Locked In (House)

"Locked In" is the nineteenth episode of the fifth season of House. It aired on March 30, 2009. Large portions of the episode are shown from the perspective of the patient, who retains consciousness but lacks the ability to move. After discovering the patient in an emergency room while being treated for injuries related to a motorbike crash, House's team move the patient to Princeton Plainsboro and attempts to diagnose him. During the course of treatment, the team discovers several medically relevant secrets about the patient. Other plot points focus on Wilson's attempts to discover why House was in Middletown, New York when he crashed, Wilson's new relationship, and the resolution of Taub's resignation from the previous episode.

House is injured in a motorcycle accident in Middletown, New York, and finds himself in bed next to a patient (Mos Def) suffering from locked-in syndrome after a bicycling accident. His attending doctor diagnoses brain death, and suggests transplanting his heart into another patient. House notices the patient following the doctors with his eyes, and is immediately interested in taking up his case. Thirteen suggests a well-placed tumor, so the team does an MRI. House sees a lesion on the scan. However, the patient's attending thinks the patient has an infection and has him on antibiotics. House tells the patient if he has cancer, the antibiotics could kill him. However, they could almost kill him, in which case it would confirm that the patient doesn't have an infection. Just then, the patient seizes. Communicating through blinking, the patient requests transfer to Princeton Plainsboro.

The team plans to do a brain biopsy on the new patient, but he loses his eyelid movement in the operation, and with that, his only way to communicate with the doctors. Dr. Taub suggests they should use a brain–computer interface for communication with the patient. It takes the patient a while, but he finally manages to shift the arrow up, showing he's still mentally present. Communicating via yes or no (up for yes and down for no) on the computer, the team takes the patient's history. He claims he did not visit St. Louis, contradicting his wife. Unable to explain himself, his wife concludes he has had an affair. Further investigation reveals that the patient has stayed at a friend's home, in order to maintain the facade of a successful business. Unbeknownst to his wife, he was moonlighting as a janitor, where he was exposed to cadmium, leading the team to believe that he has heavy metal poisoning.