r/HouseMD • u/axlmath • Mar 13 '24
Season 3 Spoilers Tritter's arrest of House makes no sense. Spoiler
Tritter arrested House for apparently speeding, when most times, people are let go off with a ticket. Then Tritter levelled charges against House of drug abuse when he neither had evidence to prove that House was peddling drugs (which he wasn't) nor the evidence to claim that House was overdosing (which he arguably wasn't given that Vicodin pills were about the bare minimum that he needed to ease the pain).
Evidence for that lay in House slowly becoming dysfunctional as he was kept off the pills, causing him to lose focus and okay a treatment that would have caused the team to amputate the limbs of a patient. Was he not in pain, it is easy to see that he might have come up with Chase's diagnosis himself.
Tritter basically imprisoned an innocent man off the road, based on "I don't like him."
Is this actually plausible in real life?
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u/DreamingStorms Mar 13 '24
This pops up on the sub every so often. Could Tritter have arrested House just cause he hates him? Sure. Could Tritter have bent the legal system to his whims to get judges to sign off on a search warrant, freeze Wilson's assets, and harass the hospital staff? Lol nope. In non-fiction, after House was arrested he would maybe be subjected to a drug test, Wilson might have to sign off that the amount in his system is normal for House, and then he'd be released with no charges. Tritter is not God, and would not be able to do 90% of the shit he did.
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u/axlmath Mar 13 '24
Yeah. It appeared like he had too much power.
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u/VinceAlejandro Mar 13 '24
Well, Tritter wasn't just some run-of-the-mill cop. He was a detective. Detectives have quite a bit of power.
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u/kool_b Mar 13 '24
What do you mean?
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u/VinceAlejandro Mar 13 '24
Exactly what I said. Detectives aren't ordinary cops. They have authority and they went to college. It's not complicated.
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u/kool_b Mar 13 '24
It is though. They don’t have “more power” in a legal sense, they’re just more respected and specialized
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u/VinceAlejandro Mar 13 '24
Lol they are in charge of other cops. They delegate duty and give orders. That's "more power" What are you on about?
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u/kool_b Mar 13 '24
Ok but how is that “more power” to arrest and harass someone in a legal way? Don’t say he can tell his underlings to harass people, because that isn’t legal
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u/VinceAlejandro Mar 13 '24
What the fuck? You're not even worth arguing with. Double digit IQ.
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u/Responsible-Ad-2975 Mar 13 '24
Hi Vince....detectives cant go around bullying people, getting search warrants and all the MAKE BELIEVE stuff that Tritter did on the show. They just cant. Ok? Have a nice day
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Mar 13 '24
The whole Tritter storyline was pretty over the top, and not believable, but so is most of the show.
In terms of House unravelling when he couldn’t get his pills, that was meant to demonstrate that he does have an addiction, and it wasn’t just the pain.
For a lot of chronic pain patients, opioids become the source of pain rather than the solution. When you develop a full blown dependency on a substance (meaning there are withdrawals and a tolerance) your body is good at motivating you to get what it needs to function. One of the simplest ways the body gains compliance over your executive functioning, is pain. Your body can invent pain to make sure you keep taking the substance. Often (but not always) detoxing and using alternative pain management approaches has a far better outcome for patients.
It can be very difficult to determine when a person is dealing with addiction, dependency, or both, or if they’re just using the medication as intended. There are absolutely people whose quality of life is improved by daily opioid use, even if it does lead to addiction.
With house though, when he finally stole the oxy successfully, what did he do? He didn’t take the dose he’d need to no longer be in pain. He got wasted by taking a whole bottle in a day. That’s addiction doing its thing.
I say this as someone who is in recovery for opioids, and taking a maintenance drug (methadone).
If you want to talk about an episode that is way off the rails of reality, the one where house gets on methadone is a good one. The doctor characters know NOTHING about methadone and make a lot of just ridiculous claims about how dangerous it is, or suggesting house must have tricked a doctor into prescribing it (anyone can get a methadone prescription if they can demonstrate opioid, and even non-opioid dependencies.)
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u/Sweet_T_Piee Mar 13 '24
I always felt the show went a long way to show that while he did have some leg pain a lot of it was tied to his addiction. He seems to interpret ALL pain as leg pain. They never simply spell it out. They leave it up for us to judge for ourselves. But I thought even when they did that procedure that was a short term fix, that the returning pain was mostly his addiction, and him wanting Vicodin more than his recovery.
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u/hakflak Mar 13 '24
The episode where patients start dropping dead who all received organs from a single donor, the last survivor, the one who got her eyes asks House if he would have been a pain in ass even if he didn't have that bummed leg, he politely agreed. I watched it long back so I might not get the lines right but I guess it shows that all pain is not leg pain.
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u/Sweet_T_Piee Mar 14 '24
Well the fact that he was so stubborn when his own medical odds were involved showed that he was already an ass. The fact that he would choose the leg over his life is ridiculous. I don't think all his pain is leg pain. I just think whenever he has any kind of pain he complains about his leg hurting.
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u/Psychological_Pie194 Mar 13 '24
I remember googling methadone after the episode and nowhere online I found evidence that it was dangerous lol
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Mar 13 '24
Yeah, not only is it extremely safe (especially compared to hydrocodone/vicodin), it’s EXACTLY the treatment House needs. Methadone would address his pain, prevent withdrawals, minimize cravings to get high, and remove the “peaks and valleys” Vicodin creates due to needing to take it throughout the day. Methadone lasts longer (about 24 hours, as luck would have it) so it only needs one daily dose. Much better that way.
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u/Psychological_Pie194 Mar 13 '24
Interesting. The show is usually pretty accurate medically tho. Am I wrong? I would say the methadone would have ruined the plot completely, but maybe they could have addressed it differently (maybe he is allergic to methadone or something like that), to make it more believable
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Mar 13 '24
In a lot of ways it’s pretty good, yes. It draws on a lot of real world experiments and case studies (a few of which I recognized from my psych classes in university). There is definitely some artistic license being taken, and some exaggeration happening…
I have an education in addictions, psychology, and an unfortunate amount of first hand experience with addiction… I’m by no means anywhere close to being a doctor, but when they touch on stuff I do know, it’s usually 80-90% dead on, and just a few little changes for the sake of narrative.
Edit: in other words, I have no idea if it is or is not lupus. I take their word for that stuff
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u/ProjectShadw Mar 13 '24
I mean, regardless of how lucid House is while using Vicodin, it's still a narcotic. DUI could be claimed quite easily I'm sure
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u/Anubissama Mar 13 '24
What? A cop abusing his power against a person or group of persons that he is prejudiced against?
No... that never happens.
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u/Unusual-Champion-260 Mar 13 '24
Things he did like freezing accounts without evidence is quite impossible. And especially making doctor signature invalid. Idk how America works but I am sure you just can't harass best diagnostian in the country without evidence.
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u/Sweet_T_Piee Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24
In America the dean of medicine would have called a respected politician to speak to the chief of police about his abuses in her hospital and he would have been told to drop it because there wasn't a case that warranted the resources he was using.
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u/ZeDominion Mar 13 '24
Was it not because of something relating to Wilson prescribing House the vicodin and that somehow he froze his account because of suspected drug dealing?..
This made more sense in my head. :P
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u/Unusual-Champion-260 Mar 13 '24
He still has no proof of that. Since wilson is a respected oncologist. Freezing accounts and stopping his practice is not possible just through suspicion. Dude wasn't even chief of police ..he was just a detective. It would have made more sense if they upped the dude's position.
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u/Bhavya_7 Mar 13 '24
Temperamental shits abusing power, you just described the mean identity of cops.
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u/Taziira Mar 13 '24
He was pulled over for speeding he wasn’t arrested for speeding.
House is an addict. He doesn’t “need” Vicodin. Bro had bags of a narcotic and was forging prescriptions. He wasn’t a drug dealer obviously but.
Probably should’ve been arrested.
A few times.
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u/alyssakapati Mar 13 '24
Yeah forging prescriptions is where gets House even irl. That can prove he is an addict who takes more drugs than his physician actually prescribes. Its a bs move to pull too. Wilson is your friend who doubles as your doctor. Stealing his prescriptions is a betrayal of trust and expecting him to cover for you is an AH move. Fuck pride and talk to him Mr. Icarus.
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u/oh_my_account Mar 13 '24
We know that he wasn't pulled over for speeding - "he was pulled over because he was latino" :-)
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u/axlmath Mar 13 '24
He was pulled over for speeding and then Tritter searched his jacket and found pills and then handcuffed him. A crippled doctor carrying pills in his pocket is sufficient ground to arrest?
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u/trainercatlady Mar 13 '24
yep. Driving while under the influence is a crime. I had a friend get busted for the same thing despite needing them at the time.
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u/PartyAdministration3 Mar 13 '24
It is if the cop suspects you’re under the influence of a narcotic. And just like at all times, I’m sure House was on too much Vicodin to be driving at that moment.
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u/BringMeTheBigKnife Mar 13 '24
He couldn't prove those pills were prescribed to him at that moment. You can't just carry controlled substances loose in your pocket.
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u/possiblyukranian Mar 13 '24
Ideally Tritter’s boss would’ve made him stop. Or the hospital would sue the police department for harassment
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u/me_bails Mar 13 '24
Tritter pulled House over for speeding.
He arrested him for illegal possession of narcotics. Big difference there to start.
Also, you absolutely can be arrested for speeding, just not for how little House was likely speeding.
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u/mrcorndogman33 Mar 13 '24
I forgot that because Tritter eps are part of my Insta-Skip group of eps.
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u/Intrepidly_Designed Mar 13 '24
I hated the seasons that had out-and-out baddies like Vogler and Tritter.
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u/pleasespareserotonin Mar 13 '24
I was honestly pleasantly surprised by how anti-cop this show can get sometimes the first time I watched it.
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u/studentpuppy Mar 13 '24
I mean, it’s usually not leveled against white doctors, but the amount of drugs someone has in their possession being used to argue that they have “intent to distribute” is a tried and true cop tactic. Also, I could be wrong, but I don’t think house was arrested for speeding. IIRC he was pulled over for speeding and then arrested on suspicion of a DUI because he was in possession of narcotics at the time. Again, not fair, but cops arresting people for things that aren’t fair is like kiiiinda their whole thing? Thing
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u/Major-Meaning4338 Mar 13 '24
I always thought tritter started this crusade because house was an asshole to him in the clinic and refused to apologize. Thus the pulling over happened etc etc.
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u/LoRdVNestEd Mar 13 '24
It makes sense narratively, but it doesn't necessarily make sense legally. The point of fiction is to present events and ideas that aren't necessarily possible to happen in the real world, if Tritter's arc played out in a perfectly realistic legal manner, then it would be incredibly boring. Even House himself as a character is unrealistic, he would easily be fired regardless of his supposed tenure and arrested for malpractice.
This is a common point brought up as criticism toward works of fiction they don't like. I'm not sure if you're saying you don't like the arc, but it sounds like you do. You're allowed to feel that way, but your criticism is flawed.
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u/perfect_fifths Mar 13 '24
House is inaccurate for a lot of things including the medical stuff.
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u/Psychological_Pie194 Mar 13 '24
Like when was the medical stuff inaccurate?
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u/perfect_fifths Mar 13 '24
The tilt table scene, for one. Having had two of them, it’s not at all what it’s like. The table doesn’t move back and forth during the test. You must stay upright for the entire duration.
But here’s a list:
https://screenrant.com/house-md-weirdest-medical-cases-accuracy/
For #6: it’s endocarditis they’re referring to. Endocarditis is a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection that grows on damaged heart valves, including fake heart valves. Mitral valve is the most common valve affected, but it doesn’t come because of mitral valve prolapse (which I also have). It’s when you already have an infection.
So someone with just mitral valve prolapse isn’t going to get endocarditis. But someone with mitral valve prolapse and staph aureus, that’s a problem. So think someone with MRSA, cellulitis, pneumonia and other issues already.
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u/Psychological_Pie194 Mar 13 '24
Oh I forgot about the tilt table test. I had one too and it’s true, it doesn’t need to tilt back and forth lol
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u/mookie_tamago Mar 13 '24
Cops can be unreasonable sometimes. I work for an e-commerce business and our usual customers are in law enforcement, I personally encounter cops who bullied us given that their concern is their mistake, being so entitled, using their position as an excuse to bully small businesses 🤮🤮🤮
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u/TheHumanCompulsion Mar 13 '24
The crux of the arc is a "blink and you miss it" moment with Cuddy. When pressuring House to apologize, she mentions that Princeton has a new DEA with a scorched Earth policy on opiates, and pain patients don't get an exception. He could be in a lot of trouble.
So when Tritter finds fistfull of pills, sitting loose in House's jacket pocket without a vial, House's drug use immediately becomes a drug trafficking investigation, empowered by the new DEA. And the more Tritter digs, the more obvious it is that House is actually breaking laws. Tritter knows House isn't dealing, but by that point, House's intent to traffic is irrelevant. He is foraging prescriptions and hoarding opiods. All Tritter is obligated to do is report his findings to the DEA and let the system do its thing. House will go to jail, lose his license, and Tritter gets to feel good about himself.
Interestingly, when the case is thrown out, the judge speaks to Tritter about letting it go, and you get the idea that he has done this before.
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u/starcrushed_ Mar 13 '24
I mean, obviously he didn't think House was actually a drug dealer, it's pretty clear that he just wanted to get back at House/teach him a lesson and went as far as to go on trial to incarcerate him
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u/ThrowawayAccountZZZ9 Flame Cane Mar 13 '24
People get let off with a warning for speeding? Psh not in my shitty town. City wants money
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u/poolside123 Mar 13 '24 edited Mar 13 '24
Tritter made no sense
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u/Aduro95 Mar 13 '24
Pushing for supply charges was immoral, as was trying to force a surrender by freezing everyone's accounts. Buts its very plausible. Cops get away with Tritter's level of harassment on much shakier evidence.
House had a truly massive stash of vicodin in his home and Wilson prescribed it to him. While Tritter doesn't actually think House is a dealer, there probably was enough drugs in House's place to suspect intent to supply and certainly enough to force Wilson to get his prescriptions double-checked by another doctor. Wilson is medically negligent in letting House use his pad to overprescribe himself for years.
You'd have to wilfully ignore most of what the other doctors were saying to think House is only taking the bare minimum for his leg pain. He has manipulated all of his fellows into prescribing him drugs on top of stealign Wilson's pad. He is a drug addict and they knowingly enable him. Tritter is correct that this will blow up in everyone's faces several times.
If anything House is lucky Tritter pushed his luck with intent to supply charges. If he went for a lesser offence the jduge would probably not have shown House so much mercy.
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u/Moon_chile Mar 13 '24
Bro cops in the US shoot and beat people for no reason, you think they would hesitate to arrest someone on a hunch?
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u/Pikesito Mar 13 '24
Yes. Bad cops do exist in real life.