“House” Season 8, episode 6 “Parents” aired on November 14, 2011.
Spoilers obviously follow.
Quick Recap:
Patient: Ben Parker (Harrison Thomas)
Symptoms: Partial limb paralysis, liver, lung and kidney failure, eye bulging, and bleeding from the mouth and nose.
Diagnosis: Syphilis and anti-biotic induced Jarish-Herxheimer reaction
Side stories: House seeks to discover more about Dr. Adam’s childhood. Wilson gets tickets to a boxing match in Atlantic City and House tries to find a way to go with him despite having an ankle monitor. Taub’s ex-wife wants to move to Portland with her new boyfriend and Taub is not okay with it. House tries to make Taub realize why he’s wrong to stop them. A clinic patient is convinced he has diabetes because his dad, brother, etc all got it at 50. House treats him.
Full summary of “House” Season 8, episode 6 “Parents”:
The episode opens at a child’s birthday party where a teenager is failing miserably at performing as a clown. The birthday boy punches him in the groin, and he falls down unable to move his leg or arm. The “House” intro. sequence plays.
The episode reopens to the team meeting about the case. The boy had a min-stroke at 16, but House is more interested in Taub who has clearly been in a tussle. It comes out that Taub’s ex-wife and her new boyfriend want to move to Portland and Taub is not okay with it because he wants to see his daughter. The team them discusses there views on parenting. Adams refuses to comment and sparks House’s interest in her childhood. The team finally settles on endocartitus . Chase and Taub go to confirm. While testing we find the patient’s parents don’t approve of his choice to follow in his deceased biological father’s footsteps to be a clown.
A side story is then introduced as House does clinic duty. An overweight gentlemen is sure he has diabetes because the men in his family all got it at 50, and he just turned 50. House refuses to treat him and leaves him in the room waiting for a test for 8 hours. As House is leaving the clinic Wilson catches him and explains he has tickets to a boxing match in Atlantic City. House vows he’ll find a way to come despite having an ankle bracelet.
The team meets again after tests disprove the previous diagnosis, but find thickened heart walls. House feels its an immune issue and sends Taub to start the patient on immunosurpressants during which they talk more about the patient’s father. Before the treatment is complete the patient randomly starts bleeding from his nose and mouth which disproves yet another theory.
Taub goes to tell House and is met by his daughter. House chastises Taub a bit for forgetting it was his night to take his daughter, and they talk more about why Taub should let his ex-wife move. They then settle on a new diagnosis of aplastic anemia. House sends the team to look for bone marrow matches, but holds Adams back and questions her more about her childhood. Adams doesn’t tell him anything.
Chase and Taub talk to the parents about the bone marrow transplant and during which the patient experiences back pain which turns out to be an allergic reaction to a treatment to help with the anemia until a donor was found.
House attempts to trick Foreman into helping him get his parole officer to let him go to the boxing match by arranging for himself to speak at a medical conference. He also tries to barter less clinic hours and more money for hookers are payment for attending the conference, but Foreman doesn’t fall for it, says no, and tells House to finish his clinic duty.
Back at the clinic the supposed diabetic patient is still waiting. He tries to give House urine to test, but Chase and Taub interrupt to tell House about the allergic reaction. House drinks the “urine” and calls the patient out on using apple juice to fake a glucose spike. House orders the team to try a different type of transfusion that shouldn’t cause a reaction.
They go to talk to tell the patient’s parents there hasn’t been a match and the mother reveals the patient’s dad isn’t actually dead. Taub and Chi then go to find the patient’s dad to see if he’s a bone marrow match. They find him but he claims he has no son.
Wilson and House have lunch and discuss the fight. House still claims he’ll make it, and Wilson changes the subject asking why House is so interested in Adam’s childhood. The episode then cuts to Adams and Chase doing lab work. Chase tries to trick Adams into sharing details from her childhood because house is on the phone. Adams catches him.
During an exam the patient suddenly starts gasping for air, and Taub announces that the patient has blood in his lungs. When they drain it, it’s not blood but fluid which suggests liver failure. The team meets again to discuss while House attempts to have a locksmith remove his ankle bracelet. The smith fails and sets off the alarm, so House quickly leaves telling the team to feed the patient protein to decide between two possible diagnoses; a test that could prove dangerous. House puts his legs in a hot tub just before the police arrive to hide that he was trying to remove his anklet.
When house returns to his office the clinic patient who thinks he’s diabetic’s wife arrives. She asks House to give her a fake prescription so she can give him fake insulin shots so he’ll stop imagining symptoms. House says no.
The patient’s eye begins to bulge out in reaction to the protein diet, and the team barely gets it to go back into place using steroid treatments. This unfortunately rules out both possible diagnoses. The team meets again and lymphoma is the new verdict. They plan to start the patient on chemotherapy.
At home Taub’s ex-girlfriend arrives to get her baby, and looks tired. Taub tells her to stay in the guest room and he’ll watch the baby. In the morning Taub’s ex-wife comes to the hospital to say she’ll stay in town if he won’t offer his blessing. Taub still doesn’t agree.
Wilson goes to Foreman and tries to talk him into letting House go to the fight. Foreman says no, because House needs to be controlled.
The team meets again to discuss the new treatment and leads House to have a eureka moment in regards to the clinic patient who thinks he’s diabetic. House calls him in and tells him the diet he’s been eating for his diabetes is what made him sick.
The teenage patient experiences multiple organs failure and falls unconscious in result of the chemotherapy. As the team including House addresses treatment the boy’s real father arrives. The mother’s dramatic reaction leads House to discover the boy’s father sexually abused him. House can tell by the boy’s father’s walk he has syphilis. He then knows the boy has had syphilis since he was younger, the punch to the groin caused it to become active again, and antibiotics the team gave the patient causing Jarish-Herxheimer reaction.
They treat the boy and he fully recovers. House leaves it to Taub to tell the boy he’s been sexually abused, and Taub doesn’t. Taub is more set than ever that his daughter should not move to Portland. House catches Adams in the elevator and finally tricks her into sharing how her parents “screwed up.” She ran away as a child because she did have good parents and she felt other kid’s dysfunctional families made them deeper.
The episode then cuts to Wilson arriving at House’s apartment to watch the boxing macth. House isn’t home, but Wilson turns on the fight anyway. He sees House and Foreman at the match, and the episode closes.
If you missed “House” Season 8, episode 5 you can read a full summary and recap here.
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