Emancipation (House)

Plot

The team takes on the case of a 16-year-old factory manager who fell ill when her lungs suddenly filled with fluid while at work. The teenager informs House and the team that she is an emancipated minor living on her own and supporting herself, and has been doing so ever since her parents died. The team begins treatment for suspected heart problems, but Kutner chooses to sympathize with the patient rather than follow House's directions and gives her steroids instead of beta-blockers. She has a psychotic break. An MRI shows that the patient lied about her parents' deaths. She says that she had emancipated herself because her father raped her and mother pretended it didn't happen. She then starts urinating blood then has a seizure, then brain lesions. This leads to a diagnosis of leukemia, which requires a bone marrow transplant. Despite the patient's wishes, Thirteen goes to her parents house for permission to donate a bone marrow transplant, and finds out the girl stole someone's identity. House pressures the patient, and she states she does not want to see her parents because she was babysitting while her baby brother died. The show ends with her parents in the hospital room.

Meanwhile, Foreman asks for House's permission to work on a clinical trial and House rejects his proposal. In an effort to prove himself capable of working without House's supervision, Foreman takes on his own pediatric case; Jonah, a four-year-old with bloody vomit and diarrhea. When Jonah develops uncontrollable laughter, Foreman turns to Cameron and Chase for a consult. Chase suspects cancer of the stomach lining while Foreman thinks porphyria. When both tests come back negative, and Jonah's heart stops, Foreman realizes that Jonah will die. He turns to House for help, but is rejected due to House's claim that Foreman's screw-ups are his own. Foreman then goes back to Cameron and Chase for help, and they suggest that Jonah's mother or brother Evan had something to do with it. Foreman then thinks about Evan's protectiveness of Jonah and realizes Jonah has an iron overdose due to Evan telling him to take too many vitamins. After solving the case, Foreman tells House he is going to lead clinical trials. When House lets him, Foreman asks what changed, to which House responds, "Three days ago you asked me. Now you told me. You can't say no if it's not a question."

Music

This episode features "Through the Dark" by Scottish singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch.