- "No. I expect you to do what you always do. Make a joke, go on. I expect you to be just fine"
- ―Cameron when House asks what she expects him to do after resigning in Human Error
GAllison Cameron was a major character on House for the first six seasons. She was a member of Gregory House's diagnostic team during the first three seasons in the position of a fellow in Diagnostic Medicine. She was qualified as a specialist in immunology. She was the youngest member of House's original diagnostic team and the only female member. After Cameron left House's diagnostic team, she returned in the season four premiere as the senior emergency room attending physician at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. At the end of Season 5, she married Robert Chase. However, in Season 6, Cameron leaves PPTH, House and Chase. She guest-starred once in the Season 6 episode Lockdown, where she returns to ask Chase to sign the divorce papers and finally settles the outstanding issues in their relationship. She is seen in the series finale Everybody Dies both as a hallucination telling House that it's okay for him to die to end his pain, and in real life at House's funeral.
She was portrayed by Jennifer Morrison.
Character History
Dr. Allison Cameron
Very little is known about Cameron's early life, but it is implied that unlike Foreman and Chase, her adolescence was rather uneventful. She was born in about 1979 in the area of Chicago, Illinois. Both of her parents are still living, and there has also been a reference to an older brother in the episode Fetal Position. However, the details of her family life are not known. She did admit that she was arrested at the age of 17 for an undisclosed reason.
It is not known where Cameron attended university. During her time there, she earned an A in Calculus, but when she realized her professor had made a grading error, she disclosed it and her grade was lowered.
Shortly after she finished university, she married her first husband even though she knew he had been recently diagnosed with terminal thyroid cancer. The husband died within six months of the marriage, but Cameron did take the precaution of freezing some of his semen.
We also do not know where she attended medical school (although Johns Hopkins Medical School was ruled out in Pilot). However, she did finish near the top of her class. She did her internship at the Mayo Clinic, a substantial accomplishment. She then completed a residency in immunology, but it has never been revealed where she did her residency.
Cameron was hired about six months before the start of the series, after Chase had been hired, but well before Eric Foreman. Apparently, House had many more qualified applicants but was intrigued by Cameron because of her exceptionally good looks. He wondered why someone so good looking had worked so hard to become a doctor and an accomplished one at that. He figured that she must be damaged in some way and wanted to find out more about her, as well as having the bonus of admiring her looks - as he described it:
- "It's like having a nice piece of art in the lobby."
- ―House, on Cameron's looks, in Pilot
Character Series
By the time Foreman is hired, Cameron is well aware of House’s “quirks”, such as never wanting to meet patients. However, she becomes suspicious when she realizes Foreman is a lot more qualified than she is. She confronts House who admits his real reason for hiring her, as well as at first misunderstanding that House’s interest was just sexual.
However, soon Cameron becomes romantically interested in House. House has no romantic interest in Cameron and puts her attraction down to a general need to find people who need fixing. Nevertheless, Cameron persists. When Cameron quits to try to take the heat off of House after Edward Vogler threatens to discontinue the entire department, House finds himself refusing to hire a new candidate and wanting her back once Vogler is gone. Cameron refuses until House agrees to go on a date with her (they had earlier attended a monster truck show together when James Wilson backed out on House’s plans, but she wanted a “real date”). House agrees, is a total gentleman during dinner, but tells Cameron that she’s only interested in him because he’s flawed.
Cameron falsely concludes that House isn’t capable of love until Stacy Warner comes back into House’s life and it’s clear that he is in love with her. Cameron accepts that House doesn’t love her and stops pursuing him. However, she doesn’t stop loving him.
Despite being tempted by both a job and a relationship with the handsome and famous Sebastian Charles, Cameron decides to stay with House. She gets more insight into House’s character when she meets his parents and they are nothing like what anyone thought they would be. House admits to her that his parents are lovely people who loved him unconditionally, but his father’s honesty, specifically his tendency to “tell it like it is” (just like Cameron), was bad for an isolated adolescent who needed encouragement and support.
In Hunting, Cameron decides to experiment with a patient’s Methamphetamine (aka crystal meth) and when Chase drops by her apartment he finds her high and insistent. They share a brief, intense sexual encounter which Chase enjoys but Cameron regrets. The same patient exposes Cameron to HIV, but she later tests negative.
Cameron prepares an article about Andie, who was literally given a living autopsy as a diagnostic procedure. Leaving it with House for review, she is aghast when Foreman publishes an article on the same case by merely having House sign off on it without reading it. When Cameron asks for an apology, Foreman reminds her they are colleagues, not friends, and says he has nothing to apologize for.
However, when Foreman takes ill, he admits to Cameron that the reason he doesn’t like her that much is her lack of objectivity about the cases. However, he realizes Cameron’s compassion for people makes her the perfect medical proxy and he appoints her just before going into an induced coma. He also apologizes for stealing the article, but although Cameron says he’s just doing it because he thinks he’s dying, she agrees to accept it just as he goes under. She proceeds with a risky brain biopsy which discovers the problem but nearly results in Foreman losing control of his muscles before he recovers.
After House seemingly doesn’t solve a case after recovering from gunshot wounds, Cameron inadvertently discovers that House was actually right about the patient, who recovered fully. She learns Lisa Cuddy and James Wilson have plotted to keep this information away from House for fear he will take further risks, but instead House is now doubting his abilities. Based on Cameron’s threats to tell House, Cuddy eventually does it herself.
- "Well, you better come up with a cunning plan..."
- ―Cameron, channeling Black Adder, in Cane and Able
Cameron grows a little more when a famous scientist refuses diagnostic tests. She finds out that he too performed experiments on unwitting subjects in the 1960s. When he tries to justify his actions by the results obtained, Cameron angrily takes a skin biopsy. When it turns out the patient has a terminal illness that will keep him in pain until he dies, Cameron is the one who arranges for the fatal dose of morphine.
More insights are gained into Cameron’s personality when a morbidly obese man comes in with a coma. Cameron seems to be the only one genuinely interested in treating him, and when the patient tries to leave she actually drugs him to keep him from leaving. As a result, she damages both the MRI machine and a plate glass panel, as well as standing up to Cuddy over the results. House figures Cameron must have been close to someone who was overweight at one time.
On Valentine’s Day, Cameron suddenly suggests to Chase that they have a “friends with benefits” relationship. They carry on a series of dangerous liaisons, including in a patient‘s bedroom and the sleep lab. Eventually, while making out in the storeroom, House breaks in, ostensibly to dispose of some files. However, they both wonder if he did it deliberately. The affair soon becomes common knowledge in the hospital.
However, when Chase makes it clear that he wants a relationship with Cameron, she breaks off the relationship they do have and their working relationship chills. Chase reacts by starting I love you Tuesdays to remind her that he likes her. Cameron keeps brushing him off.
However, after Foreman announces he is leaving, House’s behavior starts to drive the team away. After House fires Chase and Foreman makes it clear that he’s leaving too, Cameron decides to resign. She meets Chase at a bar to commiserate, but turns down his offer of a drink. However, later that evening, she shows up at Chase’s apartment and she tells him that she wants to hear that he likes her again, as well as kissing him.
Cameron starts the year by bleaching her brown hair blonde. Cuddy decides to hire back Cameron and has her fill the opening in the emergency room for senior attending physician. She manages to be in the hospital for three weeks before House notices she’s there. He describes her new position as “two steps back”. Chase too decides to stay in order to maintain his relationship with Cameron and Cuddy finds him a place on the hospital’s surgical staff.
Cameron starts to become more dismissive and authoritative with House, insisting he take cases and dismissing his attempts to treat her ER patients. However, she can’t forget her days in diagnostic medicine and, although she assures House that she doesn’t miss him, she starts getting her hand in by helping out some of The Applicants. When Foreman is left in charge while House is out treating a secret CIA patient, she advises two of the applicants to treat the patient without Foreman’s permission. Foreman soon gets back at her by pretending to discharge one of her ER patients behind her back. She soon apologizes to Foreman.
She soon settles on Jeffrey Cole as her favorite and advises him to stand up to House. To try to make it stick, she bets House that Cole will stand up to his constant abuse. She wins $100 when Cole flat out punches House in the face after a particularly egregious insult.
Cameron starts to get worried about her feelings for House when she’s interviewed by a documentary crew and when asks if she left House’s team because she hated him blurts out “No, I love Dr. House”. She then starts practicing in a mirror what to say to “clarify” her feelings while Chase looks on, annoyed at the reminder of his girlfriend's attraction to their former boss.
Cameron tries to help out by joining the hospital’s budget committee, but she soon becomes a liability when House turns on her for cutting off free cable. She resigns from the committee in order to frustrate him.
When the hospital accreditation inspector comes for an unannounced visit, Cameron is assigned to keep an eye on House’s team on the pretext that she has to come back to sort out House’s charts. However he still can’t tempt her back to the team, although she admits she misses the work.
Cameron continues to grow in confidence and when one of her homebound outreach patients becomes ill, she once again manipulates House into taking the case. She and House parry over the patient’s treatment, and when House tries to pull some fast ones to get the patient into the hospital for treatment, Cameron always remains one step ahead of him.
When Cuddy adopts her new daughter, she desperately wants to spend more time with her and turns to Cameron for help. She makes Cameron House’s new boss. Once again, House finds himself less than adept at manipulating his old fellow, getting Cameron to “approve” risky procedures he has no intention of performing. However, when Cameron breaks down and agrees to a very risky procedure (and even assists), she realizes she’s not up to the job even though the procedure indirectly leads to the right diagnosis. She tells Cuddy she can’t say no to House and that no-one else will be able to say anything other than no to House. Cuddy is stuck with supervising House herself and turns on him with a vengeance.
Meanwhile, her relationship with Chase is getting both more serious and more difficult. Chase realizes that Cameron spends most of her time at his place but won’t let him have any space at hers. However, after the relationship nearly ends, Cameron relents and lets Chase have his own drawer. Things get more serious when Cameron inadvertently learns that Chase is planning to propose. She pretend she has to work with House on a case of a sick environmentalist and can’t go away for the romantic weekend they had planned. Chase figures that Cameron still has feelings for House and breaks off the relationship. However, Cameron finally breaks down and admits to Chase that she only dodged the weekend because she knew about the proposal and didn’t know how she would respond. Although he’s freshly scrubbed for surgery, Chase proposes on the spot and Cameron accepts.
However, there is still one more hurdle to cross. Cameron discloses the fact that she has kept her late husband’s semen to Chase and that she’s not sure she wants to dispose of it. Chase rightly sees it as another hallmark that Cameron is not yet sure that he’s going to stay with her. However, in the end, he realizes that Cameron is merely keeping it as a link to her late husband and agrees to let her keep it. They marry in the last episode of the season.
This is the last season in which Cameron is a main character.
With House stating his intention not to return to diagnostic medicine, Foreman is put in charge, but Chris Taub decides to quit the team and Foreman fires his girlfriend Thirteen. Foreman asks Chase and Cameron to work with him until he can interview replacements. However, when they work on the case of a brutal African dictator, Chase fakes a test result that makes it look like Cameron’s diagnosis is right, and with Cameron on his side, they convince Foreman to change the treatment plan. However, the treatment is a disaster and the dictator soon dies. Chase confesses to Foreman, but keeps the truth from Cameron. House figures out the truth independently.
However, Chase’s behavior soon changes and Cameron becomes suspicious and believes Chase is having an affair. Chase finally confesses his misdeeds and Cameron forgives him. However, House, who is now back in charge of diagnostics, asks Chase why Cameron went so easy on him when she would be morally outraged with anyone else.
House is soon plotting to get all his old fellows back to work for him. He convinces Chase, Thirteen and Taub to beg for their old jobs back, but Cameron soon realizes that House had known what was wrong with the patient all along and threatened a risky course of treatment to get the others to get interested in the case. She tells House that she’s through with him and his arrogance has also convinced Chase he can play God, too. She leaves the hospital and tells Chase she’s leaving him as well.
However, when Chase is slow with the divorce paperwork, she comes back to PPTH to get him to sign it. He won’t until they discuss their breakup. They are soon trapped alone in a room together when the hospital is locked down looking for a missing newborn. Cameron tells Chase she never loved him and Chase accepts that - he sees it as vindicating his actions in the relationship as not being the cause of their breakup. However, she later recants, saying she did love him, but that it still wasn’t his fault that they broke up. She admits she’s the one who has trouble forming and keeping relationships with men. Chase consoles her and they wind up making love one last time before Cameron leaves with the completed divorce papers.For this season, Jennifer Morrison was demoted from the main cast. She did not make any appearances during the seventh season. However, her character was mentioned a few times.
For this season, Jennifer Morrison guest-starred in the series finale.
Chase reveals that Cameron now works in emergency medicine in Chicago.
Cameron at House's funeral
Relationship
gregory house ( husband )
rcheal house ( sept doughter )
james house ( twin son )
jhon house ( twin son )
blythe ( mother in law )
Jennifer corman ( mother )
david corman ( father )
Personality
Cameron could justifiably be described as sweet, trusting, and compassionate. She's kind and caring, though unlike Thirteen, doesn't always look past stereotypes (as in drug use). Although these would appear to help make her an excellent doctor, House delights in pointing out how each one is a weakness to her ability to objectively deal with a patient. This criticism is not without merit. For example:
- When an infant died in Maternity, House sent Cameron to tell the patient's mother. When she protested, House told Wilson to follow her and make sure that she did her job. However, when confronting the parents, Cameron froze up and Wilson did the job for her.
- Cameron felt sorry for a woman who had cancer but no living family. As such, she failed to tell the patient she might have a terminal illness until she had ruled out every other possibility. She even refused to do the tests which would definitively prove it was cancer. Even Wilson admonished her for this.
- When a woman needed a liver transplant from her girlfriend, Cameron wanted to tell the girlfriend that the patient was planning on leaving her. House had to take extraordinary measures to keep her from doing so. In the end, she found out the patient knew all along that her girlfriend wanted to leave her, and gave her the liver transplant to make her feel more guilty about leaving.
- In Skin Deep, when Cameron finds out the patient has had sex with her father, she reports it to social services despite House's vehement objections. To her astonishment, the patient denies it. When she tells the patient she must report it, the patient says it was all her idea and she makes a habit of sleeping with men who can help her career. She slept with her father so he wouldn't interfere with her career or life.
- In Informed Consent, the patient wanted to be euthanised. Cameron rejected the idea of killing him, but she also did not want to ignore the patient's wishes. Her indecision was criticised by House, telling her to "do your damn job". In the end, the patient was diagnosed as having a terminal illness and Cameron arranged for the fatal shot of morphine. She was shown to be crying in the hospital chapel after euthanising him.
Despite her usually sweet personality, Cameron is shown to harshly judge those who do not meet her moral standards. For example, she tells a patient's husband he is a terrible person after he confides that a small part of him hopes his wife doesn't wake up, which would mean she didn't cheat on him. She can also be somewhat callous, such as when she tells Chase that "If only [he] was handicapped, all the good times [he] could have had with [his] dad." in third season episode Lines in the Sand. Not only that, but she began a "friends with benefits" relationship with Chase, only to callously break it off with him when he admitted that he'd fallen for her and that he wanted a serious relationship.
Trivia
- Her medical license is "New Jersey #156139" [1]
- Cameron almost always draped her lab coat over her chair in the conference room.
- Her hallucination counterpart was the only one House had that tried to convince him to commit suicide.
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