TV

4 Grey’s Anatomy Scenes That Make Real Doctors Facepalm

4 Grey’s Anatomy Scenes That Make Real Doctors Facepalm
Image credit: ABC

Thought you'd learn CPR by watching Grey's Anatomy? You won't.

It may be one of the most famous medical shows on television, but Grey's Anatomy is very inaccurate when it comes to actual hospital life. Medical instruments are often misused, interns perform surgeries, and surgeons routinely make egregious mistakes with no consequences.

In other words, Grey's Anatomy misses the mark when it comes to realism.

1. Izzie not getting fired

Denny, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, was a charming patient at Seattle Grace, who eventually started a relationship with Izzie.

So what did Izzie do? She broke the most important oath doctors take. She cut the LVAD wire to move Denny to the top of the transplant list. The plan worked, and Izzie and Denny were able to spend the day together with his new heart before Denny suffered a stroke and died.

In real life, Izzie would have been fired immediately for such deception and disregard for other patients based on personal feelings.

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2. Surgeons always wear jewelry in OR

Surgeons are removing all jewelry for obvious reasons. Sterility is required during surgery, so hands are thoroughly washed and disinfected, and no rings or other jewelry are allowed.

In Grey's Anatomy, we were only shown surgeons removing rings, but leaving other jewelry on, which is also unacceptable. At the most inopportune moment, an earring can fall off the ear directly onto the patient undergoing surgery.

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3. MRI with a metal fork in the neck

Even ordinary people, not doctors, know that you must remove all metal objects from your body before an MRI. During this procedure, a strong magnetic field can attract any magnetic object, including iron and some other metals. If you have any metal in or on your body, an MRI can harm you.

But apparently Derek Shepherd, an experienced doctor, did not know this, as in one of the episodes he performed an MRI on a patient with a metal fork in her neck.

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4. Derek doesn't know how to do CPR

And Derek Shepherd takes the stage again. This experienced neurosurgeon clearly does not know the basics of medical practice. For example, in one of the episodes, when Meredith nearly dies, Derek tries to resuscitate her with CPR, but does it wrong.

He gives five chest compressions and then a rescue breath, when the correct number of chest compressions is 30 for every two rescue breaths.