Doctor Gregory House, the main character of a famous serial with lots of fans over the world called House M.D. takes Vicodin regularly in order to relieve chronic pain in his leg. But finally he has to pass through the detoxification because of the hallucinations and not adequate sense of reality caused by overdose of the medication. Totally, Vicodin takes a quite considerable part of the plot, because to be as excellent diagnostician as House is he must get rid of his chronic pain. Besides, quite often House has nauseous waves of pain so that he can’t control himself and usually overdoses.
Here is the example of the story devoted to Vicodin in House M.D., which is concerned with the argument about if House is addicted to the drug or not:
- House: “I take risks, sometimes patients die. But not taking risks causes more patients to die, so I guess my biggest problem is I’ve been cursed with the ability to do the math.”
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- Wilson (at the end of the episode): “You learn anything?”
House: “Yeah, I’m an addict.”
Wilson: “Uh, okay.”
House: “I’m not stopping.”
- Wilson: “There are programs. Cuddy would give you the time. You could get on a different pain management regimen—”
House: “I don’t need to stop.”
Wilson: “You just said—”
House: “I said I was an addict. I didn’t say I had a problem. I pay my bills, I make my meals. I function.”
Wilson: “Is that all you want? You have no relationships.”
House: “I don’t want any relationships.”
Wilson: “You alienate people.”
House: “I’ve been alienating people since I was three.”
Wilson: “Oh, come on! Drop it! You don’t think you’ve changed in the last few years?”
House: “Well, of, of course I have. I’ve gotten older. My hair’s gotten thinner. Sometimes I’m bored, sometimes I’m lonely, sometimes I wonder what it all means.”
Wilson: “No, I was there! You are not just a regular guy who’s getting older, you’ve changed! You’re miserable, and you’re afraid to face yourself—”
House: “Of course I’ve changed!”
Wilson: “And everything’s the leg? Nothing’s the pills? They haven’t done a thing to you?”
House: “They let me do my job, and they take away my pain.”
Dr. John House (left) says the fictional Dr. Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie (right), should clean up his act if he does not want to lose his hearing to Vicodin addiction.
During my career as a physician, there has been confusion regarding which Dr. House I am. I was confident that they were referring to my father, Dr. Howard House, the founder of the House Ear Institute, or my uncle, Dr. William House, who created and implanted the first FDA-approved cochlear implant. But now I have discovered that there is another popular “Dr. House,” TV’s Dr. Gregory House on Fox’s “House, M.D.” The show’s popularity is not to be denied, but I have a very real concern about a message and theme that runs through each episode. It is not his poor bedside manner. It is not his mistreatment of residents. It is his addiction to Vicodin (acetaminophen/ hydrocodone) that is the problem. Here at the House Clinic, my colleagues and I have seen a significant number of patients who have become addicted to Vicodin and have gone completely deaf. They have been taking 15 to 75 tablets per day and in a short period of time have developed a rapidly progressive hearing loss, which leads to permanent total deafness.
In watching Dr. House on TV, one gets the impression that his addiction has no consequences other than affecting his medical judgment. I know “House, M.D.” is a drama, but the real-life drama surrounding an addiction to Vicodin can be life-altering. It is bad enough that the show depicts a doctor treating patients while addicted to a serious narcotic, but Vicodin is ototoxic, which means, if abused, it can cause irreversible and total hearing loss.
P.S.: at the party devoted to the 100 episode of the serial, there were huge jars of Vicodin with fruit drop in the form of Vicodin inside. So everybody at the party could enjoy with House’s joy.