In House M.D., Gregory House regularly takes Vicodin, a prescription painkiller containing hydrocodone and acetaminophen.
The medication is connected to the chronic leg pain House experiences after an infarction damaged muscle in his thigh. His dependence on Vicodin becomes a continuing part of the character’s medical, ethical, and personal story.
The show uses House’s medication use to create conflict with colleagues, patients, and authorities. It also emphasizes the tension between his extraordinary diagnostic ability and the risks associated with addiction and long-term opioid use.
Vicodin is sometimes confused with other pain medicines mentioned in medical dramas. In House M.D., however, Vicodin is the specific drug most strongly associated with House, while the fictional illness and treatment details vary from episode to episode.