17. Role Model

At a high-level campaign fundraiser, up-and-coming Senator Tom Wright becomes violently ill. Vogler pushes House to take Wright's case and dangles a new incentive in front of him: deliver a speech on behalf of Vogler's pharmaceutical company and save his whole team without firing one. House examines the senator finding that the symptoms point toward AIDS, a condition that would squash his career and presidential aspirations. But House refuses to settle for the easy answer. And House ends up giving the speech, but it doesn't go quite as Vogler planned.

Plot summary and ending

Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.

Complete story — includes the ending

A popular U.S. senator ( Joe Morton ) and presidential candidate succumbs to illness at a fundraiser and Vogler assigns House to his case. He also tells House he can keep his whole team if he endorses Vogler's pharmaceutical company. The Senator's initial diagnosis seems to point to AIDS, but House digs deeper for another answer. Meanwhile, he also handles a case of a woman who apparently gets pregnant without having sex. House deduces that Chase is Vogler's mole. House insults Vogler and his company during the speech, reigniting their feud. Cameron leaves the team and quits. Final diagnosis: Toxoplasmosis and delayed-onset CVID secondary to phenytoin -mediated Epstein-Barr virus infection.

Sources and content license

Source and revision history · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, House season 1. HTML formatting and reference markers removed. · Content license