Ellen Pompeo‘s character Dr. Meredith Grey is a staple in household television. Over the 21 seasons of ‘Grey’s Anatomy‘, Meredith has come to become one of the best surgeons in Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, winning a Catherine Fox award. However, the doctor was far from perfect when the show began in 2005. Meredith has made a myriad of terrible decisions with enduring consequences.
Meredith has been a complicated woman since the ABC series began. Although fans admire Grey’s headstrong nature, she has often been the cause of her undoing. She has made some reckless choices in her career and personal life that made viewers question the protagonist. After all, Meredith did warn us in the pilot of the series, “I’m screwed”. Here are the top ten worst decisions Meredith made in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.
10. Sleeping With Her Attending
In Meredith’s defense, she didn’t know that Dr. Derek Shepherd was one of her attending doctors while she was an intern at Seattle Grace. However, her decision to continue the relationship with her married boss was unprofessional. The pilot scene of the series began with Meredith shoving Derek, played by Patrick Dempsey, out of her house. Since then, Meredith’s relationship with McDreamy became the hospital’s and household juicy gossip.
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Mixing private and professional life is messy and so was Meredith after she and Derek decided to give their relationship a go in season three. Meredith has often taken unprofessional advantage of Derek. She also tampered with his Alzheimer’s trials in season seven without thinking of the risk it put on Derek’s career and overall medical research.
9. Hiding Her Relationship With Dr. Riggs From Maggie
Meredith’s luck with family has never been good. A narcissistic medical legend for a mother and an absent father. Therefore, it was understandable if she wanted to play safe by hiding her relationship with Dr. Nathan Riggs from Maggie Pierce. In the tenth season of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, Meredith unites with another half-sister. Maggie is the daughter of Ellis Grey and Richard Webber, whom they gave up for adoption.
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Although they weren’t the picture of familial felicity in the beginning, they bonded over their love for medicine. Hence, Meredith kept her relationship with Riggs under wraps when Maggie confessed her feelings for the handsome doctor. Initially, Meredith did not want to hurt Maggie but the prolonged delay made the inevitable blow harder. Maggie’s trust issues fueled her anger with Meredith.
8. Confessing Medical Error To Patient’s Family
It is acceptable when an intern makes a mistake on the job. But it is shuddering when a medical intern makes a mistake. In season one, Grey popped her glove in the operating room which scratched the patient’s heart. Rendering it minuscule, she chose not to tell her attending. However, soon the patient started to show post-op complications. Although Grey was right to confess her mistake to her superior, she soon blurted it out to the restless family of the patient.
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Her guilt prompted her to confess but soon she realized no one, especially the patient, was the best for it. As an intern, Meredith’s mistake was left to slide and Burke taught her how to strategically handle medical mistakes. However, had Meredith immediately notified her surgeon Grey’s Anatomy would have had one less episode.
7. Threatening Andrew DeLuca
Alex Karev’s hothead impulses have been suffered by many. But viewers did not expect Meredith to make the same mistake. Upon a misunderstanding, Alex hit Dr. Andrew DeLuca, played by Giacomo Gianniotti. It leads to Alex being dragged to court. Meredith, as a loyal friend, tries to persuade DeLuca. Instead, she ends up threatening him, which makes the situation worse for Alex.
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Meredith went out of the line to pressure Andrew to accept Alex’s apology. Moreover, she threatened the doctor’s career. Alex and Meredith’s friendship is a fan favorite, but here, both were in the wrong. Meredith did not even apologize for the inappropriate confrontation till Dr. Bailey made her realize her mistake.
6. Kidnapping Zola
As mentioned before, Grey’s decision to tamper with Derek’s Alzheimer’s trial had rippling effects in the next episodes. Grey and Derek had decided to adopt Zola. The happily ever after of the couple came to a staggering pause when social services realized that they were temporarily separated. The authorities came to collect Zola Grey Shepherd.
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Panicking Meredith took Zola and disappeared in the abandoned tunnels. It was irresponsible in Grey as it risked both their safety and their custody over Zola. Christina and Alex found Meredith and helped her cover up her mistake. Parents would not have agreed on Meredith’s approach to the situation.
5. Using Her Daughter For Insurance Fraud
Grey is a fighter for the right and fair. However, her martyr spirit blinds her from seeing the bigger picture. In season 15, a young Gabriella Rivera is diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. When her father Luis is denied insurance, Meredith again goes out of her way to help the needy. She uses Ellis, her daughter’s, insurance to cover Gabriella’s expenses.
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Selflessness is rare because of a reason. Committing insurance fraud could have landed Grey in jail or cost her a medical license. It is endearing that Meredith wanted to help a child but foolish if she could have lost her children.
4. Letting Izzie Cut Denny’s LVAD Wire
Denny Duquette’s death was a big blow to ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ fans and many would agree it was brought by Izzie Stevens. Although her frustration to save Denny was understandable, her friends could have stopped Izzie from taking such extreme and unprofessional measures. Today no one would see the interns’ methods as gallant or brave.
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Meredith and her friends’ loyalty to each other is admirable but helping Izzie to cut Denny’s LVAD wire was reckless. All of them barely missed getting their license suspended. Moreover, Denny rejected the transplanted heart for which the interns risked their careers. Meredith’s mistakes make viewers realize why medical norms are necessary. It was a lesson Meredith did not learn.
3. Going Behind Her Attending
Grey has a knack for breaking rules under the pretense that she is doing the right thing. Episode seventeen of season two was a major blow to the rogue doctor. Derek asked Meredith to join him in his case. Grey and her sister, Lexie, went behind their attending’s back and removed a tumor from a patient.
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While usually removing tumors solves problems, this time the patient got many post-operation complications. Eventually, the patient lost the ability to speak properly. Meredith has to realize acting gallantly does not always save lives. If she had discussed the procedure with Derek, an experienced surgeon, the patient would not have lost his speech.
2. Not Reporting Dr. Webber’s Drinking
Richard Webber relapses into drinking in season six due to the stress of his work and collapsing marriage. Meredith decides not to report Richard to the Board because of her affection for him. Although her decision alone could have cost many lives, viewers are disgusted when they observe Meredith taking advantage of the situation.
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She starts taking private lessons from the seasoned surgeon. The chief then lets Grey take the reins on his surgeries and even makes her perform one for which she was not ready. It reminded viewers of when Christina helped Preston Burke after he did not properly recover from his gunshot wound.
1. Switching Adele Webber’s Placebo In Derek’s Alzheimer’s Trials
It was heartbreaking when Adele Webber, Dr. Richard’s wife, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Meredith took the news more personally when Adele revealed her ordeal as Meredith’s mother was also afflicted with the disease. Therefore, Meredith dcecides to switch Adele’s drugs when she learns Derek would put her on the placebo. Although Meredith’s intentions were in the right place, it caused substantial damage.
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In season seven, Meredith removes Adele from the Alzheimer’s trial’s placebo and gives her the actual drug. Not only did it compromise important medical research, but it also risked ruining Derek’s name. It was reckless in Meredith to hurt the closest person to her. Derek could not trust Meredith for a long time after that.
