HouseMD and Plagiarism

[ToPa5579]

I was at the bookstore the other day browsing through some medical textbooks and picked up a copy of "The Medical Detectives" by Berton Roueche. After reading through most of the book, I felt like I somehow read or heard about the cases before... then I realized I saw them all on House!!! The writers of House MD totally ripped off all the medical cases in this book. They didn't even try to change it up a bit, it's almost word for word! I would say about 80% of the characters/diseases presented in House Season 1 are in this book, and the case studies from this book are from the late 60's, early 70's. How disappointing.

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[Rafa]

That's what you get from expecting novel ideas from television. Turn that thing off and go make the world a less crummy place...

 

[LizzyM]

LOL, the short-lived TV show of a year or two ago about CDC epidemiologists also used the same (true) stories from Roueche as a jumping off place for its episodes. It isn't really plagiarism -- more like poetic license. Roueche wrote prose, someone else wrote a screenplay.

It has been so long since I read Roueche that I don't even recognize some of the cases. But reading your observation does make me think of House MD in a new way-- the concept of a hospital having a department like the one headed by House is absurd; that I've known. Now I realize that what House and his team are doing is actually within the realm of outbreak investigators along the lines of those who are employed by the CDC.

 

[ADeadLois]

I was at the bookstore the other day browsing through some medical textbooks and picked up a copy of "The Medical Detectives" by Berton Roueche. After reading through most of the book, I felt like I somehow read or heard about the cases before... then I realized I saw them all on House!!! The writers of House MD totally ripped off all the medical cases in this book. They didn't even try to change it up a bit, it's almost word for word! I would say about 80% of the characters/diseases presented in House Season 1 are in this book, and the case studies from this book are from the late 60's, early 70's. How disappointing.

Umm, you want to talk about TV shows ripping off books, what about Grey's Anatomy!....j/k


Actually, I think I read somewhere about there being a controversy about "Scrubs" ripping off the book "The House of God"...before Bergman came out and praised the show.

 

[Dr Durden]

Umm, you want to talk about TV shows ripping off books, what about Grey's Anatomy!....j/k

Seriously, the more medical memoirs I read, the more the "suspense" in that show is ruined. It's hard to get worked up when you know how it's going to end (well except for the soap opera drama of course). Hot Lights/Cold Steel, When the Air Hits the Brain, and The Healing Blade are just a few off the top of my head.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Welcome to the real world where people use other life stories then write stories/shows/movies about it to make money.

They don't write alot of their stories but the go for the strange ones as per their medical consultants. Don't be too disappointed because they might not have used that exact book

 

[CavalierMD]

Whatever. I still Hugh Laurie.

 

[NY Musicologist]

I believe it's only "plagiarism" in the legal sense if the original material is used without acknowledgment and/or the author's consent--look far enough in the fine print and you may find that the series writers have covered themselves adequately.

Still, the letter and the spirit of the law differ somewhat, and your point is well taken...

 

[njbmd]

I was at the bookstore the other day browsing through some medical textbooks and picked up a copy of "The Medical Detectives" by Berton Roueche. After reading through most of the book, I felt like I somehow read or heard about the cases before... then I realized I saw them all on House!!! The writers of House MD totally ripped off all the medical cases in this book. They didn't even try to change it up a bit, it's almost word for word! I would say about 80% of the characters/diseases presented in House Season 1 are in this book, and the case studies from this book are from the late 60's, early 70's. How disappointing.

Hi there,
It's called screenwriting. How do you know that there was no agreement between the production staff of House and the author of this book? If there is an agreement, then it isn't illegal. It's just an adaptation of the novel. It's done all the time.

njbmd

 

[Depakote]

I think every story from EMERGENCY: True stories from the ER, has shown up on the TV show ER at some point.

 

[ToPa5579]

I'm not arguing whether it was legal or illegal. I'm just disappointed b/c I thought the case studies on House were really original and clever, not based off of someone else's writings. I feel like a kid who is just being told now that he is actually adopted.

 

[Vox Animo]

I saw house for the first time the other day, i'd have to say i was impressed. He's such an @sshole, its great.