To begin with, I am watching and writing about this episode in 2017 because unlike Dr. House, I did set the TiVo to record. "Fetal Position" (Season Three) is one of the more thought provoking episodes; It is short on the usual jokes and competition/insults between House and his underlings, and features Dr. Cuddy out of her administrator role and into an active physician's role. The episode was written to feature Dr. Lisa Cuddy and House in a role reversal. There are moments in this episode that could be viewed as maudlin if one favored the usual cynical themes of the show's driving force. There is the "touching" moment in surgery that I won't describe further in case anyone, like me, is 10 years behind in their TV viewing. There is also the scene where the recovering mother is hanging photos in her home of the doctors who treated her. But importantly, we also get to see a little bit of the compassionate side of Gregory House, who usually does an excellent job of covering up any emotions. In this episode his job is to take 2nd chair to his boss, who empathizes, to a fault as House reminds her, a middle aged woman's desire to have a child at any cost. (She almost kills two patients to help secure the wishes of one of them) In 9 out of 10 times, House tells her, both the mother and her baby would have died.
Some people have written off this episode as being some kind of pro-life statement. In my opinion, they have seen what they wanted to see, rather than what the writers of the show intended. It is no more pro life than it is pro Galápagos Islands. I enjoyed this episode because it allowed the actress Lisa Edelstein to display her considerable skills and to illustrate how often doctors can be wrong by allowing their own emotions to affect their judgement. House takes over her role by scolding her for her lack of judgement.
