House M.D. (TV Series)

Office Politics (2010)

Amber Tamblyn: Martha M. Masters

Photos 

Quotes 

• Martha Masters : Respect matters. Honesty and integrity matter.

  Joe Dugan : Have you ever thought of running for public office? Because I would love to have someone like you as an opponent.

• Martha Masters : We treat with chemotherapy or steroids.

  Dr. Gregory House : We treat with chemotherapy.

  Martha Masters : I said chemo.

  Dr. Gregory House : And then you said "or."

  Dr. Robert Chase : Once again, the bunny meets the blade.

  Dr. Gregory House : The road to dead patients is paved with "or's." Chemo is the more effective treatment, which means it will confirm our diagnosis more quickly...

  Martha Masters : I agree, but there is another option.

  Dr. Gregory House : There are lots of other options. There's bloodletting, crystals, prayer...

  Martha Masters : Another medically accepted option.

  Dr. Gregory House : Which is both less effective and less scary. So the patient might just choose it. Unless, of course, we don't mention it to him.

  Martha Masters : We can't withhold information. If we explain both the benefits and the risks of each treatment, I'm sure Dugan will choose chemo.

  Dr. Gregory House : Well, as long as you're sure.

  Martha Masters : [to Dugan]  The better option is chemotherapy. It's faster and more likely to completely cure you.

  Joe Dugan : I'll take the steroids.

  Dr. Gregory House : Oh, my goodness. If only someone could have predicted that you'd make that incredibly stupid decision.

• Martha Masters : I was just down by Dugan's room. They were gonna give him the wrong medicine. I tried to change the order, but I'm not a doctor.

  Dr. Gregory House : Good. The wrong medicine is the right medicine.

  Martha Masters : But he wanted steroids, not chemo.

  Dr. Gregory House : He wants to live.

  Martha Masters : I'm gonna tell him what's going on.

  Dr. Gregory House : No, you're not. I don't mind your morality, in theory. But in practice, you're risking my patient's life. So you're fired.

  Martha Masters : You think that's gonna stop me from telling him?

  Dr. Gregory House : If you do, I'll get you thrown out of medical school.

  Martha Masters : I haven't done anything that would merit that.

  Dr. Gregory House : I know, but unlike you, I'm willing to lie.

• Martha Masters : How can we ask our patients to trust us, if we're not honest with them?

  Dr. Chris Taub : How can we ask a patient to trust us, after we tell him he can't trust us? Fine. Tell him. Clear your conscience because that's what's important.

• Dr. Chris Taub : Are you a vampire? It's okay. We're inviting you in.

  Martha Masters : But your patient didn't. I can't do this. I'm sorry.

  Dr. Chris Taub : Well, she's gonna be a big help.

  Dr. Eric Foreman : Yeah, what a rube, being uncomfortable breaking into a stranger's house.

  Dr. Chris Taub : It's part of our job description. Not the most morally ambiguous part.

• Joe Dugan : Give me a percentage. What are the odds of this thing working?

  Martha Masters : There's an 85% chance that this will kill you.

  Joe Dugan : So you want to give me something that works 15% better than arsenic?

  Martha Masters : Technically. It works infinitely better because arsenic has a 0%... chance... This is your only shot. Both Dr. House and I believe that. He faked a blood test in order to get you approved for this treatment, and then, he tried to bribe me into lying to you about the risks. If either of these incidents came to light, he'd be suspended and probably lose his license.

  Dr. Gregory House : I'm sure some other people would suffer.

  Martha Masters : He's risking his career to give you this chance. He wouldn't do that if there was any other choice.

• Martha Masters : Being around House. He's such a legend. He's -so intimidating. I'm not like that around ordinary people.

  [Masters laughs] 

  Martha Masters : Oh not that you guys are - ordinary. It's just that he's so brilliant and you work under him, so you're not as imposing. Uh, I'm going to be quiet.

  Dr. Chris Taub : Good idea.

• Martha Masters : So what do we do now?

  Dr. Gregory House : Considering the fact that I'm about to do something unethical...

  Martha Masters : Oh right, yeah. I'm fired.

• Dr. Gregory House : Prove yourself to me. No more games. At least the current game ends, others may start. You have my deeply flawed word.

  Martha Masters : What do I have to do?

  Dr. Gregory House : Get Dugan to let us give him Hep A. And while you're figuring out the best way to coax a patient into a treatment that has an 85% morality rate, here's some advice: don't.

  Martha Masters : I'm not gonna lie to him.

  Dr. Gregory House : You have a math degree, so let's see if you can follow along here. You lie to him, he definitely consents, he might live. You tell him the truth like the last time, he might not consent, he definitely dies. Remind me what's so wrong about lying?

• Martha Masters : You can pretend you wanted me to lie, but you didn't. You want the people on your team to challenge you, otherwise you'd just be a bully instead of a great doctor. You hired me because I don't compromise my principles.

  Dr. Gregory House : *Or* I want a front row seat when you wake up and realize how useless your principles are. I don't want you to just lie to a patient. I want you to want to lie to a patient.

  Martha Masters : It's not gonna happen.

  Dr. Gregory House : See you tomorrow.

• Martha Masters : Oh, cool. Tudor revival architecture. Steeply pitched asymmetrical roof over the entrance. But it doesn't have the half-timbering over the facade.

  Dr. Chris Taub : Doesn't say anything about medicine. Can't shut up about architecture. Great.

  Martha Masters : I know. I don't know what happened.