Fools for Love

"Fools for Love" is the fifth episode of the third season of House and the fifty-first episode overall.

A young interracial couple is hospitalized after the husband, Jeremy, attacks robbers who threaten his wife, Tracy. Her airway closes and she collapses, apparently experiencing anaphylaxis. Dr. House, however, is distracted by the sight of Dr. Wilson chatting to an attractive new nurse, Wendy, in the hallway; House is convinced that Wilson is dating her.

Chase suggests that Tracy and Jeremy have smoked marijuana tainted with salmonella, so House orders treatment with fluoroquinolone. Tracy develops a rash in response to this antibiotic, so House extrapolates that the anxiety of being attacked caused Tracy to secrete too much adrenaline and go into an exercise-triggered anaphylaxis. While Foreman tests this hypothesis by having her run on a treadmill, Jeremy becomes angry and begins experiencing chest and stomach pain. The team wonders whether to attribute their common stomach pain to a shared infection or a shared environment. Upon inspecting their small apartment, Chase and Foreman find only a package of condoms.

Meanwhile, House sees a patient named Michael Tritter during his clinic hours. When House refuses to run tests on Tritter's rash, attributing it to dehydration, a confrontation ensues. Tritter trips House, House swabs the rash, and House leaves Tritter with a thermometer inserted in his rectum while House leaves for the day.

While discussing Tracy and Jeremy's case, House breaks into Wendy's locker and guesses that a jazz festival flier in a locker full of novels means that she is indulging Wilson's interest in jazz. He bets Foreman $200 that the nurse and Wilson are in a relationship.

House takes Tracy off the steroids, reasoning that, if she develops a fever, the problem is an infection and that, if she doesn't, the problem is environmental. Tracy experiences a hallucination of Jeremy's late father, who was violently opposed to their relationship; she screams. Foreman arrives to find her lapsing into a dissociative coma. After comparing Tracy's MRI to Jeremy's earlier chest x-ray, House suspects sarcoidosis and tells the team to perform a brainstem biopsy for confirmation. Concerned about the procedure's risks to Tracy and the potential conflict of interest in asking Jeremy to consent on her behalf, Cameron asks Cuddy to have a guardian ad litem represent Tracy. Tracy's condition worsens too quickly so Wilson is asked to present Jeremy with the options. Jeremy requests that they withdraw his treatment so that they can biopsy him, instead.