text: stacy warner stacy warner is a fictional recurring character portrayed by sela ward on the fox broadcasting company 's medical drama house . she was in a relationship with dr. gregory house ( hugh laurie ) , when a clotted aneurysm in his right thigh led to an infarction during a game of golf , causing his quadriceps muscle to become necrotic . regarding house 's treatment , stacy acted against house 's wishes when he was put into a chemically induced coma . she authorized a safer surgical middle - ground procedure by removing just the dead muscle , leaving house with a lesser , but serious , level of pain for the rest of his life . house could not forgive her and they broke up . the two meet again , five years later , at the end of season one ; stacy wants house to treat her husband , mark . house correctly diagnoses mark with acute intermittent porphyria , and so he has to remain at the hospital for close monitoring . stacy becomes the hospital 's lawyer , and she and house grow closer together . when she is ultimately willing to leave mark for him , house tells her to go back to mark , which devastates her and causes her and mark to leave the city . when the writers of the show wrote " three stories " , the first episode in which stacy appeared , the first name they came up with to play the character was sela ward . although ward was not initially interested in portraying stacy , she changed her mind after watching tapes of the show . while she was originally hired to appear in only two episodes of the first season , the chemistry between ward and laurie was strong enough to have her appear in seven more second season episodes . she also appeared in the house finale " everybody dies " . stacy was received mostly positively by critics who considered her arc a " juicy subplot " . arc although not much is revealed about stacy 's early life , it is said in " acceptance " that she is a duke university graduate . presumably ten years before the events of house , at a " doctors vs. lawyers " paintball game , she met dr. gregory house ( hugh laurie ) with whom she started a romantic relationship . five years later , during a game of golf , house suffered an infarction in his right leg . he was admitted at the princeton - plainsboro teaching hospital , but went misdiagnosed for three days due to doctors ' concerns that he was exhibiting drug - seeking behavior ( house eventually diagnosed the infarction himself ) . an aneurysm in his thigh had clotted , leading to an infarction and causing his quadriceps muscle to become necrotic . house had the dead muscle bypassed in order to restore circulation to the remainder of his leg , risking organ failure and cardiac arrest . he was willing to endure excruciating post - operative pain to retain the use of his leg . after he was put into a chemically induced coma to sleep through the worst of the pain , stacy , his medical proxy at the time , acted against his wishes and authorized a safer surgical middle - ground procedure between amputation and a bypass by removing just the dead muscle . this resulted in the partial loss of use in his leg , and left house with a lesser , but still serious , level of pain for the rest of his life . house could not forgive stacy for making the decision , which caused their relationship to end . stacy goes to visit house again in " three stories " , five years after their break up . she has married mark warner ( currie graham ) , a high school guidance counselor . stacy believes mark is ill , and wants house to treat him . however , mark does not believe anything is wrong with him , as well as the members of house 's diagnostic team who can not seem to find any medical problems . after various failed attempts to diagnose mark , house tests marks urine for porphobilinogen ; the test turns out positive , and mark is diagnosed with acute intermittent porphyria ( aip ) . he is therefore required to have " close monitoring " at the hospital for a while . stacy makes a deal with lisa cuddy ( lisa edelstein ) to become the hospital 's lawyer during mark 's stay at the hospital . during stacy 's time as the hospital 's lawyer , she and house grow closer together . in " need to know " , they end up spending the night together . however , when stacy prepares to leave mark for house , house rejects her , stating that he cannot make her happy , because he cannot change . stacy quits her job and returns to short hills , new jersey , with mark . she later appears in the series finale , " everybody dies " , first as one of house 's hallucinations and then at house 's funeral . personality as house 's creator david shore says , being the " true love that got away " , stacy is a " quick " and " witty " character , who is " the one character who is able to spar with house on a level playing field . " sela ward has described her character as a window into house 's vulnerability and his heart . house simply describes stacy as " very convincing " , as mark thinks there is nothing wrong with him , but house says that if stacy says that mark is ill , he is ill . many critics noted that stacy 's presence affected house 's behaviour , diane kristine of blog critics stated that , with stacy , house was " almost nice " . while stacy has told house on several occasions that she loves mark , she is still very much in love with house and was willing to have an affair with him ; however , she admits that she finds house selfish and that " with mark , there 's room for [ her ] " . development according to the producers of house , stacy was brought into the show to give viewers some insight into house . the writers chose to start off stacy 's story arc " very subtly " , but to end it with a " big blowout " . shore explained that he wanted ward for the part because it was the first person the writing staff of house came up with , adding that she acts in a " simple " and " convincing way " . 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 csi : miami 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 . this being the reason that , on the set of house , she felt " at home , in a strange way " . while she was initially hired to appear only in " three stories " and " honeymoon " , the chemistry between ward and house lead actor hugh laurie was strong enough for ward to return for a multiple - episode story arc in the second season of the show . on working with ward , laurie commented " we 're professionals who were lucky enough to be extremely well - equipped with a very sound , true script , the fact that sela is immensely attractive and we got on well certainly is not an impediment . " though ward has expressed that she would like to return to the show , shore told usa today in 2006 that , although he was eager to write her back in , there were " no specific plans " to have the character return . reception initial responses to stacy were mostly positive . tv guide 's matt roush stated that he was pleased with the character showing of house 's soft side , calling the character 's story arc a " juicy subplot " . david bianculli of the new york daily news stated that with the addition of stacy , house shifted " to the top echelon of today 's tv dramas " . critics of usa today stated ward " brought a sense of joy , if fleeting , to the show " . in an article about who annoyed house the most , entertainment weekly 's alynda wheat stated that stacy annoyed house third most , ranking behind amber volakis ( anne dudek ) and michael tritter ( david morse ) . however , alan sepinwall , of the star - ledger , commented that although he finds ward a " talented " actress , her character , along with prior , and later , recurring characters , was " humorless " and " determined to ruin the audience 's fun right along with house 's " .