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April 04, 2007
In the House
I watch House about once a year, and...last night wasn't one of them! However, the word is that there was a very powerful moment:
I gather (and correct me) that the plot involved a situation in which a late-term abortion was being advised by House who referred to the child throughout as a fetus, tadpole, thing, etc...and then in crisis, with pre-natal surgery being attempted, the tadpole grabs House's finger...
From the recap at the FOX site:
House plans to open the uterus, then open the fetus itself to take a look around. Despite Cuddy's warning that this procedure is incredibly dangerous, Emma sees a real-time 4D scan of her fetus and emotionally consents. The observation deck is packed for the surgery. When House cuts into the uterus, the fetus's arm emerges, tenderly grabbing House's finger. House freezes, staring at the tiny hand in awe. Despite his earlier insistence that this is a fetus and not a baby, he seems moved by the moment.
Anyone see it? Reax?
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
I am a House fan - it was a good show with some mixed messages. The tiny hand grasping his finger was powerful stuff. Also, before the surgery he keeps correcting all the other doctors when they say "the baby" saying "fetus," but after the surgery he says, "the baby" will be fine.
When the show started, I wasn't sure I would want to watch it, but I'm glad I did.
Posted by: Sean H at Apr 4, 2007 9:03:19 AM
I saw it ... yeah, that was pretty much what happened -- it was basically a recreation of that famous Life magazine fetal surgery picture. (Here for details)
However, as is generally the case with a House storyline, the minute House seems like he's gone soft, he swings back in the other direction; in this case, he argued with his boss that although the outcome was happy this time, 99.9% of the time, it would have been better to have aborted.
By the way -- one thing that really irritated me was the false dichotomy the doctors set up: D&C or you both die. Doesn't Catholic teaching say that it's morally licit to induce labor, deliver the baby, and try to save its life, even if it's almost certain that the baby isn't viable yet?
Posted by: Shaun G at Apr 4, 2007 9:03:39 AM
It was a very moving portrayal. I'm wondering if this wasn't a takeoff of the actual surgery a few years back involving a baby with spina bifida or something like that that underwent in utero surgery. There's a very famous photo of the baby's hand grasping the surgeon's finger.
This was definitely one of the best "House" episodes I've ever seen. Addressing the issues of fetus/baby, the value of the mother's life versus the child or both of them, and the emotionally touching scene of the surgery.
Very well done.
Posted by: Christine at Apr 4, 2007 9:06:51 AM
I'm a "House" fan, but gave up TV for Lent! Agh! I wish I had seen it.
Posted by: Jennifer at Apr 4, 2007 9:07:15 AM
Amy,
It was as you described, incredibly pro life.
I feared the entire episode that it would end with a pro abort message and since I adore the character of Dr. House, I braced myself to face the sadness of another character ruined by pro abort writers. Much to my surprise the episode ends with the dear cranky complicated House, alone, in his apartment, popping Vicadin, rubbing the finger where the little "fetus" from the womb grabbed his hand. The entire episode via dialogue, encapsilated the abortion debate, stating pro's and con's for each side and ended solidly against abortion.
This episode could be used to show aspiring artists and writers the power of art.
You might be able to view it at Fox on line. It seems many shows are beginning to post their shows on line after airing.
Lily
Posted by: lily at Apr 4, 2007 9:27:32 AM
I STOPPED watching house last season because I was always angry at his "I'M always right attitude. House is my daughters favorite show. She did not watch it last night, but I already heard from 3 Catholic people (one a priest) about it.
REMEMBER - this is fiction and the product of a grouop of WRITERS IN HOLLYWOOD. I'm really not imporessed as I heard it was a "balanced" pro-life and pro-choice message anyway.
Posted by: Deacon Tom at Apr 4, 2007 9:30:17 AM
I thought it was well done. If you know House's character, he is a man of science, a materialist. So most of what he did and said in this episode was consonant with this. The point of him trying to get others to think of the baby as a fetus had more to do with the fact that the mother and 1 of the other doctors wanted the baby to survive at all costs(which is as it should be). He thought they were not being objective(at least the doctor wasn't, it would be expected of the mother).
Usually he will stop at nothing to solve the case and save the patient. In this case it was the mother, so he had no problem with advising termination. But I think after the surgery, he realized that maybe there are 2 patients in a pregnancy.
Posted by: Dan J at Apr 4, 2007 9:35:18 AM
The most powerful moment for me was at the end of the show, when House goes back to his house (odd sentence...) and tears up the plane tickets for his vacation, takes the phone off the hook, sits down on the couch and turns on the TV to the Travel channel. Instead of going off on a vacation, he's going to just hole up, block out the world with some pain numbing meds and some mind numbing TV. Then, as he holds the remote, he starts staring at his finger - the same finger the baby had touched.
I hope House never gets soft, that would ruin the show. But at the same time, I think it's good to show his inner conflict. Besides the fact that the show presented abortion as the cold, hard, clinical and ugly option that it is, while saving the life of this baby was seen as an act of compassion. Since abortion so often gets presented by Planned Parenthood and their ilk in Hollywood as compassion itself, it was very good to see the tables turned.
Posted by: Tim Ferguson at Apr 4, 2007 9:38:35 AM
It was excellent. In a scene with the mother after the surgery House tells her that her son's hair is amazingly blonde. The mother thanks House for saving both of them and he says "Don't thank me, I would have killed your kid".
Definitely an episode to watch for during re-run season.
Posted by: Sydney at Apr 4, 2007 9:43:22 AM
I have watched several episodes, though not this one. Mostly, when it became an issue at all, theology or spirituality was simply dismissed with cheap materialist throw-away lines. (One episode involving nuns was so clueless as to be embarassing.) The bulk of the show's drama is taken up with the perpetual adolescence of most TV characters. Let's hope they (the writers) can change.
Posted by: Mike Walsh at Apr 4, 2007 9:44:13 AM
This isn't the first time that there's been a pro-life message on House. Last season (I think) he told a 13 year old girl who got pregnant that abortion would be the best thing for her, but the girl insisted that she was going to keep her baby.
Since House is really an anti-hero, the writers can use him to get a powerful positive message across without having to use him as the "good guy". We see it time and time again with his character.
Posted by: Schultz at Apr 4, 2007 9:44:44 AM
For those who gave up TV for Lent: I have heard that you can buy it on iTunes and download to your laptop...
Posted by: Leo White at Apr 4, 2007 10:12:57 AM
It's good that this episode shows more openness to life (with vivid imagery showing that the fetus is alive), but it seems like House has been very cavalier with abortion in the past. I remember at least 3 previous episodes where he was dismissive of any arguments against it. Most recently, in January's episode "1 day 1 Room" he argues a Christian rape victim into terminating her pregnancy when she doesn't want to. Although the wrters do a good job of portraying her distress, they don't give her any logical arguments with which to rebute him (a consistent theme in discussion of the issue - pro-lifers may be sincere, but they don't seem to have any reasonable arguments against abortion). From the Fox summary (http://www.fox.com/house/recaps/313.htm)
Cuddy lets House know that Eve is pregnant. He breaks the news to the girl, then offers her the chance to terminate it. Eve isn't interested because she considers abortion to be murder. House asks her if she wants to take a walk outside to get some air....
House and Eve sit in a park watching people jog by. They continue their philosophical discussion. Eve argues that eternity is what we live for, and House believes that our time on Earth is all we have. Eve refuses to believe that because then there are no ultimate consequences. She needs the comfort of knowing that this all means something.
Eve wonders if her attacker feels remorse for his actions. House asks why that matters. He then inquires why she trusts him. Eve explains that there's something about him, as if he is hurt too. House confesses that his story was true. Yet it wasn't his grandmother but his father who abused him. Eve begins to acknowledge what happened to her to House.
Back at the hospital, House informs Cuddy that Eve terminated her pregnancy and has been discharged from the hospital.
Posted by: Zak at Apr 4, 2007 10:52:35 AM
In real life, I wrote a story on this type of surgery late last year, so I was distracted by the inaccuracies of the portrayal.
But that's just me.
It's actually a fascinating procedure, done later in pregnancy than the 20-week mark (as it was depicted last night), because the kid needs to be delivered afterward; he can't be tucked back inside to sleep a few more weeks. And needless to say, Dr. House wouldn't have been doing the surgery; he doesn't have the specialist chops.
If Amy will permit me a link; it's the first of three in this PDF file.
Posted by: Nance at Apr 4, 2007 10:59:51 AM
It's good that this episode shows more openness to life (with vivid imagery showing that the fetus is alive), but it seems like House has been very cavalier with abortion in the past.
Yes, House has been very cavalier, and even forcibly pro-abortion, but I don't think that folks should draw the usual conclusions from this and think that this is a series that promotes abortion as a good thing.
Clearly, House is a tortured soul. And if he is to ever grow out of his nihilistic misery into something approaching a human being, then it is necessary to see him in the depths of his depravity -- where others see human persons, he sees only parasites; where others see two patients, he sees only one.
In this episode, we saw a bit of an epiphany. Either he will be at least a little receptive to it, or he will reject it and continue in his own personal hell.
Posted by: Bender at Apr 4, 2007 11:20:37 AM
I didn't think the epsiode was in the least bit pro-life. Aside from the fact that the baby was conceived in-vitro (destroying "extra" fertilzed ovum in the process), informed abortion activists recognize that you cannot continue to deny the reality of life in the womb, and the mixed feelings this creates in the mind of the general public about abortion. In effect the program's theme was yes "it" may be life but we still have a right, or even an obligation, to destroy it.
Posted by: TomM at Apr 4, 2007 11:29:19 AM
For those who missed this episode and would like to see it, Fox is going to have an encore broadcast of House on this Friday, April 6th. This is according to the Fox TV web site. Of course, you should check your local listings to make sure of the time for your area.
Posted by: James S at Apr 4, 2007 11:40:10 AM
I said I would never watch House again after the episode that Zak describes. It made me so angry that the writers wrapped up the episode with the girl having the abortion. I feel it showed a lack of guts on their part.
My daughter told me about last night's premise, and I did turn on the last 15 minutes or so. I guess the writers redeemed themselves a little in my eyes- The character of House?- I'll have to wait and see if he can remember the unborn baby's little hand in his the next time he's faced with a 'sanctity of life' issue.
Posted by: DW at Apr 4, 2007 11:47:44 AM
Can someone answer for me Shaun's question above re: Catholic teaching in such extreme cases?
Posted by: Irenaeus of Lyons at Apr 4, 2007 11:47:54 AM
http://television.aol.com/franchise/top5.adp
If you want to watch the clip (free of charge) of the unborn baby grabbing House's finger, here is the link. Powerful doesn't begin to describe it. Amazing this was on prime-time, network television.
Posted by: Sydney at Apr 4, 2007 12:17:00 PM
The interesting thing is that this ep seems to have been a key part of the "baby arc" that they've been doing all season. (With various amounts of believability and success.)
Basically, Cuddy (House's middle-aged female boss) had been thinking and working towards getting pregnant during the early half of the season. She got as far as trying to choose a sperm donor, but House ridiculed the artificiality of this (not so much from a Theology of the Body point of view as from the POV that she should at least know the guy she chooses for something that important!) Cuddy may still intend to have a child.
Various other eps this season have dealt with children and with pregnancy, including the pro-life girl one. (The ending of which was stupid, but now we see that it was apparently designed to make House feel guilty later for his actions.) There was also an ep in which House claimed that doctors should euthanize people under certain circumstances, and one where he comforted his trainee Cameron for doing this for the first time. (Bad endings on both eps, but at least now I see where they're going.) Finally, Cameron and her fellow trainee Chase (an ex-seminarian) have been having sex for deliberately stupid reasons, although we now know that really Chase is in love with Cameron.
So what's gonna happen, and why this change of heart back to the early, anti-abortion House (even if mostly for political incorrectness' sake)?
Cameron and Chase have a baby, whom Cameron wants to abort and Chase doesn't. I will put money in the bank that this is where it's all going, and that House and Cuddy will get dragged in by Chase to help him dissuade Cameron. And I bet that Cuddy adopts the kid. :)
Posted by: Maureen at Apr 4, 2007 12:47:25 PM
Nobody else mentioned it, but we did get to see mother and newborn baby during the end montage. Beautiful scene.
Posted by: Maureen at Apr 4, 2007 12:49:08 PM
The baby was 20 weeks, and a key component of the drama was that it wouldn't be viable ex utero for another two weeks. I'm not up on viability standards, so I don't know if that's accurate. All in all, a terrific episode or pro-life writing that I did NOT expect from a mainstream, high-ratings show.
Posted by: Cathy Bruckbauer at Apr 4, 2007 1:26:25 PM
From the USCCB's Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services:
"Operations, treatments, and medications that have as their direct purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman are permitted when they cannot be safely postponed until the unborn child is viable, even if they will result in the death of the unborn child."
Posted by: Gregg the obscure at Apr 4, 2007 1:33:05 PM
As to the question posed by Shaun and Irenaeus, this is from the USCCB's Ethical and Religious Directives for Cathoilc Health Care Services:
Operations, treatments, and medications that have as their direct purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman are permitted when they cannot be safely postponed until the unborn child is viable, even if they will result in the death of the unborn child.
Posted by: Gregg the obscure at Apr 4, 2007 1:34:49 PM
