The New Times – Latest News Page

Grey’s Anatomy has been around since what seems like time immemorial now. It has been 16 years of heartwrenching deaths, and tears alongside oodles of sex, love, and hope. And with the show has stayed its lead protagonist, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), one of the few permanent cast members from the original cast to still be around

Meredith has been one of the most empowering faces on popular television and has gone from strength to strength as a character, evolving over the years from a messed-up young woman to one of the most sought after doctors of her time…albeit still pretty messed up.

Let’s look at a few facts about her that might have been forgotten.

Meredith’s Mother Discouraged Her From Joining Med School

In the pilot “A Hard Night’s Day,” the surgical interns at what was then Seattle Grace Teaching Hospital had to slog through a 48-hour shift that tested their stamina and drained them of their motivation, except that it didn’t.

In a heartwarming scene, towards the end of the episode, Meredith is seen resting for a moment with George O’Malley; the two seem dejected and wonder why they didn’t opt for some other profession that was less demanding. At this time Meredith tells George that her mother, the famous surgeon Ellis Grey, had tried to talk her out of joining medical school since she didn’t think Meredith would make a good surgeon. Well, Ellis was clearly very wrong since Meredith proved to be quite the genius, after all.

Meredith Took An European Vacation

In season 5, the appearance of one Sadie Harris (Melissa George) led to the revelation that Meredith had gone gallivanting off to Europe after her graduation, following a fight with her mother regarding what profession she should go into.

It seems that Meredith and Sadie had grown quite close at the time and even had nicknames for each other. However, while the two were backpacking through Europe, Ellis was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, and Meredith’s trip was presumably cut short.

Meredith Messed With A Clinical Trial

Although Meredith has clearly proved her mother wrong, it’s actually a wonder that she has had quite as many chances as she did, given the number of stunts she has put up during the course of the show. To be fair, she had some good reasons to back her up every time.

In season 7, the world-famous neurosurgeon at Seattle Grace, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), started working on a clinical trial to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Meredith was chosen to assist him in the trial. As it happens, Meredith went and rigged the trial. Yes, that’s right. She interchanged the envelopes to make sure that Richard Webber’s

wife Adele, who was fast-tracking into Alzheimer’s, was given the medication instead of the placebo. Commendable as her intent was, this was no doubt a gross violation of protocol.

Meredith’s First Preference Had Been Neurology

For those who don’t remember, Meredith had initially started taking a lot of interest in neurology, not least because of Derek, of course, but also because she was actually very good at it.

Meredith would most likely have gone on to choose neurology as her specialty had she not messed with Derek’s Alzheimer’s trial. The two had a falling out when it was revealed that she had rigged the trial. While Derek did forgive her eventually, he told her that he could not train her anymore, and finally, Meredith moved on to general surgery.

Meredith Almost Killed Herself Once

Grey’s is well-known for its sensational episodes and one such episode towards the beginning of the series was “Drowning on Dry Land,” which reveals the events following Meredith’s accident where she gets pushed into the water by a patient.

Although Derek manages to jump into the water and rescue Meredith, and then the entire team at the hospital pitches in to bring her back, Derek wonders why Meredith seemed to have given up while she was in the water. She seemed to have stopped struggling to stay afloat, which led him to believe that she might have decided to die after all.

Meredith Donated Part Of Her Liver

Meredith’s family life, growing up, was not one that she cherished. In fact, the show’s leading lady didn’t have a very happy childhood, especially since her parents split up after Ellis confessed to Meredith’s father Thatcher that she had an affair with Richard Webber.

Years later, while she is a surgical resident, Thatcher makes a come back into her life quite by chance. During this time, after Thatcher’s second wife passes away, he is shown to be sinking into depression and becomes an alcoholic. His liver is damaged beyond repair and Meredith is the only person who can save his life, since they are a perfect match. Meredith does donate part of her liver to her father who recovers gradually.

Meredith Ended Up Sick During Her Boards

Meredith Grey knows how to keep the audience as well as everyone around her in tenterhooks. The surgical interns have to go through a board exam to get them through to the next stage, that of a surgical resident.

In true Grey’s style, the episode with the boards is filled with drama with someone showing up late for the interview, others having sex in the restroom, and Meredith catching some kind of bug that made her quite sick. Meredith caught the stomach bug from her daughter Zozo and ended up retching into a bucket before and during her interview. Of course, given who she was, she passed the exam with flying colors!

Meredith Took Off To San Diego

If there’s one thing Grey’s knows how to do, it is heartbreaking episodes. One such episode that got fans weeping into their pillows was the one when Derek died.

After Derek’s shocking death, Meredith stayed around only to attend the funeral and then took off to San Diego with her kids. She went off the radar to an extent that her friends wondered if she was okay, and no one knew where she was. It was only revealed much later in a more recent season that Meredith was actually in San Diego, probably a random choice since she needed to grieve and get away from everyone. To add to the heartbreak, she gave birth to her husband’s posthumous baby while at San Diego, alone, with her two kids.

Meredith Almost Hooked Up With Ted From How I Met Your Mother

The audience always laps up crossovers. Well, this one wasn’t a crossover per se, since How I Met Your Mother was long over by then, butfans did get to see two beloved faces together at least for a little while when Meredith went out to coffee with the adorable Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor). Well, he wasn’t Ted Mosby here, of course, but a single guy called John, but as far as fans were concerned, it was Ted alright.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for the two after Ted mentioned he wasn’t comfortable dating a single mom not knowing that Meredith was herself a single mom with three kids. But, had it worked out, fans might have got a glimpse of quite an interesting pair from two beloved television shows.

Meredith Has Set A Record For The Longest Surgery

Meredith has the prestigious Harper Avery/Catherine Fox award to her name, but she also has the record for the longest surgery spanning over 24 hours.

In season 15, Meredith performs the longest surgery ever performed at Grey Sloan Hospital. She comes out off as quite the “Wonder Woman” as Bokhee, the ever-present OR nurse pointed out.