The Medical Science of House, M. D. : The Facts Behind the Addictive Medical Drama

• How can a teenager adopted at birth nearly die because his real mother didn’t get a measles shot?

• How can a husband’s faith in his wife’s fidelity determine whether radical treatment will cure her or kill her?

• How can a missed eye doctor appointment reveal a genetic disease?

• How can doctors choose the right course for a pregnant woman when one may kill her and the other would abort her fetus?

Answers to these questions and more are pursued every week on House, M.D. Premiering in November 2004, the darkly quirky medical drama introduced a compelling new character to prime-time television: the sarcastic, abrasive—and brilliant—Dr. Gregory House.

Week after week, House has held viewers’ attention with brilliant cast performances and intriguing diagnostic mysteries often solved with daring treatments. But how much of the medical detail is real and how much is fabricated? In The Medical Science of House, M.D., Andrew Holtz, a well-known medical journalist, reveals how medical detectives work—how they follow symptoms to their source. He examines each case in detail—and provides answers for every viewer who has ever wondered about the authenticity of their favorite show.

Andrew Holtz, MPH, is a health journalist. A former CNN medical correspondent—and co-anchor for the Your Health program—he now works as a freelancer covering health and medicine. Holtz earned a Master of Public Health degree in the Oregon MPH program. He received his BA from Stanford University where he majored in broadcast communication and minored in physics. He is a board member and past president of the Association of Health Care Journalists.