House, M.D./Cursed

Cursed
Season 1, Episode 13
Airdate	March 1, 2005
Production Number	113
Written by	Matt Witten & Peter Blake
Directed by	Daniel Sackheim
Stream
← 1x12 Sports Medicine	1x14 → Control
House, M.D. — Season One

Cursed is the thirteenth episode of the first season of House, M.D..

Starring: Hugh Laurie (Dr. Gregory House), Lisa Edelstein (Dr. Lisa Cuddy), Omar Epps (Dr. Eric Foreman), Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. James Wilson), Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Allison Cameron), Jesse Spencer (Dr. Robert Chase)

Guest Starring: Nestor Carbonell (Jeffrey Reilich), Tracy Middendorf (Sarah Reilich), David Henrie (Tommy)

with Daryl Sabara (Gabriel Reilich)

and Patrick Bauchau (Dr. Rowan Chase)

Co-Starring: Dennis Bendersky (Davey), R.J. Root (Sam), Jack Walsh (Ozzy), Abbey McBride (Blonde), Alejandro Patino (Cabbie)

Plot Overview

Twelve-year-old Gabriel Reilich gets sick after a Ouija board tells says he will die soon. Cuddy gives House the case because Gabriel's father Jeffrey contributes to the hospital. Gabriel believes he is cursed, but animal hairs in the attic where Gabriel was lead House and Chase to believe it is anthrax. Meanwhile, Chase's doctor father Rowan is in town. Rowan thinks anthrax is not the problem, but further symptoms, including blackened rashes, suggest it is. Rowan offers a treatment which at first makes Gabriel better, but his condition worsens. House learns Rowan is dying of cancer and promises not to tell Chase. Gabriel's paralysis proves Rowan's diagnosis wrong and Chase's diagnosis of anthrax right, but that does not explain all symptoms. House realizes Jeffrey has contracted leprosy in Asia, which is killing Gabriel. Chase tells Gabriel to forgive Jeffrey, and this leads him to try to reconcile with Rowan, who leaves for Australia without telling Chase he is dying.

Clinic Patients

• Ozzy: (Note: Chase's patient.) An older man with sore hands. House, Cameron, Foreman and Rowan Chase burst in to discuss Gabriel Reilich's case. After they agree to pursue Rowan's diagnosis, everybody turns to leave. Ozzy shouts out that his fingers are numb. House says, "Your watch is on too tight." Ozzy loosens his watch and smiles.

Notes

Medical Terms

(See the Medical Dictionary for all definitions.)

• Cuddy presents Gabriel Reilich's case to House and says Gabriel is "coughing up green sputum." House dismisses it as pneumonia, but Cuddy says the CT scan eliminates that. She says Gabriel has "enlarged hilar lymph nodes." House says, "Tiny unicorns goring his bronchial tubes would be cooler." Cuddy says cefuroxime is ineffective, and Gabriel has a papular lesion. House recommends a dermatologist.

• House and his staff discuss Gabriel's symptoms, including dyspnea and rhonchi. Chase hypothesizes Legionnaire's disease, but Cameron says that is unlikely. Foreman hypothesizes chlamydia, but Cameron scoffs at the idea of one so young having sex. Chase says it could be a Rickettsial infection from a tick bite. Cameron says the most likely culprit in New Jersey is Lyme disease, so House orders they continue the cefuroxime and requests a biopsy of the rash.

• Chase and Cameron try to get more history from Gabriel, but Jeffrey annoys Chase, who orders a CT scan and cuts Cameron off from telling Jeffrey where radiology is.

• House asks Wilson for a differential diagnosis on Chase's problems with Rowan Chase.

• House shows his staff Gabriel's CT scan and asks what he has found. Chase spots the pleural effusions. House says the answer is "less obvious, more scary." Chase notices a widened mediastinum, and Cameron realizes this is a sign of anthrax. She says it would have shown up on the Gram's stain, but House says the cefuroxime killed the infection and skewed the result. Cameron orders Levaquin.

• When Chase presents the diagnosis of anthrax to Jeffrey and Sarah Reilich, Jeffrey asks about leishmaniasis or filariasis. After the Reilichs leave, Gabriel suffers respiratory collapse, so Chase orders Ativan as Foreman tries to intubate Gabriel. While Foreman struggles, Cuddy warns Gabriel's lips have become cyanotic. Chase orders betadine and starts the tracheotomy just as Foreman intubates.

• As House and his staff consider Gabriel's respiratory collapse, House suggests an allergic reaction, but Cameron says Gabriel's prescription has been switched to rifampin.

• Rowan doubts anthrax because the rash has no necrosis. He hypothesizes sarcoidosis. House orders a check of the ACE level and prescribes methotrexate.

• Jeffrey claims he got little attention for his sore wrist until he donated to the hospital and received two MRIs and a diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome.

• Foreman warns Gabriel's spreading lesions will lead to sepsis. Cameron says, "Death by dermatitis."

• In the clinic, Rowan suggests Gabriel's problem could be an autoimmune. Chase hypothesizes multiple neurofibromatosis and tells Rowan, "The only reason you're thinking autoimmune is because you're a rheumatologist. If you were a proctologist, you'd think rectal cancer." House agrees with Rowan. Cameron says autoimmune "could be anything from scleroderma to Churg-Straus." Foreman recommends steroids while they diagnose the disorder, and Cameron orders Cytoxan.

• Although Gabriel's condition improves under Rowan's treatment, Chase insists the autoimmune tests are negative. Rowan says, "ANA's are unreliable." Chase says, "Phospholipid antibodies are negative, so no lupus. Same for Churg-Strauss."

• Chase calls Gabriel's arm paralysis toxic neuropathy from the Cytoxan.

• After Chase's diagnosis is excluded, Cameron hypothesizes Berger's disease.

• House has solved Gabriel's puzzle and quizzes his staff. Chase realizes House has diagnosed leprosy. House says a Fite stain will prove this diagnosis. He says Jeffrey has damage to his ulnar nerves. He orders thalidomide.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Chase: Details of Chase's past, previously explored in 1x06 - The Socratic Method, is explored further. Rowan left him at age 15 with an alcoholic mother who later died. Chase reconciles with Rowan, but he does not learn Rowan is dying of cancer, although House does.

Referbacks

• 1x11 - Detox: When House interrupts Wilson's clinic work, Wilson says, "Just because you got out of clinic duty doesn't mean everybody did." In that episode, House won a month off clinic duty in a bet. He was shown having clinic duty in 1x12 - Sports Medicine, but his prize may not have been granted immediately.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Top Gun: Gabriel Reilich says Jeffrey was "an Air Force test pilot. Real Top Gun stuff." Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis and Val Kilmer, about Naval pilots training to be the best.

• Saddam Hussein: When House finds signs of anthrax where Gabriel played with a Ouija board, he asks Chase if the house was owned by "old man Hussein." Saddam Hussein was President of Iraq from 1979 until 2003. He fought two wars against the United States - the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War - and was a brutal dictator. He is believed to have used biological warfare, including anthrax, as a weapon against both Iraqis and foreign enemies.

• The Lancet: After Gabriel's rash turns black, Chase says he has anthrax, but Rowan Chase asks for a better theory. Chase suggests anthrax plus an allergic reaction, and Rowan says, "Call The Lancet, because that's one bizarre allergic reaction." The Lancet is a highly respected medical journal in the United Kingdom.

• David Copperfield: Jeffrey holds up his wrist, and House says, "Is this a magic trick? 'Cause I am a total David Copperfield fan. Although I thought that tornado of fire, that seemed a little fake." American illusionist David Copperfield is known for his grandstanding tricks, showmanship and television specials with spectacular finales, including making the Statue of Liberty disappear and escaping from Alcatraz.

• Hare Krishnas: House confronts Chase about Rowan and says, "You breeze by him like he's a Hare Krishna at the airport." The Hare Krishnas are devotees of an offshoot of Hinduism. They can be found passing out flowers and requesting donations at major airports.

• The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center: When House reveals Rowan has cancer, Rowan confesses to have come to the United States to go to Sloan-Kettering. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York is one of the world's leading institutions for the research and treatment of cancer.

• Jesus Christ: House presents Gabriel's leprosy to his staff by saying, "Clue number one: If I were Jesus, curing this kid would be as easy as turning water into wine." Foreman asks, "Demonic possession?" House says, "Close, but no wafer." In Biblical times, lepers were required by Scriptural law to be isolated from the community. The story of Jesus healing one or more lepers is told in all four Gospels. In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus touches one leper and says, "Be thou clean," which cures the unfortunate. In John, Jesus tells ten lepers to "Go shew yourselves unto the priests," and all ten are cured as they walk. The story of Jesus' most famous miracle is told in Chapter 2 of the Gospel According to John, in which Jesus is at a wedding ceremony which runs out of wine, so Jesus transforms water into wine. Jesus is said to have cured people of demonic possession in every Gospel except John's. All three remaining Gospels speak generally of Jesus curing those "possessed with devils." They also all tell the story of Jesus healing a boy with a condition similar to epilepsy by casting the demons out of him, although only Mark and Luke tell the story of the demonic possession of a man in the synagogue. Mark and Luke claim Mary Magdalene herself had been cured of demonic possession by Jesus. Finally, the "wafer" refers to the Catholic rite of communion, in which the faithful are given a wafer of unleavened bread in rememberance of Jesus' Last Supper, at which he told the disciples the bread was his body.

Memorable Moments

• Rowan Chase disagrees with the diagnosis of anthrax, but Chase insists the diagnosis is correct. House shouts, "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Guys, it's not a competition. It's a diagnosis." He puts his hand over Chase's head and asks, "Who thinks Junior wins?" Neither Foreman nor Cameron react, so House shrugs and tells Chase, "Four to one. It's not anthrax."

• Rowan has told Chase he is in town for a conference, but House says he knows Rowan is lying. "You had to make up a lie," he says. "Can't just tell your kid you're here to see him. I mean, what father does that?" House spots a small blue dot on Rowan's neck, a sign of radiation treatment. He also says Rowan's macrobiotic diet is common for cancer patients. Rowan confesses he has lung cancer and is dying. Rowan asks House not to tell Chase. House says, "Yeah. That's better. I'll get to see his face when he reads his dad's obituary." Rowan says it isn't House's business. House agrees, and Rowan leaves.

• House confronts Wilson - who is flirting with an accountant - for not saying he saw Rowan. Wilson says, "ethics, confidentiality, does any of this ring a bell?" House says, "You could have covered yourself, called me in for a consult." Wilson replies, "It is a juicy piece of gossip. You know what happened? I got all focused on his cancer and lost perspective." House asks whether or not he should tell Chase. Wilson says, "Oh, this is where I give you advice and pretend you're gonna listen to it. I like this part." House confesses he promised he would not tell, but "my fingers were crossed ... so I'm wide open." "I was wrong," Wilson says. "This is the musing out loud part. Do I actually need to be here?" House muses over the "entertainment value" of telling. Wilson says, "On the other hand, there is the do-unto-others thingie." House says he would want to know, and Wilson says, "You wanna know everything. There's also the keeping-your-promises thingie." "Oh, you never run out of thingies," House says. He changes the subject to the "blonde thingie" with whom Wilson was flirting. Wilson says, "She's the hospital accountant. We were going over billing procedures." "Double-entry bookkeeping?" House shouts. As House walks off, Wilson asks what he intends to do. House says, "Billing procedures. They're so complicated, aren't they?"

Quotes

• House: You want to know how two chemicals interact. Do you ask them? No! They're gonna lie through their lying little chemical teeth. You throw them in a beaker and apply heat.

Wilson: Even I don't like you.

House: You know, words can hurt!

• Chase: How would you feel if I interfered in your personal life?

House: I'd hate it. That's why I cleverly have no personal life.

• Chase: Why does everybody need to know my business?

House: People like talking about people. Makes us feel superior, makes us feel in control, and sometimes, for some people, knowing some things makes them care.

Chase: I tell you my dad left, my mum drank herself to death, you gonna care about me more?

House: Cameron would. Me, I just like knowing stuff.