Season 5, Episodes 17 to 24

I'm back! Again, without transcripts these summaries are brief. I'll post a season summary later but given the sketchiness of my reviews without transcripts, my results will not be as precise as I'd like.


5.17 The Social Contract

Initial Symptoms: Man with frontal lobe disinhibition + nosebleed
Diagnosis: Doege-Potter Syndrome (House) + autoimmune reaction to tumor (House)

Contributions by Team
House (2): Diagnosis for Doege-Potter Syndrome, diagnosis for autoimmune reaction
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (2): Sees patient's kidneys are failing, orders full body scan
Kutner (0): None
Taub (1): Suggests diabetes
Thirteen (0): None

Notes:
The team saw the fibroma on the patient's full body scan, but misdiagnosed it as a lung cyst.
Taub gets a point for suggesting diabetes because the glucose tolerance test House ordered based on Taub's suggestion provided a vital clue. Doege-Potter Syndrome causes hypoglycemia.



5.18 Here Kitty

Initial Symptoms: Woman with bronchospasm
Diagnosis: Carcinoid tumour in appendix (House)

Contributions by Team
House (2): Sees patient's rash, diagnosis for carcinoid tumour
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (0): None
Kutner (1): Sees spider veins on patient's back
Taub (0): None
Thirteen (0): None

Notes:
"Death cat" was based on a true story.
The patient faked an illness to get to see House. I'm only counting what happened after they determined she really was ill, but it's worth noting that Taub deduced she'd faked her symptoms with methylene blue.
I don't know what caused the brown urine in the end. Also, why didn't they notice at the beginning that the patient's temperature was elevated?



5.19 Locked In

Initial Symptoms: Man with locked in syndrome
Diagnosis: Leptospirosis (Kutner)

Contributions by Team
House (2): Sees patient isn't brain dead, realizes patient has liver failure
Cameron (0)
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (0): None
Kutner (1): Diagnosis for leptospirosis
Taub (1): Idea for brain-computer interface
Thirteen (2): Observes patient has bloody urine, diagnoses ulcerative keratitis.

Notes:
Diagnosis was complicated because the patient couldn't speak.
The infection caused liver failure, which caused the locked in syndrome. The medical reviewer at Polite Dissent noted this didn't make much sense. Notice that the patient's original doctor thought the locked in syndrome was caused by an infection.
Cameron suggested that the team perform a lumbar puncture, but they were unable to complete because the patient went into cardiac arrest. I'm not sure if the lumbar puncture would have helped to diagnose leptospirosis, so I'm not awarding a point for it.



5.20 Simple Explanation

There was only supposed to be one patient this week, but instead there were two. Patient A was Eddie, dying of heart failure supposedly caused by lung cancer, and patient B was his wife who was the team's original patient.

Case A

Initial Symptoms: Man diagnosed with terminal lung cancer
Diagnosis: Blastomycosis (Cameron)

Contributions by Team
House (1): Confirmed Cameron's diagnosis
Cameron (1): Diagnosis for blastomycosis
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (0): None
Taub (1): Observes that patients' heath were connected and used this to help them
Thirteen (0): None

Case B

Initial Symptoms: Woman with acute respiratory failure
Diagnosis: Visceral leishmaniasis (House)

Contributions by Team
House (3): Realizes patient is faking symptoms, observes muscle atrophy in left leg, diagnosis for visceral leishmaniasis
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (1): Notices scarring on liver
Foreman (0): None
Taub (1): Sees patient has an infection
Thirteen (0): None

Notes:
Cameron observed nodules on Eddie's fingers and told House that he may not have lung cancer. House investigated and determined that Cameron was correct, Eddie had a fungal infection. Cameron was awarded the Diagnosis because although she didn't identify the disease, she was the only one who recognized the patient was incorrectly diagnosed. Without her he would have died. Nice going, Eddie's original doctors.
Charlotte, patient B, died because her infection was diagnosed too late.
RIP Kutner, who committed suicide at the beginning of the episode.



5.21 Saviours

Initial Symptoms: Man unable to stand
Diagnosis: Sporotrichosis (House)

Contributions by Team
House (2): Sees swelling on patient's neck is crepitus, diagnosis for sporotrichosis
Cameron (1): Sees patient's chronic hiccups are a symptom
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (2): Observes swelling on patient's neck, rules out bone cancer with bone biopsy
Taub (0): None
Thirteen (0): None

Notes:
Cameron fully participated in the differential diagnosis and patient treatment.



5.22 House Divided

Initial Symptoms: Deaf boy with exploding head syndrome
Diagnosis: Sarcoidosis (Taub)

Contributions by Team
House (3): Discovers patient has neuropathy, idea to compare past and present brain MRIs, realizes patient has arrhythmia
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (1): Sees nerve inflammation during brain biopsy
Foreman (1): Diagnosis for sarcoidosis
Taub (1): Diagnosis for sarcoidosis
Thirteen (0): None

Notes:
House and Chase both lose points for installing a cochlear implant in the patient without consent: House for doing it, and Chase for falling for House's lies.
I may be remembering wrong but I think that Taub was the first to suggest sarcoidosis. Foreman later realized that the patient's chewing tobacco habit suppressed his immune system, hiding the symptoms. I'm therefore awarding Taub credit for the Diagnosis and Foreman credit for realizing Taub was right.



5.23 Under My Skin

Initial Symptoms: Woman with collapsed lungs
Diagnosis: Gonorrhea (House)

Contributions by Team
House (3): Diagnosis for gonorrhea, diagnosis for toxic epidermal necrolysis, idea to stop heart to obtain MRI image
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (1): Spots heart abscess on MRI
Taub (1): Idea to use vasodilators to save patient's hands and feet
Thirteen (0): None

Notes:
Whose idea was it to give the patient dopamine to stabilize her so that Chase could remove the abscess? Did they say? That person gets a point.



5.24 Both Sides Now

Initial Symptoms: Man with alien hand syndrome + bloody tears + loss of sense of taste
Diagnosis: Propylene glycol poisoning

Contributions by Team
House (2): Observes that patient has liver failure, realizes source of blood clots
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (1): Suggests blood clotting issue
Taub (1): Realizes the patient has propylene glycol poisoning
Thirteen (1): Observes splinter hemorrhages underneath patient's fingernails

Notes:
There's just no way around it, the patient's girlfriend diagnosed him. House's team can't claim credit for it. She suggested to Thirteen and Taub that his deodorant was causing the problem, and their research confirmed which ingredient was the culprit. I've awarded a point to Taub because it appeared that he was the one to narrow it down to propylene glycol, but it's possible he was taking the credit for Thirteen's discovery.
Wilson counseled the patient on how to handle his alien hand, and he seemed to be correct: after hearing his advice, the patient's hand never acted up again.