A genuine question, as I've seen even less of the show than you have: Are they justifiying his attitude with "Hey, he's a genius" moments or are they just sort of matter-of-factly portraying the fact that a lot of doctors are in fact power-tripping assholes? (Disclaimer: There's little else you'd expect a plaintiff's medmal attorney whose mother got royally fucked over by the medical system to say, I realize.) If the latter, I think that may be part of the show's popularity--Marcus Welby and that whole saintly mythological bullshit finally put to rest--if the former, well, typical Hollywood copout.
Your description reminds me of the stories my mother (an ER nurse, now retired) likes to tell of when she was working at Mass General under a literally world-famous pediatric heart surgeon--she remembers him literally screaming at the top of his lungs at the parents of patients, keep in mind these are the terrified parents of an infant with life-threatening congenital heart problems, and everyone put up with it because, well, he saved their kids. Was he using his skill and prestige as an excuse to be a horrible human being? Hell, yeah. Lots of doctors and other skilled professionals do that, more's the pity, so maybe again that's the attraction, that House seems like a much truer portrayal from the public's POV.
That said, I totally and completely understand why you wouldn't want to watch a character like that as entertainment. I don't think I would either, there's too many personal issues involved for me.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-17 12:32 am (UTC)Your description reminds me of the stories my mother (an ER nurse, now retired) likes to tell of when she was working at Mass General under a literally world-famous pediatric heart surgeon--she remembers him literally screaming at the top of his lungs at the parents of patients, keep in mind these are the terrified parents of an infant with life-threatening congenital heart problems, and everyone put up with it because, well, he saved their kids. Was he using his skill and prestige as an excuse to be a horrible human being? Hell, yeah. Lots of doctors and other skilled professionals do that, more's the pity, so maybe again that's the attraction, that House seems like a much truer portrayal from the public's POV.
That said, I totally and completely understand why you wouldn't want to watch a character like that as entertainment. I don't think I would either, there's too many personal issues involved for me.