House: Law, Friendship, and Addiction
I'm moving some stuff from one blog to this one. I wrote this essay somewhere in the middle of the Tritter story arc.
I preface this commentary with the fact that television, although compelling, is not reality, and the focus of dramas like House is to gain viewers to increase revenue. Also, I was a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor (CADC) for the State of Illinois.
The goal of Tritter’s investigation should be to get a sick man into rehab, not to throw him into jail. The goal of the police is to enforce the law for the safety of the people. That doesn’t mean that the goal of the police is to arrest people. If Tritter’s goal was to get an addict into rehab to protect his future patients, then it was appropriate to make House’s life and the life of his colleagues difficult. It takes a great deal of effort to break down a character like House to admit he’s got a problem. Tritter, while being a difficult, unlikable bully, did do the right thing by putting enormous pressure on House.
However, If the goal was to punish and persecute House, then justice is not served, as House would not be helped. Tritter won the second House came to take the deal. House finally broke down. He hit rock bottom. I don’t know if he actually got to the point that he realized needed help, or if it was self preservation to not go to jail, or if he realized that in jail, he would have access to little or no pain medication. The point is that he broke down enough to agree to go into rehab. It takes a great deal of effort to break down any addict to admit he’s got a problem. However, when Tritter took the deal off the table, he lost any credibility as a law enforcement officer and became a true evil bastard.
Wilson should have stuck to the deal and not tried to get out of it with Tritter. What did Wilson hope to accomplish with withdrawing his part in the deal? It was too late for that kind of maneuver. Wilson should know that House desperately needs help, as House is an addict. Even though Wilson is a cancer specialist, he should know how medically serious addiction is. Wilson did the right thing to get a deal together with Tritter so that House can get help and so House did not have to go to jail. Wilson probably should have talked to House first so that House would be warned that this was coming and that he would have time to think about it. Then, Wilson should have then cut the deal with Tritter, no matter what House would say. Wilson cares for House very much. It would be horrible, but Wilson should have been ready to sacrifice his friendship with House to help get House the help he needs.
Wilson probably should have talked to Cuddy first. Cuddy lost options when Wilson went to Tritter, but she followed through with what Wilson started. She was ready to sacrifice the hospitals need to help House. She continued to make House’s life difficult to force him into some kind of decision about his addiction.
House shouldn’t have detoxed alone. That’s medically and mentally dangerous. Witness his cutting his arm to distract him and to produce endorphins. When Wilson found House on the floor with vomit on his face, he should have physically hauled House up and shoved him into medical detox. Heck, call Cameron to help carry. It’s medically and mentally dangerous to detox without medical support and a controlled environment. He could have been given medicine to help him stop vomiting and medicine to help with his pain, even though the pain medicine would not have had the punch of Viocodin. (Of course, when House asked Wilson for mediation for vomiting, he was scamming to get Viocodin or something like it.) Detox is different than rehab, as it is a temporary medical stay to wait for the drugs to work out of the system. House was not in a condition to move, so he would have stayed in detox at least for a little while. House wouldn’t have had to stay in detox, and he wouldn’t have had to go to rehab after detox, so he would still have had a sense of control. However, he would have worked the Viocodin out of his system.
The addiction would eventually escalate. We have already seen House take Viocodin when he was irritated and when he was grieving the loss of his relationship with Stacy. We can sympathize with his pain, and but realize the addiction is not the solution to the pain. Fear of a pain is a huge motivator. As House said to Foreman, pain makes us make stupid decisions.
House has a strong enough personality to deal with defeating an addiction. However, he is damaged, too. To have a strong character limited by his fear of the pain, to take the path of least resistance, is tragic. Tragic in the classical sense, in that his own flaws are his downfall. It is interesting to watch a brilliant and arrogant doctor completely miss the point of the wrong way he is dealing with his pain.
As a side note, I think House would be MUCH better at scoring narcotics than was shown in the episode. He’s that much of an streetwise, intelligent, arrogant, and almost fearless individual.
I preface this commentary with the fact that television, although compelling, is not reality, and the focus of dramas like House is to gain viewers to increase revenue. Also, I was a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor (CADC) for the State of Illinois.
The goal of Tritter’s investigation should be to get a sick man into rehab, not to throw him into jail. The goal of the police is to enforce the law for the safety of the people. That doesn’t mean that the goal of the police is to arrest people. If Tritter’s goal was to get an addict into rehab to protect his future patients, then it was appropriate to make House’s life and the life of his colleagues difficult. It takes a great deal of effort to break down a character like House to admit he’s got a problem. Tritter, while being a difficult, unlikable bully, did do the right thing by putting enormous pressure on House.
However, If the goal was to punish and persecute House, then justice is not served, as House would not be helped. Tritter won the second House came to take the deal. House finally broke down. He hit rock bottom. I don’t know if he actually got to the point that he realized needed help, or if it was self preservation to not go to jail, or if he realized that in jail, he would have access to little or no pain medication. The point is that he broke down enough to agree to go into rehab. It takes a great deal of effort to break down any addict to admit he’s got a problem. However, when Tritter took the deal off the table, he lost any credibility as a law enforcement officer and became a true evil bastard.
Wilson should have stuck to the deal and not tried to get out of it with Tritter. What did Wilson hope to accomplish with withdrawing his part in the deal? It was too late for that kind of maneuver. Wilson should know that House desperately needs help, as House is an addict. Even though Wilson is a cancer specialist, he should know how medically serious addiction is. Wilson did the right thing to get a deal together with Tritter so that House can get help and so House did not have to go to jail. Wilson probably should have talked to House first so that House would be warned that this was coming and that he would have time to think about it. Then, Wilson should have then cut the deal with Tritter, no matter what House would say. Wilson cares for House very much. It would be horrible, but Wilson should have been ready to sacrifice his friendship with House to help get House the help he needs.
Wilson probably should have talked to Cuddy first. Cuddy lost options when Wilson went to Tritter, but she followed through with what Wilson started. She was ready to sacrifice the hospitals need to help House. She continued to make House’s life difficult to force him into some kind of decision about his addiction.
House shouldn’t have detoxed alone. That’s medically and mentally dangerous. Witness his cutting his arm to distract him and to produce endorphins. When Wilson found House on the floor with vomit on his face, he should have physically hauled House up and shoved him into medical detox. Heck, call Cameron to help carry. It’s medically and mentally dangerous to detox without medical support and a controlled environment. He could have been given medicine to help him stop vomiting and medicine to help with his pain, even though the pain medicine would not have had the punch of Viocodin. (Of course, when House asked Wilson for mediation for vomiting, he was scamming to get Viocodin or something like it.) Detox is different than rehab, as it is a temporary medical stay to wait for the drugs to work out of the system. House was not in a condition to move, so he would have stayed in detox at least for a little while. House wouldn’t have had to stay in detox, and he wouldn’t have had to go to rehab after detox, so he would still have had a sense of control. However, he would have worked the Viocodin out of his system.
The addiction would eventually escalate. We have already seen House take Viocodin when he was irritated and when he was grieving the loss of his relationship with Stacy. We can sympathize with his pain, and but realize the addiction is not the solution to the pain. Fear of a pain is a huge motivator. As House said to Foreman, pain makes us make stupid decisions.
House has a strong enough personality to deal with defeating an addiction. However, he is damaged, too. To have a strong character limited by his fear of the pain, to take the path of least resistance, is tragic. Tragic in the classical sense, in that his own flaws are his downfall. It is interesting to watch a brilliant and arrogant doctor completely miss the point of the wrong way he is dealing with his pain.
As a side note, I think House would be MUCH better at scoring narcotics than was shown in the episode. He’s that much of an streetwise, intelligent, arrogant, and almost fearless individual.