TV Watch

House’s Long-Distance Date with Mira Sorvino

02/04/2008 at 12:00 AM EST

Tom Brady and the 18-1 New England Patriots could have used House M.D.'s TLC after their loss Sunday night. Instead, the crack medical team had a very special episode to tend to -- guest-starring Oscar winner Mira Sorvino in a seemingly futuristic plot. When her physician tech character is struck with unknown symptoms and is stranded at the ice-bitten South Pole, House (Hugh Laurie) becomes a doctor without borders, using teleconferencing via the Internet to help heal her. To make matters worse, she lapses into a coma before they can determine if she has cancer or an autoimmune disease. Still, despite the thousands of miles distance and with help from Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps), House does his thing.

It all leads to a natural question: Could this happen in real life? Turns out, yes! It's called telemedicine, a quickly growing practice in which specialized medical information is sent through email or over the phone from desolate communities to doctors. House uses the Web connection to, through a surrogate, drill a hole in the tech's head, pry loose a broken toenail and do a racy bare-skin examination. Did it work? Sorvino survived -- and may return for future episodes (post-writers' strike, of course). … -Nicholas White

Tell us: Do you want to see Mira Sorvino return? And would you trust Dr. House to give a "telemedicine" diagnosis to you?



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