Grey's Anatomy is one of the most successful and long-running television series in the United States, airing since March 2005, and has recently been renewed for a 19th season. The ABC medical drama stars Ellen Pompeo, who portrays Meredith Grey, the daughter of one of the most respected surgeons within the field. Over the years, Meredith grows into a prestigious Seattle surgeon. The series is centered around her days spent at the hospital along with the rest of the doctors, the patients they treat in each episode, and the relationships that take place among the staff.
As a show that ran for so many years, many controversies surrounded it. Several of the actors had problems among themselves and even with Shonda Rhimes, the creator of the series, who left the series and the network in 2017, signed a $100 million deal with Netflix, and recently made headlines for her new series on the streaming platform Inventing Anna. Due to these conflicts, some characters abruptly disappeared from the series or even died, making fans very upset.
Despite these conflicts and the years that have passed, Pompeo is firmly convinced to continue playing Meredith Grey. But throughout its 18 seasons, this character has been involved in several situations that led the audience to wonder about her continuity in the show, events in which she came close to death. Here is a review of every near-death experience that Meredith Grey had in Grey's Anatomy, ranked.
7 When Her Emergency C-Section Goes Wrong During a Power Outage
A dramatic situation for Meredith unfolded during the ninth season finale of Grey's Anatomy. A big storm hit Seattle, so the hospital was out of power and the generators stopped working. In the middle of this situation, Meredith went into labor and had to undergo an emergency C-section in complete darkness. When her obstetrician had to leave for another emergency, Shane, her intern, stayed behind and finished closing Meredith — a task that was supposed to be easy. However, the doctor discovered a very large internal bleeding that did not look normal, and Meredith remembered that she had fallen down the stairs the day before, and that must have caused her to bleed internally. Lying in the OR with her open body on the table, she explained Shane how to fix her bleeding spleen before passing out. After that, Dr. Bailey came to the rescue and saved Meredith. This situation ended happily, with Meredith deciding to name her baby Bailey, as an act of gratitude.
6 When a Patient Attacked Her
Episode nine of the 12th season of the series is titled "The Sound of Silence," and it was one of the most shocking of the entire show. It featured the hospital doctors carrying out their usual routine work, in this case treating people injured in an accident. Meredith, Penny, and Ben were working to stabilize a patient, and after doing so, Meredith is left alone with the man, who was unconscious and seemed harmless. However, the situation changes from one moment to the next, and while Meredith's back is turned to the patient, he slowly rises to his feet. Despite the doctor's repeated efforts to get the patient back to his bed, he becomes violent and starts assaulting her with extreme violence, leaving Meredith injured and barely conscious on the floor, meters away from her colleagues, who were in the next room, unaware of what had happened to the main character. Fortunately, one of the women doctors found Meredith, giving her colleagues the chance to act quickly and save her life. The attack, however, left her with severe consequences for a long time, including fractures, dislocations, wounds, PTSD, and hearing loss.
5 When She Confronted the Shooter
This was one of the most stressful season finales in the history of the show. It featured Gary Clark, the husband of a patient who died in the hospital, who returned seeking revenge against the doctors who treated her, primarily Dr. Derek Shepherd. He wandered around the hospital looking for Derek as he killed two of the doctors. When he found him, he shot him, but fortunately his colleagues were quick to act and had him admitted into surgery. But Clark was not satisfied, so he went into the room and, pointing his gun at the doctors, forced them to stop operating on Derek. That's when Meredith stepped in, and told the shooter that if he was looking to hurt Derek, the one he should shoot was her. Things got out of hand and, using a trick, the doctors pretended that Derek was dead, which caused the shooter to leave. This tense situation resulted in Meredith losing her pregnancy.
4 When She Had to Hold the Bomb Inside the Patient
In the second season episode "It's The End Of The World," a man walked into the ER with an unexploded bomb inside his chest, accompanied by a paramedic, portrayed by Christina Ricci, applying pressure and assuming it was a wound. She held her hand inside the patient's chest for several hours, but at one point the pressure got to her and, desperate to leave, she pulled her hand out and ran away. Without thinking, Meredith traded places with her to hold the bomb, preventing it from detonating, and she had to remain motionless alongside the patient until the hospital was secured. Once that was resolved, Dr. Burke extended the patient's wound so that Meredith could remove the bomb and successfully deliver it to Dylan from the bomb squad. The man took the device, but within a few steps the bomb exploded, killing him instantly and causing severe damage to Meredith, who was in close proximity at the time of the explosion.
3 When She Drowned While Working at the Docks
While Meredith was treating victims of a huge ferry accident, she was accidentally pushed into Elliot Bay. The doctor attempted to fight in order to stay afloat as long as she could, but facing exhaustion and low water temperatures, she eventually gave up. When Derek finally pulled her out of the water, she was unconscious and had a bluish tint to her skin. Back at the hospital, doctors made an effort to raise her body temperature and performed CPR, but her heart was not responding. While unconscious, Meredith faced people who had died before her, having to decide if she really wanted to live before she regained consciousness. Even when doctors managed to restore her body temperature, it took a cardiopulmonary bypass and multiple shocks to bring her back to life.
2 When the Plane Crashed
Another totally overwhelming season finale, in this case from season eight. During a medical trip to another hospital, the plane Meredith, Cristina, Arizona, Lexie, Derek, and Mark were on crashed. While Meredith was lucky not to get hurt too badly, her companions were in terrible shape: Derek suffered severe injuries to his wrist, Arizona's leg was compromised by being crushed, and Lexie was in the worst condition, as she was crushed by the plane with no way to get out or have someone help her survive, so she ended up dying in the tragedy. Mark, meanwhile, also suffered chest wounds and, eventually, died. Although Meredith survived this tragedy, it was definitely a situation that deeply affected her mental health, as well as that of the whole group.
1 When She Tested Positive for COVID-19
During Grey's Anatomy's 17th season, the audience was able to witness firsthand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the doctors' daily work and their relationship with their patients. The series' main characters wore facemasks and protective goggles, and spent their days trying to save their patients from the virus, with great frustration as they lost more patients than they saved. Unfortunately, Meredith got infected and, during the sixth episode of the season, her illness became so severe that she had to be put on a ventilator. Being on the verge of death, she unconsciously imagined herself on a beach, where she was also reunited with all the loved ones she had lost: Derek, George, Lexie and even Mark. As days went by, the doctor's general condition improved and, finally, she pulled through.