See, I think part of the problem is they're trying to have it both ways. If House was to medicine what, say, Action was to Hollywood--a cool-eyed exploration of the essential exploitative heartlessness of a privileged order--that would be one thing. But (and I respect this) they can't quite jettison the fact that the patients are people, in real pain, and so House's essential cold-heartedness comes across (to me, at least) as a jarring thing. I mean, I really do respect the effort and intent here, but they really have painted themselves into a corner, and they can't take either of the obvious routes out of it.