5 Grey's Anatomy Medical Errors That Have Real Doctors Cringing
Over its 19 seasons, Grey's Anatomy has depicted many medical cases and, of course, numerous medical errors.
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Grey's Anatomy's medical mistakes are the numerous instances of malpractice or medical ethics violations, such as Meredith tampering with Derek's Alzheimer's trials, Izzie cutting Denny's LVAD wire, or attendings having sex with interns.
But beyond these obvious examples, the show also depicts some practices that would make many real-life doctors cringe. Here are just a few.
Restraining patients who are having seizures
Residents at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital hold down or turn patients who are seizing, which is not only inaccurate, but can be dangerous.
While active action may look good on screen, in real life, doctors usually don't touch someone who is actively seizing unless moving them is absolutely necessary to save their life. A person who is having a seizure can seriously injure a medical professional or themselves if they are touched.
Shocking patients who have flatlined
The doctors on Grey's Anatomy always shock a heart that has stopped beating as the first course of action. But they never do that in real hospitals. It just does not work.
The purpose of a defibrillator is to shock irregular heart rhythms back to normal, not to shock a heart back to life after it has flatlined. The only thing this can result in is a dead body with electricity running through it.
Doctors doing everything
In the earlier episodes of Grey's Anatomy, the surgeons do everything from transporting patients and hooking them up to machines to feeding people, running labs, and answering phones.
Not only that, but they also have time to hang out with the patients, which is a good reason for any medical professional to have a laugh.
Surgeons doing research
In addition to their primary work, the surgeons of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital do a lot of research, which usually leads to tons of drama. But in real life, all the research is done by professional researchers who have special training for it.
To do cutting-edge science, it is not enough to be pretty smart and have a few hours of free time a week, it takes real training and sustained effort.
General surgeons operating on cancer patients
While this may be true for small rural hospitals, in a large medical center, general surgeons like Meredith and Bailey would never diagnose or operate on cancer patients. There is a specially trained surgical oncologist for such cases.