By Sash n Thar ^_^

It was a form of treatment overused in the mid-20th century. They would electro-shock women who refused to do housework and have kids, who wanted a career instead. Seriously! That sort of behaviour was once considered a mental disorder (some chauvinist pigs would still argue that today, but I digress). Nowadays the treatment is solely used as a last resort method in severely depressed psychiatric patients who have showed no progress with medications and therapies. We still don’t know exactly what it does to the brain. The side-effects can be quite brutal, and you’re right when you say that there’s no way the treatment would do such a clean job at erasing his long-term memories. Don’t hold me to this, but I think electro-shock might even sometimes provoke brain lesions. I’m not 100% sure though. My point is, it’s dangerous, used very *very* rarely, and only on patients who are hopelessly suicidal and wouldn’t want to live anyway. I think the script writers were getting bored, or one of them was pining for some chick that works PR for the studio.

Otherwise, I’ve love the series so far. My library only has up to season three though, so I’m going to have to harass the head librarian to go shopping for more recent ones. The only other problem I have with the show though is the portrayal of social workers. Or non-portrayal, I should say.

So far, I think I’ve only seen a social worker three times on the show. First time was when a newborn was taken in because it was underweight and social services was accusing the parents of neglect. That sort of accusation is very serious and not taken lightly. A social worker won’t just barge in a grab a child in its hospital bed to take it away. Doesn’t work that way. The second time was when a consult was needed for the supermodel teen who was seducing her dad. The social worker was in there for less than a minute!! It’s humanly impossible to make a correct assessment and ask questions in a strategic, sneaky way in order to get any sort of real, honest response. It’s as though she walked in and asked, “So, I hear you did the nasty with daddy. Is that true? No? Oh, nevermind then. Get well soon and have a nice day.” Again, doesn’t work that way. And the last time I saw one was the episode with the 18-year old brother raising his two orphaned siblings. He’s too overwhelmed to take care of them, so they’re handed over to social services. Not much detail there, but at least it was plausible.

I don’t know exactly how social services work in the State, but in Canada the hospitals are loaded with social workers. We’re in almost every department, especially the ICU, trauma, ER, and cardio-thoracic wards. We don’t have to always wait before doing a consult. We act as the liaison between medical staff and patient/family. We make sure their transitions happen as smoothly as possible by filling out forms for social security if they can’t work for awhile, by contacting palliative care hospices if the patient is terminal with less than 3 months, by getting equipment and nursing services settled for when they’re discharged and still need support, etc. On the show, Dr. Cameron shows the sort of kindness, support and compassion social workers usually display to patients because doctors and nurses don’t have the time. They also don’t always have the training for tactful interactions (as so obviously demonstrated by our dear House).

…oh my, I’ll end it here. Don’t want to overstay my welcome! Let me just say that it’s nice to know that someone else is out there, watching the show critically and not just for the entertainment factor.

Where v=xxxxxxxxx is the video you want to link to.

But one thing to watch out for (and Google does this too) is they can remove your blog without any warning under the dubious “TOS” hat.