Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
At Princeton-Plainsboro, Gregory House runs a diagnostic team with Eric Foreman, Allison Cameron and Robert Chase, while his blunt manner keeps bringing him into conflict with hospital dean Lisa Cuddy. The cases push the doctors to challenge one another as House follows symptoms that do not fit the obvious explanation. A hospital power struggle takes shape when wealthy donor Edward Vogler becomes chairman and demands that House fire one of his fellows; House refuses to endorse Vogler’s preferred drug, escalating their dispute over the donation.
Vogler turns the dispute into a threat to House’s job and tries to remove Wilson from the hospital as well. Cuddy and Wilson stand with House, and the board eventually forces Vogler out, ending his campaign and restoring the team. Cameron, who had resigned during the dispute, returns after negotiating a dinner date with him. Their cases continue to test House’s willingness to take risks and the team’s trust in his judgment.
In the final two episodes, House’s former girlfriend Stacy Warner arrives because her husband Mark is seriously ill. While Cuddy makes House lecture medical students, he uses three leg-pain cases to reveal what happened to his own leg: a blood clot caused muscle death, and he chose a risky bypass over amputation. While House was unconscious, Stacy authorized removal of the dead muscle, leaving him with lasting pain and a limp. He agrees to treat Mark, eventually identifying acute intermittent porphyria, and Cuddy hires Stacy as the hospital’s lawyer.