Please help....
I missed something... At the beginning is House being punished or otherwise being forced to deal with cases he feels are beneath him?
I don't get the whole premise of his back story.
Do you mean in the Pilot when he's fighting with Cuddy? The first encounter we see between them is the 2 of them fighting over clinic duty. It's established from the very beginning, and continues all the way through the show, that House hates the fact that part of his contract at the hospital means that he has to do clinic duty. House enjoys interesting cases, cases with a puzzle to solve, and he finds clinic cases e.g. ordinary problems to be boring, and therefore doesn't want to deal with them. We then see this over and over again throughout the show, with House doing everything he can to avoid clinic duty and working very hard to only work on cases that he's chosen or that have caught his attention because of something weird/interesting. So it's not so much a backstory thing, or him being punished, it's simply that part of him being a Doctor at the hospital means he doesn't get to cherry pick all his cases, and he does have to do clinic duty, both of which he hates.
shareThanks very much.
One more question... is it a private hospital?
Do walk in cases all have insurance or have to pay somehow?
I'm in the UK and the hospital seems quite plush, compared to your bog standard ER, for handling day to day emergencies .
No problem.
I'm also from the UK, so I may not be the best person to ask when it comes to your other question! They do state during the show that the clinic is a free clinic, so you don't require insurance to go there and be seen by a doctor, although it seems to be a bit like our version of A and E, in the sense of no appointments, long waiting times etc.
Outside of the clinic, the hospital seems to operate in the same way most American hospitals do. In the episode dedicated to Cuddy and what goes on in her day to day life, she's negotiating with a health insurance company, and before the deal eventually comes through, states that she's terminated the contract with that company and that the hospital will no longer be accepting patients who are covered through them. I'm sure an American would be much more knowledgeable on the subject than me, but the hospital seems to operate in a 'normal' way for the US, in that patients have health insurance, and the hospital then treats them and then claims on their insurance. The clinic is free, and more like our system in the UK. Hope that helps!
It's very complicated and varies by state.
On House, the hospital is private, meaning that it's not owned by the city or the state. There is a board of directors but cuddy runs the day to day operations.
Not everyone has insurance. Again it varies by state and varies by insurance plan but usually you have a primary care doctor who you see for check ups and common ailments. This doc will refer you to a specialist when needed.
If you have an emergency you go right to the emergency room without a referral. Many hospitals have walk-in clinics where you can go when you are too sick to wait for a doctor's appointment but not needing life-saving emergency care. Usually these visits are covered by most insurance plans.
For those who don't have insurance, they often rely on the emergency dept for their medical needs unless they have some other option.
Most well run hospitals have the clinic as an off-shoot of their emergency room/department. It is staffed by residents doing their rotation through the emergency department and usually has at least one attending physician who specializes in emergency medicine.
It always bothered me that cuddy pulls doctors from other departments to staff the clinic when these routine visits could be handled by a resident. But then cuddy is the world's worst manager, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that she often has to fill in when she can't get a doc to show up for clinic duty.
In the case of House, she forces him to work in the clinic to teach him some humanity. Of course when he occasionally does show some interest in a patient and wants to help them, she's suspicious.
The one good thing about House working in the clinic is that it provides some great comic relief and gives us some of the more memorable scenes in the series. Also he often gets an epiphany about his primary patient from something that happens in the clinic.
Fraaaank. FRANK! Get my jean bin. Susie wants my jeans.
No she doesnt.
Good answers everyone. Thanks.