House M.D. Episode 1.20 Love Hurts

Harvey Park, a 21-year-old Asian, patiently waits to be seen by a doctor. In a clinic room, House and Wilson discuss the return of Cameron. Wilson can't figure out why she would come back until he realizes that Cameron likes House. House reluctantly admits that he agreed to take Cameron on a date.

Frustrated by Wilson's teasing, House leaves and bumps into Harvey, who's carrying around a glass of apple juice. House mistakes the juice for a urine sample and yells at Harvey, who cowers back to the waiting room. Wilson tells House he'd better apologize because he can't afford another patient complaint. House tracks down Harvey, who struggles to speak. House shines a penlight in his eye and rushes Harvey into the ER because he's having a stroke.

Cameron returns to the hospital, much to the surprise of Foreman and Chase. House enters with Wilson and announces Harvey's stroke, displaying the CT scan. Foreman notices ischemia, which is the death of brain tissue. Yet nothing tells them the underlying cause, so they need an MRI. However, Harvey has a metal plate in his jaw from a reconstruction. An MRI would rip it right out.

House notes that the team must be clever to figure this one out. He orders EMG tests to rule out hyperexplexia, an angiogram for vasculitis, a tox screen for drugs and an echocardiogram for the heart. Out in the hallway, Cameron coyly tells her co-workers about her upcoming date with House. They're surprised and think it's an amusingly bad idea.

Foreman visits Harvey and finds a woman named Annette by his side. Foreman asks Harvey about his history, but Annette answers all of the questions. Foreman demands that Harvey respond for himself, but Harvey struggles to remember words. Foreman eventually learns that Harvey had been grinding his jaw and went to an acupuncturist. That led to him visiting a shen balancer, a homeopathic doctor, a chiropractor and a naturopath, who sent Harvey back to the acupuncturist.

Cameron begins the EMG test with Harvey. She inserts needles into various muscles to measure his body's electrical current. The staff discusses the results when the EMG proves normal. The echo report shows a mitral valve prolapse, so Foreman wonders if perhaps a clot formed and went to the brain.

House is more disturbed by Harvey's faith in natural medicine. Chase wonders if it's an aneurysm due to trauma. Using a Magic 8 ball, House decides to go with Foreman's theory. He orders blood thinners and antibiotics.

The doctors head to Harvey's room, only to find Annette choking Harvey with her hands. Foreman pulls her off, but Harvey insists that she wasn't hurting him. Chase quickly says that Annette is a dominatrix. How does Harvey even know Annette? Cuddy gathers Annette, House and a hospital lawyer in her office. Annette explains that Harvey is an asphyxiaphyliac. He gets off on being strangled or smothered.

Chase recounts how he met Annette through a former girlfriend who was into pain. House is angry that Chase didn't mention Harvey's predilection earlier. They could have gone with Chase's trauma-induced aneurysm theory. House still wants the blood thinners and antibiotics, just in case Foreman proved correct. If Harvey has another stroke, then they will schedule vascular surgery.

Cuddy catches up with House and tells him that his date with Cameron is a good idea. What happened in his last relationship is no reason to give up on people. Elsewhere, Chase is examining Harvey when he notices weakness in the man's arm and hand. He's having mini-strokes and the blood thinners aren't making a difference. House schedules vascular surgery for the following day.

Chase explains to Harvey that the surgery will repair the damaged blood vessels in his neck, which they believe is from the strangulations. Harvey begins to cry, feeling that he's a loser who needs Annette. Chase tries to badger Harvey into it, which backfires. He doesn't want surgery. House tells Chase to sneak Annette into the hospital.

Annette tries to order Harvey to have the surgery, but he screams at her to get out of his room. Foreman thinks the emotional swings indicate another stroke. The doctors struggle to restrain Harvey. The lawyer rules out forced surgery. House argues that with Harvey in a coma, things have changed. The next-of-kin is deceased and cannot give permission.

House tells his team to look for Harvey's parents. Although they are accountants, he lives in a bad neighborhood. It's more likely that they cut him off after learning about his peccadilloes.

Cameron and Chase poke around Harvey's apartment. They find a high school yearbook. Meanwhile, Foreman, Chase and Cameron begin dialing every Park in the phone book. The real parents hang up on Chase. House redials and tells Mr. Park that Harvey is dead and they need him to identify the body.

Mr. and Mrs. Park meet with Cuddy, House and the lawyer. House offers a surgery consent form. Mrs. Park calls their own lawyer while Mr. Park explains that their son humiliated the family. House wonders what would be more embarrassing to them -- people knowing their son is a pervert, or people knowing they let their son die by denying him surgery. Mrs. Park signs the form.

Wilson intercepts Cameron for a chat. He says that it's been a long time since House opened up to anybody. If she hurts him, then he will probably close himself off permanently.

That night, the date is on. Cameron asks House to spare her the small talk and say how he feels about her and their relationship. House explains that she lives under the delusion that she can fix anything that isn't perfect. She needs instead of loves. And now that her husband has died of cancer, she wants to take him on as a new charity case.

The next morning, Harvey's surgery gets underway. Yet Wilson, Chase and Foreman are more interested in details of the date. Neither House nor Cameron gives up details. The surgeon announces that no aneurysm was found in Harvey. The doctors retreat back to House's office. They have no idea what's causing the strokes. House asks for another angiogram and echo, as well as a full body scan. Then House has an idea.

Chase reported that Harvey had boxes of breath mints in his apartment, but they all know that Harvey has repugnant breath that smells of old vomit. This is the leading sign of fulminating osteomylitis, which is an infection in the jaw from the break never healing properly. The infected tissue in the jaw broke off and blocked blood flow to the brain.

The metal plate in Harvey's jaw hid the infection from the scans, and a jaw infection isn't likely to show up in blood scans either. House inserts a needle into Harvey's jaw and extracts pus. This means there is definitely an infection, and they will have to remove the jaw.

Afterward, House explains to Harvey and Annette that their days of strangulation are over. Harvey weakly asks if his parents came to see him. In his office that night, House looks through old photos that were buried deep in his wallet. He misses somebody.