House M.D. Season One

Back in the Hospital.
Chase wheel the gurney carrying Rachel down the hall, and Rachel was a little anxious with what’s happening.
“I’ve already had an MRI.” Rachel told Chase.
“Not like this one. Any allergies to any heavy metals?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Any pacemakers, metal rods, surgical implants?”
“No.”
Moments later they reach the Radiology room. A technician is on the phone behind a glass wall. Chase, Foreman, and Cameron continue to prep Rachel, who has been transferred to the MRI table, and ready to put into the machine. For those who don’t know what an MRI is; it stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging and it is a test that uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body. Before being put into the machine Rachel is signing a release.
Chase begins preparing the needle. “We inject gadolinium into an artery, distributing itself throughout your brain and acts as a contrast material for the magnetic resonance imager.”
“Basically, whatever’s in your head lights up like a Christmas tree,” Cameron sums up.
Rachel looks at the three and smiles, hopeful.
The technician hung up the phone and approaches the three follows. “Sorry, no Christmas lights today. House and Merwood’s authorization has been pulled.”

Scene Change- Clinic, Reception Area

House strides through the automatic doors with Jez right behind him and yells, “Where the hell is Cuddy?!”
They’re in Cuddy’s office moments later. House pops a pill as he confronts Cuddy head on. Jez is slouched in a chair, calm and relaxed. Cuddy is calm.
“You pulled our authorization!”
“Yes. Why are you yelling?”
“No radiology, no tests—“
“You also can’t make long distance phone calls.” Cuddy interrupted.
“If you’re going to fire us, just fire me! And get the guts to face me!”
Cuddy shakes her head. “Or photocopies. You’re still yelling.”
“I’m angry! You’re risking a patient’s life—“
Cuddy than interrupts again, “I assume those were two separate points.”
“You’re showing me disrespect. You’re showing Jez disrespect. You embarrassed both of us. And as long as we work here, you have no legal right—“
Cuddy interrupts, again. “Is the yelling designed to scare me? Because I don’t know what I’m supposed to be scared of. More yelling? That’s not scary. That you’re going to hurt me? That’s scary. But I’m pretty sure I can out run you.”
House stands still, quiet all of a sudden and Jez tugs on his sports coat for him to sit.
“I looked up the philosopher you quoted, Jagger. And you’re right, you can’t always get what you want. But as it turns out, if you try sometimes, you get what you need.”
Jez giggled and House smiled at her. “You had to look that up? Damn.”
House looks back at Cuddy. “So, because you want us to treat patients, you’re not letting us treat patients?” Jez raised an eyebrow at Cuddy.
“I need you to do your jobs. And I’ll tell you what the yelling did accomplish something here. Presumably not the health of the patient, but something and I don’t really care what that something is because whatever it is, it gives me all the leverage in this relationship right now.”
House stands and leaves; Jez right along with him. They get outside the office and Jez looks at House.
“You know she’s right, Greg.”
“I know, Jez.”

Outside Free Clinic, Moments later.

Wilson, Chase, Foreman, and Cameron wait with patients, doctors and nurses going about their business. House emerges, still looking mad, or is it more annoyed? House turns to Chase. “Go do the MRI. She folded.” And he limps off with Jez. Wilson follows, knowing something is up. “We’re doing 4 hours a week in that clinic. Until I make up the time I’ve missed.”
Wilson stops to think about how long that will take. “2054. I’ll be caught up in 2054. Jez before then.” He pauses and looks at Wilson. “You’d better love this cousin a whole lot.”

Radiology

Chase injects the contrast material and the motorized bed slowly puts Rachel head first into the MRI machine as Cameron explains to Rachel what is going to happen within her body. “Right now, the gadolinium is flowing with you blood, through your neck, toward your brain.”

Scene Change- Inside her bloodstream
At the molecular lever, we see the gadolinium flowing with the blue, oxygenated, blood through the relatively large arteries. Cameron’s voice can still be heard as a voice over.“But you won’t feel a thing for the entire process.” The gadolinium is joined midstream by a couple of tiny white objects- not sure what they are or if they are good or bad. “An electromagnetic field will cause the nuclei of every atom in your body to line up parallel to each other.” The machine is turned on and the atoms start to rotate.

Back Outside.

Rachel is looking clammy. “I don’t feel very good.”

In the Viewing Room

“It’s common to feel a little claustrophobic. Please try not to move, okay?” Chase tells her over the intercom.
“Next you’ll be hit with a pulse of radio waves. This throws everything out of alignment.” Cameron tells Rachel.

Molecular Level

The nuclei vibrate out of alignment. Also hundreds of white cells bombarding the gadolinium. Cameron’s voice comes out. “When the nuclei go back into alignment, they send off signals. Which the machine reads.”

Outside Rachel’s Body

As the light of the e-m fields flash off her, Rachel looks even worse. She struggles to speak, but nothing comes out.

Camera goes into her open mouth, down her throat, which was looking smaller, because the muscles rapidly contracting and relaxing, each time the throat gets a little smaller.

Outside the machine Chase explains more of what the machine is doing. “The machine now slowly scans your body. Relax, and it’ll be done before you know it, Rachel.”
No response. Cameron sense something isn’t right. “Rachel…?”
She can’t respond answer cause it’s closed. “Get her out of there.”
“She probably fell asleep; she’s exhausted.” Just then Jez walks in to check on the follows and sees what’s going on.
“Two minutes ago she was claustrophobic. She’s not sleeping. Get her out of there!”
Jez looks at Rachel and she automatically knew something was wrong. She rushes forward and presses the button for the MRI to come out.
Chase continues on, not seeing Jez. “It’ll only be another minute or two.”
Jez rushes in with Cameron not too far behind her. Jez leans down and pulls Rachel the rest of the way out. “She’s cold.” Jez leans down and checks to see if she is breathing. She isn’t. “She’s not breathing.” The technician and Cameron help Jez put her onto a gurney. Jez looks to the technician. “Do we have any surgical equipment in here?” Chase hands her a scalpel and she cuts into Rachel’s throat. Blood flies, but it is put under control as it can be when somebody is suffocating. She inserts a tube quickly and performs a tracheotomy. Once she is finished, she turns to Chase and punches him. “Don’t you ever assume shit, ever again! You understand?! If you would have waited that 2 minutes, she would have died.”
Chase nods, shocked that she punched him that hard. She turns and walks out.