German Doctors Turn to Dr. Gregory House to Save A Man’s Life

For 8 seasons the TV show House (staring Hugh Laurie as an eccentric but brilliant Dr. House) delighted audiences worldwide with quality entertainment, but the show can now add a real saved life to its legacy as well. A group of German doctors that were fans of the show recently revealed that they saw a patent come in with symptoms that mirrored those of a patient on an episode of the TV show House, and were able to diagnose his medical issue as a result. It’s hard for fans to forget that episode, which was entitled “Family Practice” and featured a guest appearance by Candice Bergen as the ailing mother of Dr. Cuddy (Dr. House’s longtime love interest).

Much like in the episode, the German patient was suffering from cobalt poisoning, which the doctors were able to verify by looking for cobalt metal fragments near his hip and testing for it in the patient’s blood. Just like in the TV show, the patient was being poisoned by cobalt from a metal hip implant. The patient’s new metal hip had actually been damaged by fragments from his old ceramic replacement hip.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have quite as rosy of an ending as it would have on TV – much of the damage to the patient’s sight and hearing was irreversible.

Find out more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/07/tv-dr-house-medical-mystery/5277313/