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Huntington's Disease Media Critique

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Huntington's Disease Media Critique
Media Critique of Huntington’s Disease

There are a lot of different books, movies and TV shows that portray neuropsychological disorders. The popular show House M.D. showed the audience so many cases of different diseases that give an interesting knowledge to the viewers. Sometimes it is real life cases, but most of the time it is imagination of the screenwriters. Each episode is different and was not focused for a long time on one specific disease except Huntington’s. Dr. Hadley (Olivia Wild) or better known as Thirteen one of the main characters in the show was diagnosed with HD. While watching the show the audience could better understand Thirteen’s situation and it gives them better idea of the disease and what is following after. There are lots of different diseases in the world. Many of them are treatable, but there are still some sicknesses that cannot be cured and one of them is Huntington’s disease.
In the show House M.D. Dr. Remy Hadley (Olivia Wild) suffers from Huntington’s disease. She is the part of the diagnostic team under the guidance of Gregory House. Thirteen is the most mysterious character in his team, but as time goes House reveals her secrets. Thirteen suffers from a genetic condition called Huntington 's disease. Her mother died of HD and later on Remy euthanized her brother who suffered from the same illness. Thirteen did not know if she inherited the gene for a long time and non-acquaintance made her brave to do things she thought she could not do. House got Remy’s DNA test for Huntington’s, but she did not want to see it. She was afraid to know the truth, but later on she did the test again and found out that the result for the test come out positive. In Season Five, Remy accepted that she has the disease and her colleagues were aware of her problems. Dr. Hadley showed self-destructive behavior and took unnecessary risks after she found out about her sickness. In the “Last Resort”, Thirteen agrees to be used as guinea pig for a



References: Elias L.J. & Saucier D.M., (2006). Huntington’s chorea. Neuropsychology. p.170 Remy Hadley/House M.D http://house.wikia.com/wiki/Remy_Hadley Mayo Clinic staff (2011, May 05)

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