The 10 Worst Medical Mistakes on Grey's Anatomy

On the season 13 opener, Alex reaps the fallout for the fight between him and DeLuca. After DeLuca is rushed to the ER with a ton of injuries to his face and head, Alex and Meredith conspire (for a while, anyway) to keep it a secret. The truth comes out, but since a doctor takes a vow to "do no harm," this could mean that Dr. Karev might just become plain ol' Karev.

The fight isn't the first time Alex has crossed the line as a doctor. In season three, he falls in love with a pregnant Jane Doe, later known as Ava and then finally identified as Rebecca Pope. Ava/Rebecca is one of the victims of the ferry boat crash, and she and Alex grow closer and closer as he takes care of her through her amnesia and her very serious injuries. As they fall in love, it becomes clear that Ava/Rebecca has some mental health issues, but Alex resists the urge to consult more professional help. Her attempted suicide in season four is the eye-opener that Alex needs, and Izzie winds up having her committed to the psychiatry ward. Alex's behavior transcends the boundaries between bedside manner and becomes downright unethical . . . but leave it to Grey's to keep us rooting for the unethical.

In the final episodes of season 10, Dr. Bailey treats a young patient whose immune disease has caused him to live his short life in a bubble. Her treatment is so successful that he's able to leave the hospital. He gets well really fast; mostly because she treats him with an experimental procedure — without his parents' consent! At least Shonda Rhimes and her writers had the wherewithal to write in an outraged parent storyline — they almost press charges — but thanks to resident Stephanie, they decide not to. And that was that.

If this were real life, Bailey, who escapes unscathed, and Stephanie, who is only suspended for a week (!), would probably have to answer to a higher medical authority, and at least one of them would have to seek employment elsewhere.

Ben Warren is the MacGyver of the Grey-Sloan crew. However, his ingenuity and maverick doctoring style get him in trouble in season 12 when he performs a C-section on a pregnant patient IN. THE. HALLWAY. WITH. A. CLIPBOARD. He winds up killing both the mother and the unborn child, which seems like grounds enough for not only a dismissal and license revocation, but criminal charges.

We guess it's a good thing he doesn't get punished so harshly, because then he wouldn't have been able to perform the exact same procedure on April . . . on Meredith's dining room table.

There's probably not a lot of protocol for incidents involving a sinkhole, but Seattle is a place of extreme circumstances, so this particular situation may be a little murky when it comes to ethics. Even though Owen goes down in the sinkhole himself, it still seems like they'd experience a little bit of fallout. Perhaps we're just used to a cynical, litigious society, but it seems like Callie and Owen would have to answer for this kind of cowboy doctoring.

Fast forward a couple of seasons to the 10th season. Callie is actually getting sued, and the entirety of episode nine takes place in a courtroom. She's left a sponge inside Travis Reed, competitive snowboarder, and the infection leaves him very sick and unable to compete. Naturally, he sues (see above opinion about our litigious culture), and we have to sit through a painful trial. Callie is found not guilty, but she seems as surprised as we are. She goes right back to work, and that's the last we hear about Travis Reed the snowboarder. It probably wouldn't have gone down that way in an actual hospital.

Way back in the early days (like the first season), before we loved George enough to overlook his ineptitude, Dr. Burke had enough confidence in him to pick him as the first intern to participate in a surgery. During said surgery, George ALMOST (but not quite) kills the patient, earning himself the nickname "007" because, you know, he has "a license to kill." In an actual hospital, that would be the only license he had, because he surely would be fired for such a mistake. Or Dr. Burke would suffer some consequences for letting such an inexperienced newbie perform that kind of procedure.

In a throwaway moment from season five, George catches some of the interns cutting themselves so they can stitch each other up. Yuck. This might not be grounds for losing a medical license, but it certainly demonstrates irresponsible behavior and would DEFINITELY be grounds for a reprimand.

This is a biggie. Izzie cuts the LVAD wire on her hunky boyfriend, Denny, so he'll get sicker and get a higher ranking on the transplant list. Sure, he's handsome and their love story is one for the fairy-tale books, but if a real doctor did this, she'd be fired, stripped of her license, and would most likely face criminal charges. It's that serious.

Speaking of illegal AND immoral, Meredith pulls a stunt of her own back in season seven. Working with Derek on an Alzheimer's trial, the two do a blind testing that would allow some patients to get the real meds, while the others get a placebo. It's at this same time that Dr. Webber's wife, Adele, is grappling with rapidly advancing Alzheimer's, and Meredith is worried Adele might get the placebo instead of the medicine. So worried, in fact, that she tampers with Adele's dose to make sure she gets the medicine. Alex finds out and narcs on her, but things work out in the end — as they tend to do for the doctors on Grey's.

Meredith would be so fired if she really did this. She might not even be able to step foot in a hospital if she rigged a national trial. She'd be disgraced and run out of the medical community. Forever.