Stacy Warner

Stacy Warner
House character
Promotional photo of Ward as Stacy.
First appearance	"Three Stories" (1.21)
Last appearance	"Everybody Dies" (8.22)
Portrayed by	Sela Ward
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Constitutional lawyer
Spouse(s)	Mark Warner
Significant other(s)	Gregory House

Stacy Warner is a fictional recurring character portrayed by Sela Ward on the Fox Broadcasting Company's medical drama House. She was in a relationship with Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), when a clotted aneurysm in his right thigh led to an infarction during a game of golf, causing his quadriceps muscle to become necrotic. Regarding House's treatment, Stacy acted against House's wishes when he was put into a chemically induced coma. She authorized a safer surgical middle-ground procedure by removing just the dead muscle, leaving House with a lesser, but serious, level of pain for the rest of his life. House could not forgive her and they broke up. The two meet again, five years later, at the end of season one; Stacy wants House to treat her husband, Mark. House correctly diagnoses Mark with acute intermittent porphyria, and so he has to remain at the hospital for close monitoring. Stacy becomes the hospital's lawyer, and she and House grow closer together. When she is ultimately willing to leave Mark for him, House tells her to go back to Mark, which devastates her and causes her and Mark to leave the city.

When the writers of the show wrote "Three Stories", the first episode in which Stacy appeared, the first name they came up with to play the character was Sela Ward. Although Ward was not initially interested in portraying Stacy, she changed her mind after watching tapes of the show. While she was originally hired to appear in only two episodes of the first season, the chemistry between Ward and Laurie was strong enough to have her appear in seven more second season episodes. She also appeared in the House finale "Everybody Dies". Stacy was received mostly positively by critics who considered her arc a "juicy subplot".

Although not much is revealed about Stacy's early life, it is said in "Acceptance" that she is a Duke University graduate. Presumably ten years before the events of House, at a "Doctors vs. Lawyers" paintball game, she met Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) with whom she started a romantic relationship. Five years later, during a game of golf, House suffered an infarction in his right leg. He was admitted at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, but went misdiagnosed for three days due to doctors' concerns that he was exhibiting drug-seeking behavior (House eventually diagnosed the infarction himself). An aneurysm in his thigh had clotted, leading to an infarction and causing his quadriceps muscle to become necrotic. House had the dead muscle bypassed in order to restore circulation to the remainder of his leg, risking organ failure and cardiac arrest. He was willing to endure excruciating post-operative pain to retain the use of his leg. After he was put into a chemically induced coma to sleep through the worst of the pain, Stacy, his medical proxy at the time, acted against his wishes and authorized a safer surgical middle-ground procedure between amputation and a bypass by removing just the dead muscle. This resulted in the partial loss of use in his leg, and left House with a lesser, but still serious, level of pain for the rest of his life. House could not forgive Stacy for making the decision, which caused their relationship to end.