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killcat t1_ivn9os6 wrote

House was often.....questionable, cases where basic tests would have diagnosed the issues within a couple of days, such as a case of amoebic meningitis, with an altered mental state, so a lumbar puncture would have been one of the 1st things they did, and a lab would have spotted it.

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[deleted] t1_ivnanfm wrote

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[deleted] t1_ivndq3r wrote

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BoOtto t1_ivo5rug wrote

I was in med school when it first aired and one of the first cases I remember was a child with neurological symptoms and obesity. They had run all kinds of tests already and I was wondering which disease could be so similar to Cushing’s… it was Cushing’s syndrome, which would be one of the first things to test for.

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DeltaBlack t1_ivo8lis wrote

There was a website named Polite Dissent from an MD who reviewed the episodes. Unfortunately it no longer exists but I remember that especially in the later episodes some issues would have been diagnosed very quickly with standard medical procedures.

I think in one instance it was said that looking at the blood sample before running the lab tests would have revealed the disease instantly. In another it was said that after a positive pregnancy test and a negative ultrasound test the next step was to look for an ectopic pregnancy (which took the team a while to figure out).

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gargling_ t1_ivoc690 wrote

I remember that episode; to be fair, they tested for Cushing's a couple of times throughout the episode. The tests were just coming negative (until they finally sent an early morning sample). I think that episode was more so to highlight the fact that tests should not be the Hail Mary while looking for a diagnosis

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RevWaldo t1_ivos5nu wrote

I recall that episode. They treat her for Cushing's and she loses the weight in about a week. Which seems.. incorrect.

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tomius t1_ivnz59n wrote

Damn that's unlucky, that must be one of the few episode when they don't do an LP, first thing.

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[deleted] t1_ivnn9ug wrote

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spacemanv t1_ivnsogw wrote

It actually does tend to appear very close to the initial bite within the first week. It then spreads after that.

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Watsonmolly t1_ivny3k2 wrote

but surely the lymph nodes near the initial bite, that's why its often the back of the knee.

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spacemanv t1_ivnzdhm wrote

The first rash is actually immediately over the bite in 70% of cases, and is a immune mediated superficial skin rash. It actually gets it's characteristic bullseye shape from the center being an immune reaction to the salivary proteins, and the outer ring being the spread of bacteria outwards in the skin. You see them behind the knees because it's easy for ticks to get brushed into skin folds.

The secondary (stage 2) lesions and lymphadenopathy happen after the bacteria spreads from the initial lesion in the weeks following.

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BrowsOfSteel t1_ivod6jw wrote

Yeah and there are a bunch of episodes where the team has their hands tied for contrived reasons.

This can be because the writers are cribbing from a case report, and the case is old enough that it predates nMRI or whatever.

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Nemisis_the_2nd t1_iw0crx0 wrote

> would have diagnosed the issues within a couple of days, such as a case of amoebic meningitis

If a patient at my hospital had any form of meningitis suspected, and didn't have lumbar puncture results with the doctor in less that 6 hours, heads would be rolling (no pun intended) I remember one case where the patient had to wait over 8 hours for the results (not my labs fault) and multiple people ended up facing disciplinares. Meningitis can kill, fast. Taking your time to diagnose it will result in needless patient deaths.

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Ensia t1_ivnzfqc wrote

And full of misinformation on top of that. I remember a few episodes in they said malaria is caused by a fungi and that was it for me. You don't even need to pay an expert for that, Wikipedia would have told you it's a parasite. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but stuff like that really rubs me the wrong way.

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oscillius t1_ivo48vz wrote

I really enjoyed house. Love Hugh Laurie as an actor. I’ve watched the shows more times than I can count although it’s been a long time I think I know the episode you’re talking about.

But im pretty sure it was toxoplasmosis they said was caused by a fungus and not malaria.

The only malaria episode I remember is where the guy can’t speak properly, a journalist with bipolar or something. They diagnose malaria at the end but I don’t remember them mentioning fungus.

I checked for that episode and it was s2e10 “failure to communicate”, diagnosis was cerebral malaria. Some websites listed the goofs and they say that when they looked into the slides the “parasite” that was supposed to be malaria looked more like the bacteria that causes syphilis.

I’m trying to find the episode with toxoplasmosis but I can’t remember what the episode was called. I remember it was about a politician. I’ll edit it when I find it.

E: https://www.moviemistakes.com/tv4941/episode23818

Didn’t take long, s1e17, “role model”. It wasn’t the final diagnosis so I couldn’t find it in the list. But that website has the mistake listed at the top.

“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”

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weeknie t1_ivnzq89 wrote

I know they often embellished the symptoms or the chance of something happening, but this is such a basic fact that it's just ridiculous. Then again, you feel like you're being nitpicky, which makes you feel me doubt whether they actually said it as straightforwardly as your suggesting

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Ensia t1_ivo022n wrote

Granted it was a long time ago, but i remember the scene was at the end of the episode where they figured everything out and were telling the patient they have malaria, which is a disease caused by a fungi and now they just need to take some medicine and it'll all be alright.

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ijustwannacomments t1_ivo0vf7 wrote

Pretty sure I remember an article that linked the popularity of Scrubs to an increase in medical mistakes be because basically "lol woops oh well everyone makes mistakes 😅"

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pursnikitty t1_ivo0pyv wrote

I watched another show where a medical professional stated bubonic plague was caused by a virus. Couldn’t watch it after that

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