Blowing the Whistle
| "Blowing the Whistle" | |
|---|---|
| House episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 8 Episode 15 |
| Directed by | Julian Higgins |
| Written by |
|
| Original air date | April 2, 2012 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
|
"Blowing the Whistle" is the fifteenth episode of the eighth season of House and the 170th overall. It aired on April 2, 2012, on FOX.
The Onion's AV Club gave this episode a B+ rating, while Lisa Palmer of TV Fanatic gave it a 4.0/5.0 rating.
The episode begins with a US Army Captain (Sharif Atkins) from the 1st Infantry Division. His brother (Arlen Escarpeta), who himself is army personnel, has been charged with treason. Foreman informs the team that the patient experienced a generalized tonic–clonic seizure. They find out that the soldier had exposed the details of a US Army blunder ("blown the whistle"). Adams believes that House is losing his observational skills, but the rest of the team believe that nothing is wrong at all.
The team believe that he was faking to get out of military prison, but when questioned, the man explains his actions. He also presents with 2 more symptoms, bruising on his abdomen and his legs. House and the team come up with various procedures and decide to ultrasound his belly to find any obstructions. Adams tells her theory to Wilson about House, and says that House is suffering from hepatic encephalopathy due to continued Vicodin abuse. Wilson rebukes this idea, but decides to tell House this and House tells Wilson to not be concerned.
The patient tells the team that he got into the Army to find out how his father, also a soldier, actually died. While telling the team this, they notice bleeding from his eyes and hands, blood in his urine, and an enlarged spleen. The team do an emergency operation to release more blood from his spleen but find his spleen to be lumpy. After House makes Taub guess several explanations during the D/Dx, he eventually comes up with sarcoidosis. While the DDx is going on, House and Taub are playing a game and House loses, Adams suggests that this is another example of House's impaired coordination. Park agrees with this, but Chase says that it's ironic that they're talking about a whistle blower while "Blowing the Whistle" on House. The patient decides to announce on live TV why he showed the video tape for which he was found treasonous, and unless he is granted this, he won't accept treatment. Chase, Taub and Foreman suggest his older brother sign a form to be his conservator. House decides to give the patient an offer he can't refuse, so they manage to get the Army to declassify the pages from his father's record. During this, Taub tricks House into providing a stool sample which proves his liver is failing. This then leads to a double DDx for the patients and for House. House says that their result isn't real. They decide to go straight to Foreman. Chase argues this puts patients at risk due to House being suspended if he rejects treatment.
...
Wikipedia