The Choice (House)

"The Choice" is the twentieth episode of the sixth season of the American medical drama House and it is the 130th episode overall. It aired on May 3, 2010. It was written by David Hoselton and directed by Juan J. Campanella. This was the first episode of House since the first seven episodes of season one, to garner fewer than 10 million viewers for its initial air date.

The team takes on the case of an ailing groom-to-be (guest star Adam Garcia) named Teddy. He fainted at his wedding after having a round of aphasia (loss of voice). House unexpectedly pokes him with a needle and Teddy says ow. House claims Teddy was faking to avoid getting married. However, he has a pleural effusion as he's being discharged.

Thirteen and Taub check where Teddy lived before he moved into his fiancee's room, but the owner comes back and sees them. The owner, Cotter, claims to be Teddy's ex-boyfriend of three years. The team tests Teddy for HIV/AIDS but he's negative. Thirteen talks to him and finds out he had "treatment" to become heterosexual. He had electro convulsion therapy and was injected with many different chemicals. The chemicals could explain the pleural effusion and the ECT could explain the rest. The team thinks the ECT could have caused head trauma. During the EKG, Teddy has a heart attack. Foreman decides to do an angiogram to see if it's blocks or bleeds. The team comes in to prep Teddy for his angio, but every time he sits up he faints, and he stabilizes when he lies down. House thinks it could be postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), causing his blood pressure to plummet when he's upright.

While Teddy is sleeping, Cotter comes to visit, but when he takes Teddy's hand, Nicole asks him to leave. Nicole then confronts Teddy about exactly who Cotter is. Teddy admits he used to think he was gay, but got help and insists he is straight now. At that moment, Teddy starts to have a severe headache. This leads House to think infection. Taub suggests cerebral infection, which would explain the headaches and cause POTS. It could also spread to the heart if it's fungal. House orders a spinal tap and says to run the CSF. But Teddy tests negative for infections and his headaches get worse. House thinks the spinal tap caused Teddy to spring a leak, worsening the headaches. Low pressure in the brain caused the POTS, not the other way around. However, Teddy's face twists in a strange way. It's not POTS.