July 10th, 2008
House Effect bad for patients
The Joint Commission, which works on hospital accreditation, has issued an alert against doctors’ bullying, saying it hurts morale and risks patient health.
They would have gotten more press if they had just condemned the House Effect.
Everyone would know what they meant then. Because even if you’re not a regular viewer of House MD, you know what we’re talking about.
On the show Gregory House, played by Hugh Laurie, is a genius of a diagnostician but a very bad, and mixed-up man. He abuses the staff, he abuses drugs, he’s angry and hostile all the time. He’s a mess.
It’s great TV, but as the Joint Commission notes in real life it hurts a lot more people than it helps. On the show the staff cuts House considerable slack, albeit with occasional threats to his medical license. Were House real, they say here, pull it.
Of course it will take more than a warning to make bullying doctors, or any bullies, fly right. People are flawed, they’re human, and finding ways around this is always difficult.
Brilliant people are especially difficult. They know they’re brilliant. They’re told they are from a young age. Many become the intellectual equivalent of superstar athletes, cosseted and coddled, spoiled and dangerous.
Having been out of school for over 30 years, making my way in the world, I can say from experience that what you are supposed to learn in kindergarten can be much more valuable than what you get in grad school.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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