Opening scene somebody gets ill, others around are concerned but this is misdirection as ta-dah it’s one of the concerned others that falls sick and needs a trip to the hospital.
Someone tries to entice House to take the case by offering up tidbits of information about the illness but he is not interested. Then someone mentions something inconsequential and he snatches the case file and accepts.
Initial diagnosis is unclear but it could just be Lupus but ‘it’s not Lupus’ (except for when it is). Patient is started on a series of meds but they get worse, usually involving a lot of blood from some unusual orifice. An alternative diagnosis rears its head at this point and the patient begins to respond to the change of medicines but we are not fooled as it is only half way through the episode and know there is an imminent relapse coming.
At this point Foreman is sent to break into the home of said patient to rifle through their draws and find something that might relate to the case. Often this will show up nothing but later in the episode Foreman will casually mention something trivial such as a bus pass they had seen and House will chide Foreman for not mentioning it earlier. The next diagnosis will related to something caught off the seat of a public bus.
By now prospects for a healthy recovery are looking low and you fear the worst – that House might finally fail and a person might actually die. But no, wait a minute, perhaps it is the thing that we thought it was in the first place just hiding as something else! Start them on the meds and they’ll be right as rain.
Literally minutes later the colour is back in the patients cheeks and within 24 hours they are discharged and are last seen running a marathon.
Three cheers for Doctor House!