Crush Syndrome - That's Life

Do you know what it means to bite? Well, I'm totally biting off of Checker's blog style today...almost 100%. You know what they say: "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

In the season finale of House (entitled "Help Me"), House and Cuddy are at the scene of an accident where a crane collapsed onto a building, injuring and trapping many people. During the search and rescue, House finds a woman named Hanna trapped beneath the concrete rubble. He attempts to free her, but her leg is pinned beneath a beam.

Saving Hanna
The easiest way to rescue Hanna would be to amputate the trapped leg and pull her out. However, due to:

• his own physical disability (House has a bad leg that is the source of excruciating pain);
• the desire of the patient (she doesn't want to lose her leg), and
• the fact that Cuddy is on-board with this idea (he wants to be contrary),

House opposes this plan. He's positive that he can keep her stable, and that the firemen/rescue crew can drill her out of the concrete before Crush Syndrome (the real definition) sets in.

Things Never Go as Planned

• When the crew attempts to dig Hanna out, the building suffers a second collapse.
• Hanna suffers a collapsed lung, and so House has to re-inflate it.
• Now, tragically, amputation is the only choice...but the patient refuses.
• So House, in very non-typical form, opens up about how in trying to save his own leg he ruined his life. He explains to her that she has everything to live for, and that the amputation is the only choice.
• She's moved by his candor and the reality of the situation and agrees.
• House performs the amputation, down there in the rubble, without anesthesia, with the screams of this woman in his ears.
• She is successfully extricated from the building. The people rejoice.
• Then...through no fault of House, she dies in the ambulance because of a "fat embolism" which causes an air bubble, restricting the flow of blood to the heart.

House is crushed.

He has the following conversation with one of his employees, Foreman, at the hospital:

Foreman: There's no way to prevent a fat embolism. Even if you'd done this in an OR, you couldn't have saved her.
(House stalks away angrily)
Foreman: (following House) You can't blame yourself for her death. This wasn't your fault.
House: THAT'S THE POINT! I did everything right and she died anyway! Why the hell do you think that would make me feel better?

The Point

This episode is about what I've decided to call: Crush Syndrome. My definition is different from the medical definition, but it's still pretty grim (and reads like a real syndrome!):

Crush Syndrome - the occurrence/release of toxic emotions stemming from the feeling of being mentally squeezed or pounded into small fragments or particles; it is characterized by both the outpouring of ill-will, and the infilling of despair, originated and experienced by an individual overwhelmed with confusion, chagrin, or humiliation related to a seemingly unfair and unexpected turn of events. SYN: disappointment.


We often feel better when something is our fault, or when we can point to the flaw or the mistake that created the bad situation. That's what House was saying: when you do something wrong, there exists an explanation for the bad outcome. It's when the outcome is bad DESPITE all the right moves that we have a crisis of faith. We start to question the "fairness" of life, and we let a dark cloud of disappointment descend upon us. But here's the truth of the matter:

...for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45

Good times and bad times...that's life yo!

We are so busy planning. Making sure we do all the "right" things to create a certain outcome. We plan for our education, our jobs, our relationships, and sometimes all of this comes to nothing, because sometimes it simply "rains" on you.

True story: yesterday I found my 1995 diary in my mom's basement. At 13, I had dreams and ideals. I wanted to be an actress and a writer for the Guiding Light (which was canceled last year, btw), I wanted to be married at 22 and have 5 children with terrible names. As I was reading the diary, I was struck by the fact that I am a single, childless, ACCOUNTANT. How did this happen? Crush syndrome started to set in. But then I thought about the Word of God.

The Take-Away

Here is the hard lesson: disappointment is a lack of faith. What do I mean? Well, you either believe the word of God, or you don’t. Either I think God somehow allowed me to miss out on my soap opera career, as well as love and marriage, or I expect BETTER (for me) in the future.

In true Checkers style, I’m going to lay this out in a table. I would actually love to use a flow chart, but I don’t know how…



And the church said "Amen."

That was by far the longest blog EVER!! I'm so happy it is behind me, I hope you won't find it too disappointing. Pun intended!