Maternity (7 Dec. 2004)

A nightmare scenario hits Princeton Plainsboro when babies in the maternity ward are hit by a potentially fatal epidemic. Clinic Cases: Woman with a parasite!

Director:

Newton Thomas Sigel

Writers:

David Shore (creator), Peter Blake

Stars:

Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Omar Epps

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Laurie	...	Dr. Gregory House
Lisa Edelstein	...	Dr. Lisa Cuddy
Omar Epps	...	Dr. Eric Foreman
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Dr. James Wilson
Jennifer Morrison	...	Dr. Allison Cameron
Jesse Spencer	...	Dr. Robert Chase
Ever Carradine	...	Karen Hartig
Hedy Burress	...	Jill
Cress Williams	...	Hospital Attorney
Melissa Marsala	...	Judy Lupino
Alexandra Bokyun Chun	...	Kim Chen (as Alexandra Chun)
Kenneth Choi	...	Dr. Lim
Benjamin John Parrillo	...	Dr. Kubisak (as Ben Parrillo)
Sam Trammell	...	Ethan Hartig
Dwight Armstrong	...	Charlie

Storyline

Two babies in separate delivery rooms delivered by separate staff become deathly ill within minutes of birth. Even though there's no way to explain how an infection could spread between them so quickly, the team must find some way to prevent an epidemic they can't yet identify. In chasing the killer, House must make a choice: give both babies the same treatment and loose both if he's wrong, or give them separate treatments to assure a positive ID of the illness, but also assuring that one of the babies will die.

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Plot Keywords:

baby | epidemic | maternity ward | infection | blood sample | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2004 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 10, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Heel & Toe Films, Shore Z Productions, Bad Hat Harry Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Dr. House says that he is is performing a delivery in March, another doctor claims that March is "five months from now". However, earlier when House audiotapes an autopsy on the Cheng-Lupino baby, he says "...December 2004". March is THREE months from December.

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Quotes

Dr. Allison Cameron: Needle in the haystack.
Dr. Gregory House: It's worse than that. We don't even know if it's a needle we're looking for.

User Reviews

Tough to watch

This show is so well made and so realistic at times, it can be hard to watch. MATERNITY is just such an episode. A very nasty bacterial infection or virus spreads like wildfire among the hospital's newborns, and their lives are threatened. It is very hard to tell in most scenes when we are looking at a real baby and an animatronic doll. Death stalks the halls big time in this episode, and that is all I will say about that. As for the clinic subplot, wait until you get a load of the woman harboring a "parasite." And wait until you see how House gets involved with the sick babies. Without giving the specifics away, I will say it is both funny and somehow oddly pleasing to see House in the exact same situation at the beginning and end of the episode.