.gif)
Poison (House)
Encyclopedia
"Poison" is the eighth episode of the first season of House
, which premiered on the Fox
network on January 25, 2005. House and his team investigate the mysterious poisoning of high-school student Matt Davis but another teen is brought in with all of the same symptoms but almost nothing else in common with Matt. The episode appears to be based on the story Mystery of the Poisoned Boy by Dian Dincin Buchman. This episode received almost double the viewers than the previous episodes of the season, with 12.37 million viewers, and continued to receive more viewers throughout the rest of the season.
) begins sweating and grimacing during an AP Calculus exam. He stands up, passes out and goes into convulsions.
Matt has severe bradycardia
. Foreman presents the case to House who thinks it is simply drug use. While Chase examines the boy, he goes into a seizure
.
On House's orders, Foreman and Cameron inspect Matt's home for signs of drug use. Cameron jokingly insists that Foreman and House are alike in many ways, including their tastes in shoes. They turn up nothing, but Cameron does find a jar of tomato sauce with the lid popped, which could indicate a bacterial infection
. House says the seizures rule out food-borne toxins, or drug use as Foreman points out, and so the team suspects some sort of poison.
Chase informs Matt's mother that the blood work is conclusive that an organophosphate
is causing Matt's trouble. Matt is hooked up to an IV of pralidoxime
. Suddenly, Matt's heart rate plummets.
The team is stumped, leading Foreman to mention an experimental treatment that could work, but they need to know the exact poison in order to give the exact poison hydrolase
. Foreman and Cameron go back to Matt's house to see what kind of pesticides might be used on the tomato garden he keeps. Cameron finds an empty can of disulfoton, a garden pesticide, so Chase prepares an injection of disulfoton hydrolase. Matt's mother, however, insists he only used orange peel oil on the garden. He dumped the disulfoton because he couldn't use pesticides in his environmental science class. Since the hydrolase would increase the toxicity if they're wrong, Matt's mother begs Chase not to inject her son.
Cuddy tells House that he will need to get the mother to sign off on rejection of the treatment. He changes the legal language to be extremely brutal and blunt when reading it to her. The mother changes her position but before they can start Matt on the hydrolase another patient named Chi is admitted with identical symptoms. Although the two have never had any contact, they do go to the same school.
Chase and Cameron inspect the school bus that Matt and Chi both rode that morning. The driver tells them that he noticed a truck spraying near a pond on the bus's route. The county had been spraying ethylparathion
to fight West Nile virus
and there is a hydrolase for that, but Matt's mother again refuses treatment until she hears from the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Cameron is sent in to talk to her but she still refuses until an angry Cameron lays it out for her, causing her finally to relent.
The team administers the hydrolase. Later, both boys go into convulsions, the doctors save them, but the boys are left in terrible shape. Ethylparathion is dismissed as the poison and so Foreman and Cameron head out on another inspection in order to discover any potential poisons shared by the boys. They find a 128-ounce bottle of TKO detergent
in each house but Chi's mother insists her son wore all-new clothes that day that had never been washed. House and Chase salvage Chi's and Matt's clothes from storage and run tests on them, which test positive for phosdrin (CAS 7786-34-7).
Matt's mother again rejects treatment until she hears from the CDC. House visits her once again but instead of merely talking, he decides to just sit in the room with the medicine to put pressure on Matt's mother. As House predicted, the CDC claims they can't diagnose Matt simply by records and would not be able to visit Matt in time. The mother agrees to the third hydrolase, which is successful as Matt and Chi both recover. It then turns out that Chase had called Matt's mother using a fake accent to tell her that the CDC could not help.
Foreman learns that somebody was selling pants out of the back of his truck while their second job was at a cornfield. Some pesticide was spilled on the pants, which were then not washed. Matt's mother tells House that she received another call from the CDC (the real one), afterwards telling her now recovered son that "they [House and Foreman] are the arrogant jerks that saved your life." House and Foreman enter an elevator together, and look at each other's footwear, which is indeed identical.
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
, which premiered on the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
network on January 25, 2005. House and his team investigate the mysterious poisoning of high-school student Matt Davis but another teen is brought in with all of the same symptoms but almost nothing else in common with Matt. The episode appears to be based on the story Mystery of the Poisoned Boy by Dian Dincin Buchman. This episode received almost double the viewers than the previous episodes of the season, with 12.37 million viewers, and continued to receive more viewers throughout the rest of the season.
Plot
A student named Matt (guest star, John Patrick AmedoriJohn Patrick Amedori
John Patrick Amedori is an American actor and musician.His most notable role has been as the 13 year old Evan Treborn in The Butterfly Effect. He has also appeared in a number of TV shows, including Law & Order, Nip/Tuck, Joan of Arcadia and Ghost Whisperer. He also appeared in the movie Stick It...
) begins sweating and grimacing during an AP Calculus exam. He stands up, passes out and goes into convulsions.
Matt has severe bradycardia
Bradycardia
Bradycardia , in the context of adult medicine, is the resting heart rate of under 60 beats per minute, though it is seldom symptomatic until the rate drops below 50 beat/min. It may cause cardiac arrest in some patients, because those with bradycardia may not be pumping enough oxygen to their heart...
. Foreman presents the case to House who thinks it is simply drug use. While Chase examines the boy, he goes into a seizure
Seizure
An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...
.
On House's orders, Foreman and Cameron inspect Matt's home for signs of drug use. Cameron jokingly insists that Foreman and House are alike in many ways, including their tastes in shoes. They turn up nothing, but Cameron does find a jar of tomato sauce with the lid popped, which could indicate a bacterial infection
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
. House says the seizures rule out food-borne toxins, or drug use as Foreman points out, and so the team suspects some sort of poison.
Chase informs Matt's mother that the blood work is conclusive that an organophosphate
Organophosphate
An organophosphate is the general name for esters of phosphoric acid. Phosphates are probably the most pervasive organophosphorus compounds. Many of the most important biochemicals are organophosphates, including DNA and RNA as well as many cofactors that are essential for life...
is causing Matt's trouble. Matt is hooked up to an IV of pralidoxime
Pralidoxime
Pralidoxime or 2-PAM, usually as the chloride or methiodide salts, belongs to a family of compounds called oximes that bind to organophosphate-inactivated acetylcholinesterase. It is used to combat poisoning by organophosphates or acetylcholinesterase inhibitors , in conjunction with atropine and ...
. Suddenly, Matt's heart rate plummets.
The team is stumped, leading Foreman to mention an experimental treatment that could work, but they need to know the exact poison in order to give the exact poison hydrolase
Hydrolase
In biochemistry, a hydrolase is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of a chemical bond. For example, an enzyme that catalyzed the following reaction is a hydrolase:-Nomenclature:...
. Foreman and Cameron go back to Matt's house to see what kind of pesticides might be used on the tomato garden he keeps. Cameron finds an empty can of disulfoton, a garden pesticide, so Chase prepares an injection of disulfoton hydrolase. Matt's mother, however, insists he only used orange peel oil on the garden. He dumped the disulfoton because he couldn't use pesticides in his environmental science class. Since the hydrolase would increase the toxicity if they're wrong, Matt's mother begs Chase not to inject her son.
Cuddy tells House that he will need to get the mother to sign off on rejection of the treatment. He changes the legal language to be extremely brutal and blunt when reading it to her. The mother changes her position but before they can start Matt on the hydrolase another patient named Chi is admitted with identical symptoms. Although the two have never had any contact, they do go to the same school.
Chase and Cameron inspect the school bus that Matt and Chi both rode that morning. The driver tells them that he noticed a truck spraying near a pond on the bus's route. The county had been spraying ethylparathion
Parathion
Parathion, also called parathion-ethyl or diethyl parathion, is an organophosphate compound. It is a potent insecticide and acaricide. It was originally developed by IG Farben in the 1940s. It is highly toxic to non-target organisms, including humans. Its use is banned or restricted in many...
to fight West Nile virus
West Nile virus
West Nile virus is a virus of the family Flaviviridae. Part of the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of viruses, it is found in both tropical and temperate regions. It mainly infects birds, but is known to infect humans, horses, dogs, cats, bats, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels, domestic...
and there is a hydrolase for that, but Matt's mother again refuses treatment until she hears from the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Cameron is sent in to talk to her but she still refuses until an angry Cameron lays it out for her, causing her finally to relent.
The team administers the hydrolase. Later, both boys go into convulsions, the doctors save them, but the boys are left in terrible shape. Ethylparathion is dismissed as the poison and so Foreman and Cameron head out on another inspection in order to discover any potential poisons shared by the boys. They find a 128-ounce bottle of TKO detergent
Detergent
A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with "cleaning properties in dilute solutions." In common usage, "detergent" refers to alkylbenzenesulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water...
in each house but Chi's mother insists her son wore all-new clothes that day that had never been washed. House and Chase salvage Chi's and Matt's clothes from storage and run tests on them, which test positive for phosdrin (CAS 7786-34-7).
Matt's mother again rejects treatment until she hears from the CDC. House visits her once again but instead of merely talking, he decides to just sit in the room with the medicine to put pressure on Matt's mother. As House predicted, the CDC claims they can't diagnose Matt simply by records and would not be able to visit Matt in time. The mother agrees to the third hydrolase, which is successful as Matt and Chi both recover. It then turns out that Chase had called Matt's mother using a fake accent to tell her that the CDC could not help.
Foreman learns that somebody was selling pants out of the back of his truck while their second job was at a cornfield. Some pesticide was spilled on the pants, which were then not washed. Matt's mother tells House that she received another call from the CDC (the real one), afterwards telling her now recovered son that "they [House and Foreman] are the arrogant jerks that saved your life." House and Foreman enter an elevator together, and look at each other's footwear, which is indeed identical.
External links
- "Poison" at Fox.com