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Masters: "Um, K.P. Is that patient Kendall Pearson? I thought she was discharged"
Simpson: "Mm. It's a House case. I never know what that guy's up to."
— Last Temptation


Dr. Ron Simpson is an orthopedic and general surgeon at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, and is also on the Board of Directors and the transplant committee. He is also responsible for the surgical intern program. He was portrayed by actor Ron Perkins. One of the most frequent recurring characters, he appears in nine episodes from Season 1 to Season 8. Only seven other characters who were not on House's main team appeared in more episodes.

Despite his frequent appearances, not a lot else is known about Dr. Simpson. His first name (which matches the name of the actor who portrays him) was not revealed until the beginning of Season 8. He appears to be both busy and respected. He deals with House as infrequently as possible, and tends to treat him with a mix of annoyance and feigned politeness. He is also straightforward with a "no nonsense" attitude towards all his work.

Season 1[]

House: "Dr. Simpson! Did you hear? New management. I'm thinking of switching to orthopedics. How much do you guys get for massage now, without the happy ending?"
Simpson: "Dr. House, what do you want?"
— The opening salvo - Control

In Control, Dr. Simpson is the surgeon whose patient went mute after routine surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament..When House comes to him for an explanation, he is annoyed that House is bothering him and that House brought up the incident, which resulted in an increase in Simpson's malpractice insurance premiums. He denies the patient had high blood pressure or a stroke during surgery, and insists the patient had no sign of a cortical disease or Wernicke's encephalopathy. They had to settle the lawsuit for over $1 million because they couldn't identify a cause for the patient's loss of voice.

Vogler: "A man is the sum of his actions. Here are a few of Dr. House’s. He violated a DNR and was charged with assault. He brought a termite into the OR and spat on a surgeon. He accepted a Corvette from a patient who was a known member of the New Jersey mafia."
Simpson: "...Edward. You look at anyone’s career, you can find things that are –"
Vogler: "These are the last three months. He’s personally had more complaints filed against him than any department in this hospital"
— Simpson tries to defend the indefensible - Babies & Bathwater

In Babies & Bathwater, Dr. Simpson is the doctor who initially stands up for House when Vogler points out what misconduct has engaged in, until Vogler points out that all the misconduct he listed only occurred in the last three months. Simpson annoys Vogler by trying to address him by the familiar "Ed" rather than the formal "Edward" and Vogler swiftly corrects him.

Season 2[]

House: "He's in excellent health. This was his first hospitalisation since breaking his leg at 23. Or 22, I'm not sure anymore."
Simpson: "If this patient were to survive the operation, he'd get another what? 5, 10, maybe 20 years if he's very lucky?"
House: "So you're saying that old people aren't as worth saving as young people?"
— Simpson turns objective - Sex Kills

In Sex Kills, Dr. Simpson is one of the people on the transplant committee who refuse to give Henry Errington a heart. He points out that the patient's age makes success less likely, and that even if the transplant succeeds, the patient's lifespan is limited. House angers Simpson by implying he's a racist and pointing out that Simpson is about the same age as the patient.

Season 3[]

House: "Hey! Don't touch his eye!"
Simpson: "This is an appendectomy."
House: "Like I said, don't touch his eye"
— Simpson fails to appreciate an interruption - Lines in the Sand

In Lines in the Sand, House walks in on Simpson while he was performing an appendectomy thinking it was his patient who was having surgery on his eye.

House: "Come on, come on. It's gotta be in here... But it isn't."
Simpson: "Mind if we close?"
— Simpson again fails to appreciate an interruption - Needle in a Haystack

In Needle in a Haystack, Simpson operates on Stevie Lipa after Stevie doubles over with abdominal pain. He removes Stevie's spleen and starts working on another site where there is bleeding. Eric Foreman instructs Simpson not to close the patient so Foreman can look for the granulomas to confirm their diagnosis of granulomatosis with polyangiitis. However, Foreman can find no sign of it. House insists Simpson run the patient's small intestine, but Simpson refuses, so House runs down from the observation area to do it himself. House insists there was a granuloma on the liver on the x-ray, but Simpson only saw a scar that was probably mistaken for a granuloma. House refuses to leave the operating room and Simpson threatens to call his lawyer. As House searches the small intestine, both Simpson and Foreman point out that the patient's blood pressure is fluctuating. House deals with the problem by having Foreman start the patient on Ringer's solution after both Simpson and his nurse refuse to do it. After House fails to find anything, an annoyed Simpson sarcastically asks if he's allowed to close the patient.

Season 6[]

"Are you out of your mind? If we don't accept AtlanticNet insurance, we'll lose 80% of our patients. We'd be lucky to last three months."
―Simpson realizes House isn't the only crazy one at PPTH - 5 to 9

In 5 to 9, we see him on the board of directors. He sees that Cuddy has been arguing with Dave Thomas and wonders if there is anything wrong. When Cuddy explains her plans to end the insurance contract with Atlantic Net if they don't agree to the increase she's demanded, Simpson points out they will lose 80% of their patients and will most likely be out of money in three months. He expresses skepticism when Cuddy insists that Atlantic Net needs the hospital.

Season 7[]

"Generally speaking, pledges aren't supposed to talk unless they ask a question. That's because, generally speaking, pledges don't have anything to say."
―Simpson comes dangerously close to giving Masters a compliment - Last Temptation

In Last Temptation, he shows his role as supervisor of the hospital's surgical training program and is initially impressed with the knowledge and initiative of Martha M. Masters when she suggests he use calcium chloride to increase the ability of the patient's blood to clot. He invites her to join him in his next operation. However, during the operation, while she's assisting, she fakes having to go to the bathroom to check in on House's patient, greatly annoying Simpson. He's even less impressed when she asks for a temporary transfer to work with House again on one of his cases and he reminds her that he's well on his way to forgetting her.

Season 8[]

Simpson: "ARDS secondary to trauma is our leading hypothesis. FiO2 is 93%—"
House: "Prison! Sorry, I thought I heard everyone else think that. I was in prison, you see. It was a long time ago, but still, you're curious. Never was raped, not raped-raped. Well, raped-raped, but not raped-raped-raped. Well, now that we've got that completely behind us"
Simpson: "Sorry, Dr. House, welcome back."
— Simpson welcomes House back to the hospital - Transplant

In Transplant, Dr. Simpson is the primary surgeon in charge of determining why Stevie Weathers transplant lungs are slowly becoming non-viable. When Eric Foreman gets House a prison furlough, he greets House coolly as he briefs House on their status and rules out several of House's diagnoses. When House shouts out "Prison!" because he is "reading their thoughts", he becomes even more visibly annoyed.

Wilson: "Dr. Simpson. Heart rate's 140, pressure's dropping. Get him adenosine, stat. "
Simpson: "Patient's unstable. Surgery's off."
— The last case - Charity Case

In Charity Case, Simpson is the surgeon assigned to attempt a kidney harvest on Benjamin Byrd. However, he calls it off immediately when Byrd develops tachycardia and his blood pressure starts to drop.

Special appearance[]

Simpson makes a guest appearance in the Nurse Jeffrey episodes. He's sure House has given his patient narcan to counteract the effect of the anesthesia, but he can't prove it. However, House did steal his operating room.

Appisode_11_-_Bitch_Tape

Appisode 11 - Bitch Tape

Appearances[]

Character page at IMDB

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