House episode 6-7

[deelaundry]

For once, I mostly want to reflect on the serious in this episode. It really bothered me that they kept calling what Wilson did "murder." He didn't murder (kill with intent) anyone; he provided the means for someone to commit suicide. That's still something you (and he) can debate the right and wrong of, but it's not murder.

What Chase did, on the other hand, is murder. First-degree murder, by US law: "murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation." Is linking it to Wilson's almost-euthanasia intended to be a comparison, downplaying what Chase did, or a contrast, highlighting what Chase did? I don't know, and that bothers me.

It's also interesting that Chase, who committed the more serious act by US law (and by my own moral judgment, although that's less relevant to the discussion) is trying to avoid taking any consequence, while Wilson with the less serious, less culpable act is trying to take on more consequence than, I can argue and House does argue, he deserves.

Does this mean that Wilson is more moral than Chase? I don't think so. I think they both went to extremes and tied themselves into knots due to their own pathologies. Wilson had the benefit of a good friend getting through to him (albeit in an underhanded, twisted way) and being there for him. Chase has been avoiding letting the one who's closest to him be there for him, and I think it's because he knows what the priest told him is right. He won't feel he deserves absolution until he both faces the enormity of what he did and accepts the just consequence of the murder he has committed.

Comments

[taiga13.livejournal.com]

I was just speculating on T-Z's journal that what Wilson did COULD be considered murder if you believe that the patient was mentally incapacitated by his pain. That he would OD not because he wanted to die but because he couldn't bear the pain and therefore couldn't make a rational decison. I'm not arguing that was the case, just that it could be.
I hate when assisted suicide and euthanasia are referred to as the same thing. They're completely different.
House did say "murder" several times, but at that point all he'd read was the opening sentence of Wilson's speech. "Euthanasia: we all do it". Sounds like a tee-shirt slogan.
I've heard people say Wilson and Chase did the same thing, or that Cameron killing Powell in Informed Consent is the same as what Chase did, and I couldn't disagree more. There were two very important differences. One, Powell clearly asked for help dying several times and Wilson's patient presumably knew what he was doing when he ODed. They made those choices for themselves, Wilson and Cameron didn't do it for them. Two, Wilson's patient was DYING. Powell was DYING. Dibala was not dying.
Wilson and Cameron gave their patients a choice between a slow painful death or a quick one. Life was not an option. Chase chose to take someone's life because he believed he had the right to decide if he should live or not.
The way the paper was written bothered me too, but I think Wilson was supposed to have written it impulsively and that the language was meant to be informal.

[blackmare.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was a formal "paper" that Wilson was presenting; more like a discussion he wanted to start, and yes, very impulsive.

It's interesting to me that Wilson felt so isolated that he was willing to risk that much just to end the isolation and the guilt and get some kind of reassurance (and, yeah, I think he has a self-destructive streak that was at work there too). When it turned out that, this time, talking to House was all he needed to do.

Not that I don't understand why Wilson wouldn't have considered "talk to House" as a viable option. I'm just very relieved to find that it was.