Did anyone see House last night?

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mhdishere

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They wanted to do an MRI on a cop, but were afraid to because he had bullet fragments from a .38 Special hollowpoint, which they said it "ferro-magnetic".

This gets my knickers in a knot even more than sparking bullets.
 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Ferromagnetism is the "normal" form of magnetism which most people are familiar with, as exhibited in horseshoe magnets and refrigerator magnets, for instance. "

Whether or not the projectile is ferro-magnetic I don't know but believe me, you don't want even a spec of metal on/in you during an mri. It's the first thing the technicians check on prior to the procedure.
 
Fantastic show, but I wondered about that too. Equally implausible was Dr. House firing a short-barrelled .38 in an enclosed room without distributing earplugs to his colleagues (although he wore them himself). A little irresponsible even for House, I thought, although probably more an indication that the writers don't really know how incredibly loud firearms are, especially inside.

Upon doing a little research: As I recall, House remarked that the bullet was a hollowpoint. If it was a jhp, perhaps the fragments in the patient's head were shattered cupronickel jacket material? Those could perhaps be dangerous in an MRI machine. Of course, I'm just trying to rationalize away what might be an error in my current favorite show.
 
Did anybody see what happened when House MRI'ed the corpse's head later? Nasty.... :eek:

As for the earplugs... or lack thereof for his co-workers... I just wrote that off to House being an ass... :evil:

Oh, and he did mention using a reduced powder charge for the round... So it seems the good doctor is also a reloader. :D


J.C.
 
Dr. House is a rebel and an ass. I like his character. Of course in the real world I'd want to shoot him, but TV isn't real.

Hey they're in New Jersey and it would be just like House to have a an illegal gun or or two just becasue the goverment of NJ tells him that he can't have such a wicked device. After all he never said where the Ruger SP101 came from did he. Later in the episode he mentions that he has a gun (probably the same one) in his desk. Now I just bet that's against hospital regulations. But House dosen't care.
 
Ha, I forgot about the half-charge thing. That is, in retrospect, perhaps the most implausible gun-related item of the episode, as it implies that House reloads, or has some other way of obtaining half-power .38 cartridges that still have enough velocity to shatter in tissue. Hmmm...
 
When I saw the episode, in the beginning, it looked like that the bullet hit the pen the officer was carrying, and the fragments from the pen is what hit him.

I've got it on my Tivo, maybe i'll have to grab it and post it in a few days. We can argue over what happened then :neener:
 
My question at the time was why bother plugging someone's dead relative to see what would happen? Couldn't you tell the same thing (less dramatically) with the bullet and a magnet?
 
Of course in the real world I'd want to shoot him, but TV isn't real.
Click to expand...

Maybe. ( On wanting to shoot him. )

Ever since I saw the first episode of the show, I've wondered, if I were really sick, if I'd want Greg House to be the doc treating me.

I mean...on the one hand, he'd undoubtedly save you... but on the other, is it really worth going through having to deal with him? Especially with all the poking, prodding, and various and sundry painful tests that he seems to like so much?

Also, just to show how much of an ass I am... I'm about halfway hoping Dr. Foreman croaks, after what he pulled with the needle... :fire: :mad:

Then again, I'm sure he'll end up getting what he deserves, one way or the other...

Oh, and just to sort of keep it on topic.... the "sparking bullet" thing... I've had bullets spark after hitting rocks, nails, and steel plates. Granted, it doesn't happen as often as movies and TV would have you believe, but it does happen.


J.C.
 
I like that show a lot and pretty much took the bullet scene in stride. I think the bullet fragments coming apart were to represent how it shattered after hitting the cops bullet proof vest. Could happen. I was more disturbed by the cops apartment and refridgerator. I was eating dinner at the time. :barf:

I needed to get an MRI a few months ago, but I had also had surgury on eye the year before because I had caught a piece of steel in it. The MRI tech was very adament about pushing the shut down button if I feel any type of pulling in my eye. Granted they got out all the steel, but they wanted to make sure just in case.
 
One thing I made sure they did before my shoulder MRI was an x-ray of my eyes to make sure I hadnt caught any specks in my eyes from either metalworking or shooting.

Kharn
 
House is a good show. But like most shows, it occasionally requires you to temporarily suspend your belief in logic and any knowledge of scientific principles in order to enjoy it. I still find myself telling the TV "it doesn't work like that" once in a while, but not as often or as loudly as I used to.

Iron, nickel, and cobalt will react to magnetic fields. Does the jacketing on your typical hollowpoint contain one of these metals? I thought that a JHP was pretty much copper and lead.

Would a bullet really fragment against bullet-proof vest? I would think not, but have no experience.
 
Why is it nobody ever asked me, when I've had MRIs done, about dental work, such as fillings, bridges or crowns?

Most of those have metal in 'em, and I've never had any go flying out'a my mouth.... :scrutiny:


J.C.
 
My Turn! My turn!

Ok.. The way I understand it is that Lead and Copper are Diamagnetic not Ferromagnetic. Diamagnetic elements are repulsed by magnetic fields. There are these really cool magnets that are so strong that they can suspend small animals in mid air because they are working on water's diamagnetic properties.

soooo... conceivably... maybe... Idea #1: If the orbiting magnet in the MRI was causing the large enough field to affect the copper and lead, the bullets would be PUSHED out of the dead dude.

Bad news is that 1) the said they were ferromagnetic (we can just chalk that up to them being MD's not metallurgists. And 2) I don't think and MRI generates any where NEAR the magnetic field needed to act of the very week diamagnetic force.

soooo... here's Idea #2. It's a TV show that did it's best to cover a hole in the plotline that FEW IF ANY non gunners and metallurgists would call BS on. They explained away the bullet fragmenting on the vest, House shoved earplugs in his ears (screw the rest), he said he used a weak load in his rounds, and he openly admitted he had a gun in his desk. All in all, not to bad for a network TV show.

I've seen far worse. OY! My wife has had to tell me to **** on many occasions.
 
Kinda off thread - But when I saw HOUSE for the first time I had trouble accepting Hugh Laurie in that role. Whenever I see him I'm prepared to laugh.

He's a Brit with a strong accent and used to play dimwitted characters on BLACKADDER.
 
When it showed House and Wilson at House's apt a week or two ago, he had Blackadder Tivo'd. I thought that was pretty funny.
 
Jaime C. said:
Ever since I saw the first episode of the show, I've wondered, if I were really sick, if I'd want Greg House to be the doc treating me.
Click to expand...

I'd line up to have House and his team treat me in a heartbeat. Having had more than a few medical issues, some of which the causes are still unknown, I'd be more than happy to suffer indignities to cure me.

Especially if those indignities involved Jennifer Morrison... :evil:

Getting (somewhat) back on topic, I have a question for EMT's and other medical professionals out there reading:
Have you ever had a patient threaten to infect you (sort of the way Dr. Foreman did to Dr. Cameron)? Are there any protocols to avoid this kind of thing, other than the obvious wearing of rubber gloves and such?
 
I work as a Director of Diagnostic Imaging in a mid-sized hospital. I'd like to address a few issues on this topic.

First, I don't watch House. After having real doctors misbehave all day long there's no way I'll waste an hour of my time watching someone pretend to be an arrogant *******.

Second, MRI magnets are very powerful. While they may not pull certain metallic objects out of a patient's body they can and do cause those objects to vibrate and heat up resulting in discomfort and pain to the patient. The objects also cause artifacts, or distortions, to the MRI images potentially causing the study to be suboptimal or worthless.

Third, as for patients threatening to infect you with something nasty during their treatment/care. Healthcare workers have to assume that everyone we come into ciontact with has some disease we don't want. We have to observe Universal Precautions and wear gloves, masks, gowns, etc. as appropriate. If a patient becomes aggressive, they can be restrained to the point at which treatment can proceed. Law enforcement officers respond very quickly to requests for assistance from hospital employees and will arrest patients without hesitation if they attempt to injure doctors, nurses or technologists.
 
Checkman said:
but TV isn't real.
Click to expand...

Some of you might be wise to re-read this quote from Checkman above :evil:

That said it was a pretty good episode. Love the look on the other docs faces when he pops the corpse in the head.....

Don't forget to watch tonight, I have a bad habit of missing the second piece of "to be continued....."

Ever since I saw the first episode of the show, I've wondered, if I were really sick, if I'd want Greg House to be the doc treating me.
Click to expand...

I'm OK with it. Call me names, hurt my feelings, just don't let me die.....
 
I absolutely died laughing at the "did you call Jack Bauer?" comment....

I like house, its one of the few decent shows nowadays. I cant watch Lost or 24 when it aires, I have to wait for the DVDs cause I'm too darned impatient:cool:
 
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