3.13 Needle in a Haystack
From tv.com: House and his staff must deal with a teenage Gypsy boy suffering from inexplicable respiratory distress. However, House has bigger issues on his mind: Cuddy has given away his handicapped spot.

Real Life Plot Twists of Famous Authors 3. Sherwood Anderson Best known for his collection of short stories, Winesburg, Ohio, and for mentoring such literary heavyweights as Hemingway, Faulkner and Steinbeck, Anderson had a knack for unexpected exits. One day in November 1912, while serving as president of the successful Anderson Manufacturing Co., he simply got up and walked out of his office to pursue a career in writing. Years later, he made another sudden departure, this time during the middle of a South American voyage. At his farewell cocktail party, Anderson unknowingly swallowed a toothpick hidden within an hors d'oeuvre. The author sailed on, but the toothpick didn't, penetrating his intestines and causing peritonitis. Anderson became ill aboard ship and later died in a Panama hospital.

It's awfully common Poeia. I've seen a case of tooth pickitis and it's nasty. Had the episode been remotely accurate, the patient would have developed peritonitis and lost several feet of intestine and assorted other organs.