure his own boredom, but he denies it and becomes more frustrated when his theories do not point to a cure for Richard, forcing House to face an unpleasant truth.

Diagnoses

• Richard McNeil: House orders an upper endoscopic ultrasound, Foreman objects that his throat will collapse and the patient almost died. Then House orders a procedure on the brain and Foreman tells him, that it will cause a bleed into Richard's brain and again the patient almost dies. House comes up with the theory that Richard has Addison's disease, that was relieved by Cortisol (although House is not told that his theory worked).

• Caren: House decides Caren is faking the paralyzes and the shortness of breath and to prove it, he first threatens to stick a huge needle in her chest and then he does it. Blood is building up around her heart. House insists on opening her up to find the tumor he then thinks must be there. But at the sugery notices a discolored toenail. He diagnoses her with Scurvy which he cures with orange juice.

Clinic Patient

None on this episode.

Notes

Music

• Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz: House jogs in the park.
• You Can't Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones: Wilson warns Cuddy not to tell House what happened with Richard. The song is also featured in the "Pilot" and "Honeymoon".

Arc Advancement

Characters

• House and Cameron: House asked Cameron out on a date throwing her off. She declined his invitation citing a list of reasons. Bemusedly, he declared her to be "full of crap" and accused her of only being interested in him when he was still a "sick puppy". Cameron, in response, replied that he was still "not healthy".

Trivia

Allusions and References

Stephen Hawking: In the beginning of the episode, after House jogs into Dr. Cuddy's office, House wonders why "Stephen Hawking would try the 500 butterfly." Stephen Hawking is a quadriplegic due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.