Okay, I wasn't quite truthful when I said I don't care about factual errors - in fact, I lied. When that sort of thing happens, I sit there and curse the writers, especially if it mucks my latest fanfic up completely. But - I can get over that. When Wilson was married to whom doesn't change his character, walking out on an OD'ing House does, and that affects my enjoyment of the show and my fanfiction.
The 'Wilson walking out on OD'ing House' didn't affect me much either until another fan pointed out to me just how criminal, callous and potentially dangerous to House that was. Now there are things that the show can do because the fan base that is likely to notice how unlikely or outrageous it is happens to be very small. That's the case with most of the medical stuff. Few people know and even less care whether a certain genetic test can be done within a given time span. But people OD'ing, while being outside my experience, happens to be something a lot of people are familiar with; addicts relapsing even more so. Hence there are a lot of viewers who can judge the moral implications of those deeds. And there are also a lot of viewers who have a personal stake in this because either they or a loved one are (former) addicts. They react very sensitively to this sort of bs, and quite rightly so. A show dealing with the journey of an addict, no matter how much faux outrage they bring into it, needs to get the process of addiction and recovery right. The writers are free to sacrifice Wilson's or Cuddy's character (they are the intellectual property of House MD, not of the fandom) to the imperatives of the show, but they should be aware that they are doing so, and I'm not sure they are. Liz Friedman needs to be aware that compared to the callousness of leaving House to his own devices, the question of whether she was justified in dumping him or not becomes obsolete.
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The 'Wilson walking out on OD'ing House' didn't affect me much either until another fan pointed out to me just how criminal, callous and potentially dangerous to House that was. Now there are things that the show can do because the fan base that is likely to notice how unlikely or outrageous it is happens to be very small. That's the case with most of the medical stuff. Few people know and even less care whether a certain genetic test can be done within a given time span. But people OD'ing, while being outside my experience, happens to be something a lot of people are familiar with; addicts relapsing even more so. Hence there are a lot of viewers who can judge the moral implications of those deeds. And there are also a lot of viewers who have a personal stake in this because either they or a loved one are (former) addicts. They react very sensitively to this sort of bs, and quite rightly so. A show dealing with the journey of an addict, no matter how much faux outrage they bring into it, needs to get the process of addiction and recovery right. The writers are free to sacrifice Wilson's or Cuddy's character (they are the intellectual property of House MD, not of the fandom) to the imperatives of the show, but they should be aware that they are doing so, and I'm not sure they are. Liz Friedman needs to be aware that compared to the callousness of leaving House to his own devices, the question of whether she was justified in dumping him or not becomes obsolete.