A bombshell was dropped at the close of last night’s House and I’m still reeling from the effects. I told you how distressed Foreman was last week after losing a patient due to his mistake. Well, despite House’s confidence that he would bounce back from the incident, Foreman’s commitment to his profession had been rocked to its very core. And I mean an 8.5 on the Richter scale.

This was to be his episode, with Chase’s pursuit of Cameron reduced to background noise and the Cuddy/House/Wilson saga long-forgotten. That is not to say that Foreman swamped the screen or smothered the action rather we knew that this new medical case was critical for him in a way that the others couldn’t imagine.

And so what did this new case involve? Two brothers, a bone marrow transplant and some agonising decisions for their parents. 14-year-old Nick, under the care of Wilson was being prepped for a bone marrow transplant, with the donor his younger brother Matty. Only this being House, such procedures never run smoothly and when Matty became inexplicably ill it was the obligatory race against time to work some medical magic. With Matty sick, the transplant was under threat, yet without this new bone marrow Nick was sure to die.

Working through red herring after red herring, the docs clashed on how best to move forward. Foreman thought a bone marrow transplant, however poor a match was Nick’s best hope, while House and co. pondered indecisively on how best to act. His staunch conviction led Foreman to convince the distressed boys’ parents that his proposed treatment for Nick was the best, and under his guidance they consented to the risky operation.

As predicted by his fellow doctors, the new bone marrow didn’t take leaving the boy in extreme agony and no closer to surviving. Foreman transferred his efforts onto younger brother Matty with new information suggesting that he was suffering from an infection. Unwilling to sit around and do nothing, Foreman began to test randomly for every kind of possible infection that Matty could be suffering from. House rallied against this and openly mocked him, but what do you know? Foreman came good and correctly diagnosed the infection making Matty ill.

With one brother on the road to recovery, the transplant could still occur and Matty was keen to do all that he could to save his big bro. The scene which followed was surprisingly harrowing, as Foreman drilled into Matty in search of useable bone marrow. The young boy thrashed and wailed, the pain unbearable with his screams echoing around the hospital. Still Foreman maintained his calm focus and persevered despite the boy’s evident anguish.

Fortunately, the pain proved worth it and both boys recovered from their ordeals. Freaked out that he was capable of such things, Foreman shared a moment of reflection with House at the show’s end. House clearly thought that this incident had restored Foreman’s self-belief and motivation to do good as a doctor, what he and we, the audience didn’t see coming was the younger doc handing in his two weeks notice. Foreman could see that he was adopting the same cold efficiency of House and the thought terrified him enough to quit his job.

No Foreman – don’t go! After all, House has slept with Cameron, as has Chase. If you could just hang in there a bit longer, I’m sure you could get some hospital lovin’ as well.