Travis Brennan was a recurring character on House during the first part of the fourth season. He was usually referred to by his last name by his fellow applicants, and referred to as "Grumpy" by House, was one of the forty applicants for the three fellowship positions at the start of Season 4.
He made it to the final six before being forced to resign from the program in disgrace at the end of Whatever It Takes after it was revealed that he had poisoned a patient in the hope of getting funding for the treatment of polio.
Background and role in the competition[]
Brennan's previous experience was in third world countries where he generally worked with patients with contagious infectious diseases.
Although he loved doing that work, he had recently become engaged and needed a job with a steady income. Dr. Gregory House called him out in 97 Seconds for changing his career path so suddenly, but was rather supportive in keeping Brennan on because he knew he was a smart, talented doctor with unique experience. However, it was clear that Brennan didn't really like working in a hospital. Nevertheless, House reminded him that despite his discontent, he was probably "just the right amount of miserable".
However, in Whatever It Takes, Brennan secretly poisoned a patient who had suffered from heat stroke with thallium to mimick the symptoms of polio but which eventually wore off, Brennan also "diagnosing" the polio with a fake lab test. He also gave her doses of Vitamin C, a treatment he claimed had been successful at the overseas clinics he'd worked at, causing the patient to improve with her symptoms disappearing.
Eric Foreman was suspicious as the patient had been in fact been vaccinated for polio, and his lab tests showed the patient had never had it. House figured out that the patient had thallium poisoning and that Brennan had done it in order to get funding for clinical trials.
Brennan tried to justify his actions by saying he knew that it would work if they just did the funding for it, but House told him he had to resign.
When Brennan left, House told Foreman to call the cops after Brennan was well away from the hospital before Foreman called the cops, House voicing his belief that Brennan was "a nutjob" before House told the remaining applicants: Amber Volakis, Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, Lawrence Kutner, Chris Taub and Jeffrey Cole to listen to Foreman the next time he was in charge.
Appearances[]
| Season 4 | |||||
| #01 | "Alone" | #07 | "Ugly" | #13 | "No More Mr. Nice Guy" |
| #02 | "The Right Stuff" | #08 | "You Don't Want To Know" | #14 | "Living The Dream" |
| #03 | "97 Seconds" | #09 | "Games" | #15 | "House's Head" |
| #04 | "Guardian Angels" | #10 | "It's a Wonderful Lie" | #16 | "Wilson's Heart" |
| #05 | "Mirror Mirror" | #11 | "Frozen" | ||
| #06 | "Whatever It Takes" | #12 | "Don't Ever Change" | ||