House

[bjobsessed]

I won't be able to help you until the dvd comes out. I still like House but I don't have time for much TV during the week. I always watch it though when dvd's come out.

That part sounds totally unrealistic though. You're right, it would never happen like that. They'd all be out the door before they could finish sewing her up and I'd be surprised if someone else would agree to follow along with something like that.

[shmeep]

I think even bad House is better than most of what's on TV so that works. Yes, I saw it. Aside from the legal issues involved in the cochlear implant, its portrayal was medically ridiculous. Not all Deaf people are even candidates for the device, for starters. They have to have a lot of testing to make sure it's a good match, so the idea of just sticking one in a person's head like that without any preparation is just silly. Also, there was no incision on the head for it to go into, so I can only assume they slid it into the poor kid's forehead holes. Another error...one does not just wake up hearing after that kind of surgery, as this boy did. They go home with part of their head shaved and very bandaged and after about a month, when the patient is completely recovered, the implant is activated, then there are extensive appointments during which the implant is mapped and tested and then the patient begins therapy to learn how to recognize the sounds and even with the best case scenario, the implant will not make a person hearing by any stretch of the imagination. Best results are found in hearing adults who have gone deaf but whose brains know how to dicipher language and other sounds. The entire way this was done was downright insulting to the intelligence of anyone who knows the slightest thing about this.

The boy was a good actor and was obviously really Deaf. The mom signed decently--probably with lots of coaching--but it wasn't smooth or natural, but lots of parents never quite master the language so I didn't give this much thought. Really, there would have been a medical interpreter outside the door at all times, coming in whenever a doctor or nurse was present. I've done a lot of this kind of interpreting in the past. I've even had medical interpreters there for my husband when I've been in the hospital. Family members should never interpret like that. They aren't trained for it, as a rule, and they are too personally involved and may insert too many opinions instead of just transmitting information. The worst thing, in my opinion, was the "deaf" girlfriend. Her signing was exaggerated and unnatural and she looked like she barely knew the language at all. Also, she used phrasing that was distinctly "hearing" and just seemed to be trying too hard to play a signer. Deaf kids at Deaf schools develop their own subculture and their own language within ASL so that adults can't even understand them half the time and their private conversations would be quick and smooth and would have a slangy "teenager" look. This was just silly. The boy's signing was great but it didn't mesh with that girl at all. They really should have found a deaf kid to play her. I feel certain that, if she has a hearing loss at all, it's minimal and that she's not a signer in real life. Either that, or she's a terrible actress.

Naturally, I'm sick of everything ending with Deaf people getting CIs and becoming "normal." It gives people the false idea that the implants really do make a person hearing and that not doing it is stupid and even abusive. This is a dangerous attitude. I recently interpreted for a man who was very oral and who had TWO CIs and he still needed an interpreter. It was kind of sad because he wasn't really a signer, but depended on the interpreter for lip reading and used the signs as "back-up" but he was so uncomfortable with signing himself that he had no idea how to communicate with the other Deaf people there and he was also not able to be "hearing" so...where does a person like this fit? CIs are an amazing technology, but they aren't a cure. I wouldn't bother.

[mlm828]

Thanks for chiming in, shmeep. I was pretty sure (based mostly on what I've learned from you!) that there was a lot wrong with the story line of the Deaf patient, but I didn't know just how wrong it was. I got the point that House was trying to "fix" someone else's disability, because he can't "fix" his own. But couldn't the writers have made that point without making a total hash of the medicine and the Deaf culture issues? Or don't they care?

Besides, the patient didn't think of himself as "broken" and certainly didn't think he needed to be "fixed." I totally agree with you, shmeep, about the fiction that a Deaf person can receive a cochlear implant and magically become a hearing person. Of course it doesn't happen like that. I'm sure it requires a lot of screening and preparation beforehand, and a lot of therapy after the surgery, to achieve acceptable results. And who's to say someone like the "patient of the week" is going to be better off with an implant? It's unfortunate that this episode missed the opportunity to deal honestly with these issues.

The other thing that annoys me about the show (not only this episode) is the premise that House's supposed brilliance somehow excuses his outrageous behavior. Sometimes I just wish the other characters (Cuddy especially) would stop being such doormats.

Still, there was a lot to like in this episode. As mentioned above, I liked the use of Amber's hallucination. I also liked the fact that people haven't gotten over Kuttner's suicide. The bit with lighting up the liquor glasses was fun. And then there was Wilson getting arrested in his underwear while going home from his own apartment. . . .

[doobrah]

Apr 29, 2009 16:50:44 GMT -5 mlm828 said:

I liked the use of Amber's hallucination. I also liked the fact that people haven't gotten over Kuttner's suicide. The bit with lighting up the liquor glasses was fun. And then there was Wilson getting arrested in his underwear while going home from his own apartment. . . .

Too bad they killed Amber off last year. By the end of the season, I was really liking her as a foil between Wilson and House. Now that "Big Love" is over for the season, she can now moonlight on "House." Just wondering how long they can sustain it.

Loved, loved, LOVED the scene with Wilson getting arrested. Then the camera pulls back to show him in his skivvies. Too funny!