 Initially, Ward was not interested in portraying the character, because, after the cancellation of "Once and Again", she wanted to spend more time with her kids, which is why she had also turned down earlier roles on "" and "Desperate Housewives".However, she changed her mind when she saw tapes of the show, because as she watched she realized that "House" "would be fun to be a part of".In a 2005 "Entertainment Weekly" interview, Ward, who had never appeared in a medical show before, stated that when she was young, her mother was sick for over nine years and she spent a lot of time in hospitals.