I love the tv show House. This medical drama, based around the character of a doctor with Sherlock Holmes mystery solving abilities is often smart, informational, and amusingly ridiculous. The main character (House) is often a total asshole, but he is so lovably grumpy, enormously flawed, and irresistibly outrageous that I can’t help but like him.
Last night I finally caught their episode that features an Ehlers Danlos patient, an episode I had been looking forward to seeing for a while. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed with the portrayal. First off, very little of the episode actually had anything to do with the woman with Ehlers Danlos. It focused more upon her husband for the first half at least.
When she was finally introduced into the storyline, she was presented as someone with a horrible mental illness (hoarding), which a casual viewer could easily think was due to her forthcoming Ehlers Danlos diagnosis. The last thing those of us with EDS need is to be confused with mental illness conditions even more.
Also, the only symptoms that are even discussed to be related to EDS in the show (and thus lead to the official diagnosis) are the fact that the woman’s heart responded badly to some medication and she had suffered several miscarriages. That was it. Yes, EDS can contribute to miscarriages, but it is far from one of the hallmark symptoms of many EDS sufferers. Nothing was mentioned about hypermobility, chronic pain, dislocations, joint issues, gastrointestinal issues, autoimmune issues, bruising/scarring, loose skin, etc.
Overall, a very disappointing experience as a viewer and EDS patient.
Maranda Russell 
12 responses to “Bad TV Show Depiction of Ehlers Danlos”
You should not expect a tv serial to address the medical issues.
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I guess not, but I was hoping for at least a competent portrayal. Their portrayal of some of the other conditions I have were much better in my opinion.
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That’s true for more common conditions, where people are more aware of the issues. But it was a commercial venture and their aim are higher ratings
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Sad. But remember these shows are not here to help us to understand these problems but to glorify the stars. They probably never concsulted a professional health care person. The character of House really has no redeeming qualities. As a retired nurse I seldom watch ‘medical series’
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You’d think shows like this would have plenty of medical people available to check over their stories. It can’t be that hard to make things more accurate without sacrificing the drama.
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If the Doctors can’t get it right then, I don’t expect a tv drama to either!
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lol, guess you do have a point there!
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You would think. Normally they do a good job. It was just this disease I feel they really didn’t do justice.
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Its all about the ratings not the problems
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True
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Sometimes the writers get a bad case of “Hollywood” as they miss some of the crucial points in the story.
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Yes, agreed
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