TV's ‘House’ Diagnoses Patient

Hopeful this doctor's bedside manner was more manageable. Dr. Juergen Schaefer was faced with a tough case. For months doctors were baffled by a 55-year-old German man suffering from severe heart failure who presented symptoms including fever, blindness, deafness, and enlarged lymph nodes. Luckily for the man, Schaefer is a fan of the medical drama House. “After five minutes, I knew what was wrong,’’ said Schaefer, as his symptoms matched a patient in an episode where cobalt poisoning was the cause. It turned out that fragments from a ceramic hip replacement were leaking cobalt and chromium into his bloodstream.