Humpty Dumpty (House)

Last updated
"Humpty Dumpty"
House episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 3
Directed by Dan Attias
Written by Matt Witten
Original air dateSeptember 27, 2005 (2005-09-27)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Autopsy"
Next 
"TB or Not TB"
House season 2
List of episodes

"Humpty Dumpty" is the third episode of the second season of House , which premiered on Fox on September 27, 2005. Dr. Lisa Cuddy's longtime handyman Alfredo falls off her roof, causing breathing problems.

Plot

After falling off the roof of Cuddy's house, handyman Alfredo begins to have difficulty breathing, and his fingers turn purple. House suggests DIC.

Cameron finds Alfredo's blood is not clotting, indicating minor DIC, and Cuddy shocks the staff by ordering Protein C. Alfredo becomes unable to move his arm and Chase tells Cuddy the protein C caused bleeding in Alfredo's brain. The treatment is stopped, and Alfredo is rushed into neurosurgery. As Cameron examines him, Alfredo suffers a coughing fit; a chest X-ray shows lung infiltration, and Foreman suggests pneumonia. Chase mentions that Alfredo has a low titer for chlamydia antibodies, but is dismissed by Foreman because the chest X-rays do not match chlamydial pneumonia.

House takes Alfredo's temperature and sees his hand is rotting, but Cuddy – anxious to save Alfredo's livelihood – refuses to allow amputation, but is persuaded by House, who begs Stacy for legal clearance. During surgery, Alfredo's other hand begins to turn purple. House proposes endocarditis, but Cuddy points out that Alfredo tested negative for endocarditis. House puts forward psittacosis, but Chase objects that Alfredo does not have pet parrots. House barges into Alfredo's room and interrogates his mother, in perfect Spanish; House realizes that Alfredo works cockfights.

Cuddy and Foreman find a cockfight in the warehouse district and find Alfredo's brother Manny carrying cages of dead birds, confirming House's diagnosis. Cuddy calls House, who has already begun treatment for psittacosis. Alfredo and his family decide to sue the hospital for the loss of his hand, which Cuddy is sure the hospital will settle.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psittacosis</span> Infectious disease in humans

Psittacosis—also known as parrot fever, and ornithosis—is a zoonotic infectious disease in humans caused by a bacterium called Chlamydia psittaci and contracted from infected parrots, such as macaws, cockatiels, and budgerigars, and from pigeons, sparrows, ducks, hens, gulls and many other species of birds. The incidence of infection in canaries and finches is believed to be lower than in psittacine birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Foreman</span> Fictional character

Eric Foreman, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Omar Epps, and appeared in all eight seasons of the show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allison Cameron</span> Fictional character on the Fox medical drama House

Allison Cameron, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House, portrayed by American actress Jennifer Morrison. An immunologist, Cameron was a member of Dr. Gregory House's team of handpicked specialists at Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's Department of Diagnostic Medicine. She returned for the final episode of the series, "Everybody Dies".

"Lines in the Sand" is the fourth episode of the third season of House and the fiftieth episode overall.

"Hunting" is the seventh episode of the second season of House, and twenty-ninth overall. It premiered on Fox on November 22, 2005, and was written by Liz Friedman and directed by Gloria Muzio. House is confronted by a homosexual man who demands treatment when other doctors diagnose him with AIDS, something he admits he does have. House begins making moves on Stacy using sensitive information on her relationship with Mark.

"The Mistake" is the eighth episode of the second season of House, which premiered on Fox on November 29, 2005. The episode is told in flashbacks when the hospital and Chase's career is on the line.

"Deception" is the ninth episode of the second season of House, which premiered on Fox on December 13, 2005. After House is replaced temporarily by Foreman as department head, problems arise as House tries to make life miserable for him.

"Need to Know" is the eleventh episode of the second season of House, which premiered on Fox on February 7, 2006.

"Finding Judas" is the ninth episode of the third season of House and the fifty-fifth episode overall.

"Mirror Mirror" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of House and the seventy-fifth episode overall. It aired on October 30, 2007.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" is the 13th episode of the fourth season of House, and the 83rd episode overall. It was the first House episode filmed after the resolution of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. It was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on April 28, 2008.

"Not Cancer" is the second episode of the fifth season of House and the eighty-eighth episode overall. It aired on September 23, 2008.

"Simple Explanation" is the 20th episode of the fifth season of House. It first aired on April 6, 2009.

"Known Unknowns" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of House and 117th overall. It aired on November 9, 2009. The team tries to diagnose a teenage girl while House is away at a medical conference with Wilson and Cuddy. At the conference House finds something out about Cuddy.

"Unplanned Parenthood" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of the American medical drama House. It first aired on October 18, 2010.

"Office Politics" is the sixth episode of the seventh season of the American medical drama House. It aired on November 8, 2010. It is also the first episode to feature Amber Tamblyn as Martha Masters, as a replacement of Thirteen.

"The Dig" is the 18th episode of the seventh season of the American medical drama House. It first aired on April 11, 2011. This is the 150th episode of the series and marks the return of Thirteen, whose whereabouts have been unknown to House's team for the last year. Wilson and Cuddy do not appear in this episode.

"Changes" is the twentieth episode of the seventh season of the American medical drama series House. It aired on May 2, 2011 on Fox.

"Love Hurts" is the twentieth episode of the first season of House, which premiered on the Fox network on May 10, 2005.