Ah office politics….no matter where you work it is a game that is constantly played. However, sometimes the results aren’t always going to please everyone. Someone eventually has to pay some kind of price. In this week’s House episode, viewers found out just how costly a decision could be when House lied to Cuddy to save a patient and when a campaign manager was let go by a seedy politician. In these instances, one person didn’t mind the rejection while the other did. Can you guess which one? In case you were living under a rock, you discovered that Cuddy was the one taking the rejection the hardest. This leads to my House question and blog of the week. Should a professional lie be taken personally? Is a professional lie a direct representation of how one feels towards another on a personal level? What a conundrum, right?
Let’s first take a look at the patient of the week who came up with a controversial ad attacking his boss’s candidate. At first the senator wasn’t happy with the ad, since it was offensive to one of his core constituencies. Yet, when his campaign manager ended up in House’s care, suddenly his feelings changed and he leaked the ad on the internet, causing a bit of an uproar. The campaign manager never blinked an eye and considered it a great political move. He wasn’t offended in the least. He didn’t even care when the senator fired him in a press conference after the senator endured a backlash as a result of the ad campaign. To him, that’s the way the political ball rolls. He’s probably right. After the senator fired his campaign manager in a press conference, his popularity gained again and he won the election. In the world of office politics, it’s the results that matter, a sentiment expressed by the campaign manager early on in the episode. To him if someone has to take the fall for the greater good then so be it, even if he happened to be the scapegoat in this case. So, what happens to the campaign manager? Well, he moves on to help the next potential candidate, maybe even becoming the campaign manager for the senator’s next opponent. Why? Well, because that’s how the political game is played. Can the same be said for medicine? According to the patient of the week, yes it can. Again, the results become the important element. In House’s world, the sentiment is all too true. When House is engaged in his puzzles, he cares about the results in an effort to save a patient’s life. Like a politician, even if he has to lie and cheat to save a life, he will. Unfortunately, this time it may come at a cost to him personally.
In an attempt to cure his patient, House and new genius member Martha Masters confront Cuddy to request and experimental treatment. They want to inject the patient with hepatitis A, because it has proven effective in 15% of the patients. Yes, that leaves an 85% chance that the patient could die, but again the risk is all they have at that point. If they don’t try, the campaign manager definitely dies. If they try, then there is a chance he survives albeit a small one. Yet, this is a chance House and his team must take, because there are no other options. However, due to circumstances out of House’s control, he cannot prove that his patient has hepatitis C. But in order to treat his patient experimentally, Cuddy insists he prove that his patient is infected with hepatitis C. It is then that she will risk a lawsuit and give him permission to administer this experimental treatment. She has confidence that House and his team can come up with something. Well, she was sort of right. House did come up with an alternative thanks I think to an offhanded comment by Chase, but one that will probably cost House Cuddy’s trust. Struggling with a decision to fake a blood test using the senator’s hepatitis C infected blood, since he was using the same straw as House’s patient to do lines of cocaine, House turns to Wilson for advice. It’s not an easy decision for him to make. It’s either lie to Cuddy and save the patient or tell the truth and risk the medical consequences. In the end, House chooses to lie to Cuddy but not after a long night of lying on his floor struggling with the decision. He presents the false evidence to Cuddy who feels that he respects her now, since in the past he wouldn’t have bothered to even give her proof. He would have just gone ahead and ignored her request. Cuddy is oblivious to the lie and House is a craftsman at presenting his ruse to her. What’s interesting to note is how he doesn’t even look her in the eye as he’s handing her the senator’s blood test as opposed to his patient’s. It’s obvious that he’s feeling guilty about deceiving her, but should he? I mean….House is House and he isn’t going to relinquish his devious personality when it comes to patient care. This is something he made known to Cuddy in “Now What?” and she understood that. The question becomes then…what’s the big deal then that he lied to her? It’s rather complicated. When Cuddy discovers that House deceived her, she’s appears very hurt. In my opinion, she wasn’t hurt as a result of his actions. She was hurt because he wasn’t brutally honest with her and led her to believe that he was being truthful. This wouldn’t make a difference except that House did have an opportunity to tell her the truth in the privacy of his office after all was said and done, but he kept the truth from her instead. This is in contrast to “Selfish” where he went against Cuddy’s wishes and told the family of his patient their options for the treatment of their daughter. When Cuddy gave him her blessing after the fact, he confessed his lie and apologized for it. In that regard, she wasn’t angry with him because he was honest in the end with her and apologized to her. That didn’t happen this time around. No honesty and no apology and that’s why Cuddy was hurt.
It’s been argued that Cuddy had unrealistic expectations and that she thought she had changed him. As a result, that’s why his lie hurt. I don’t agree with that assessment. I believe that Cuddy was sincere when she said she didn’t want House to change. She understands who he is and House even warned her that he isn’t going to change. Cuddy knew what she was getting herself into. The hurt I think came from the fact that he didn’t tell her the truth, when he had the opportunity to do so after the fact. House created for her this false vision of sincerity. She had to find out for herself instead of being told by him. One can argue that House was doing what he always has done for her…..protecting her from the truth. If she was unaware of his actions, then she wouldn’t have to face any consequences that may present themselves. He would take that blame alone.
Do I think Cuddy should take what House did personally? I don’t know. Looking at it from Cuddy’s point of view, if House could easily lie to her about this, could he lie to her on a personal level when a big issue arises? I’m not talking about swallowed dimes here or situations that can be controlled without her presence at the hospital. I’m talking about House’s feelings on issues, because as Cuddy pointed out, if he has a problem with their relationship then he needs to talk to her. What if he tries to create this illusion of himself for her? That’s not going to help anyone and then there will be regret and animosity. What about House? Should he feel guilty about lying to her? Yes and no. He shouldn’t feel guilty about doing what he did to save his patient’s life and lying about that. He should feel guilty that he didn’t confess to her what he did, why he did it and how hard of a decision it was for him to make. If he explained like an adult, that he knew this would have an impact on their relationship personally and that’s why he struggled with the decision, then maybe Cuddy would have given him some credit. He needed to tell her that he does love and respect her and understood her position, but that she needed to understand his. In turn, Cuddy could have then discussed how his decision hurt her and why. Plus, she could have then reiterated her position on the situation and how it impacts her as his boss. I think they need to sit down, talk through what happened and create boundaries about what constitutes a personal lie and a professional lie and how they should deal with it.
What I appreciated in this episode is that House is still House but now he does feel remorse for his actions. He knows they have consequences and is aware of what those consequences could be. Yet, he doesn’t compromise his principles for them. On a personal level, the display of guilt on House’s face after Cuddy leaves his office and the hours he spent agonizing over his decision told me two things. One of those things is that our boy has indeed come along way and two…that he really does love Cuddy. Why else would he feel remorse and why else would he hurt too? And even though it was fabricated, why would he present her with what she requested…..proof? Why didn’t he just do what was customary to him and ignore her request? The answer is simple…..he does respect her. He lied because it mattered and not because he didn’t respect her ethical code.
In this episode, Masters served as House’s Cuddy I think. Masters understands the moral and ethical obligations that doctors have towards their patients. But was she completely right in saying that respect, honesty and integrity matter? Were these the values that the writers wanted to illustrate in that scene where House lies to Cuddy? Are these the values Cuddy holds dear both professionally and personally? I think so. Why else would she be hurt over House’s deception?
Office politics, what a dangerous game we play indeed. Now, we are left to wonder what the outcome is next week when House and Cuddy face each other. Can they get over this hiccup or will this begin the crumbling of their relationship?
Until next week, this has been another edition of Diagnosing House. Please feel free to leave a comment as I ask you…Do you think professional lies should be held personally? Do you think it’s okay to lie when it matters? What are your thoughts on House and Cuddy’s situation?
Comment away as I look forward to reading your thoughts.
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