Grey’s Anatomy
It will total as no surprisal to devout viewers that more than a fewGrey ’s Anatomydoctors have almost chuck up the sponge medicine after losing a affected role . While Grey Sloan Memorial may confront a perpetual staffing famine , the infirmary is never short on drama — or life - altering moments . Across 19 seasons , the team has weathered lot of disaster , both in person and professionally , leading some doctor to ( almost ) call it take leave .
From Derek Shepherd ’s ( Patrick Dempsey ) memorable season 5 release to Addison Montgomery ’s ( Kate Walsh ) more recent wrestling with reproductive wellness justice , Grey ’s Anatomycontinuously pushes its doctors to their separate points . Although former serial lead Meredith Grey ( Ellen Pompeo ) has stepped away from the spot , it ’s unclouded that the record - breaking medical play will keep challenging its doctors inGrey ’s Anatomyseason 20 — suggesting it ’s not always a great day to preserve lives .
10Derek Shepherd
" There ’s this thing that happens when mass find out out you ’re a doctor . They block off see you as a person and set out to see you as something bigger than you are , " Meredith explicate in the opening voiceover ofGrey ’s Anatomyseason 5 installment 16 . " They have to see us that way , as gods , otherwise we ’re just like everyone else . " And " An Honest Mistake " shows that even far-famed neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd make aliveness - altering blunders .
After Derek causes a serial of complications during a pregnant patient role ’s first surgery , he argue with Addison Montgomery about the dear course of action for Jen , who experiences mini - strokes and aphasia . Addison warn Derek about playing god , but he continually dismisses her recommended C - segment . Instead , Derek removes big chunks of Jen ’s mentality in a frenzy , determined to save female parent and tike . Jen ’s eventual demise marks the start of Derek ’s depressive episode , induce him to query both his career and pending proposition to Meredith .
9Levi Schmitt
DuringGrey ’s Anatomyseason 18 , Grey Sloan Memorial grapples with ( another ) staffing shortage . This time , however , the COVID-19 pandemic ’s impact on health care worker is to fault . so as to alleviate the hiring stress , allow for an fair to middling number of surgical process , and give residents more OR time , Richard Webber ( James Pickens Jr. ) propose a new approaching to how the residency program operates : the Webber Method .
In possibility , the Webber Method countenance residents to execute unsupervised everyday function ( or part of surgeries ) and then pulls an attending into the OR to treat the trickier parts . Miranda Bailey ’s ( Chandra Wilson ) misgivings are prove true when Levi Schmitt ( Jake Borelli ) chooses to keep without an attention . Levi ’s affected role phlebotomise out , guide to an investigation of the residence programme . However , after leaving the infirmary for a time , Dr. Schmitt tax return as Chief Resident onGrey ’s Anatomy .
8Maggie Pierce
Much like her sister , Meredith , cardiothoracic operation prodigy Maggie Pierce ( Kelly McCreary ) has see exceptional losses . Shortly after Maggie lose her mother to breast malignant neoplastic disease , she and Jackson Avery ( Jesse Williams ) break up , leading to some complicated family kinetics between the two and their now - espouse parents , Richard and Catherine ( Debbie Allen ) . To get through it all , Maggie focuses on surgery — and that ’s when she meets her cousin-german , Sabrina " Sabi " Webber ( Crystal McCreary ) .
Sabi is Richard ’s niece — someone he never mentioned to Maggie because of the unsound blood between him and his brother , Sabi ’s founding father Chris . After forming a debauched friendly relationship with Sabi , Maggie hopes to vivify the brothers ' relationship and encourages her to go through with OR , even though Chris has reservation . When Sabrina rally short , Maggie rush along to preserve her , but an alarming issue of clots clog Sabi ’s electrical shunt machine . After losing Sabi , an inconsolable Maggie quits — and , to top it off , Chris litigate her for aesculapian malpractice .
7Izzie Stevens
When Izzie Stevens ( Katherine Heigl ) falls for Denny Duquette Jr. ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) , it is n’t the first ( or last ) clip a Dr. embark on a rather incompatible relationship . diagnose with viral cardiomyopathy , Denny is admitted to the infirmary ahead of a ticker organ transplant procedure . It ’s Izzie , the resident Denny has dally with during his stay , who tell him the operation wo n’t chance . later on , though , Denny recall — this time in heart nonstarter .
After Denny stabilizes , Preston Burke ( Isaiah Washington ) resolve to stick in an LVAD — a gadget that supplant part of a break down heart — to give Denny more time while awaiting a new heart donation . When yet another organ giver falls through , Izzie claims Denny is worsening and cuts his LVAD telegram to further fool UNOS . While this bit of malpractice does plug Denny a newfangled heart , he break down of a post - op stroke . Although the loss wreck Izzie , she opens a clinic in Denny ’s remembering . Even though Izzie resile , she probably should ’ve been forced to cease medicine .
6Jackson Avery
In season 15 ’s " With a Wonder and a Wild Desire , " Jackson state Maggie he ’s fine with April Kepner ’s ( Sarah Drew ) new and sudden marriage ; to him , April ’s disconnected option is tied to her faith , something he ’s come to admire . Distracted , Jackson is almost hit by a car , but Andrew DeLuca ( Giacomo Gianniotti ) pulls him out of damage ’s means . Bike rider Nisha is hit instead , convincing a very driven Jackson to believe he was spared for save Nisha ’s life .
Although Nisha ’s first OR goes well , complicatedness uprise in the following episode . Without hold off for Link ( Chris Carmack ) , the patient role ’s chief surgeon , a intention - ride Jackson belt along Nisha to the infirmary ’s fresh hyperbaric chamber . believe the oxygen - productive surround will get a better surgical outcome , Jackson brush aside the fact that , once pressurized , the chamber ca n’t be straightaway opened . After Nisha flatlines , an umbrageous Jackson performs CPR for 35 minutes . This incident is one of many that pushes Jackson to step back from surgical procedure briefly .
5Ben Warren
Jason George is one of severalStation 19actors who appeared onGrey ’s Anatomybefore the firehouse - set series debuted . A key crossover character , the fire - fight down Ben Warren once worked at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital , even becoming a aesculapian resident . During his residency , Ben makes some badly - advised conclusion ; he fashions a makeshift scalpel out of a clipboard for an emergency surgery , thus inflating his ego and putting his superiors on high alert .
A few episodes later , the hospital is on lockdown , and Ben performs what he deems to be a necessary emergency C - department . Using the meager crash pushcart supply he has access to in a infirmary hallway , Ben considers himself a hero . Pearl Mae Bailey and Webber , meanwhile , view as him reckless ; surety footage reveals an open lift , meaning Ben take an unnecessary risk . Although Ben does n’t miss his license , these events are a kind of breakage pointedness that pushes him to pursue an entirely new career .
4Miranda Bailey
A dear mentor , top - snick operating surgeon , and , more often than not , the glue holding Grey Sloan together , Miranda Bailey is n’t one to quit anything . Still , a fewGrey ’s Anatomymoments have pushed Bailey to her limit . Notably , in season 9 , three of Bailey ’s patients develop post - op infection , which alarms the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) enough for a full investigation of the infirmary .
After the CDC ’s findings suggest that Bailey was contaminated with MRSA , thus leading to the three post - op fatalities , Bailey goes into shock . Evidently , the hospital ’s replacement stock of surgical mitt contributed to the transmission , since they were full of micro - tears . Even so , Bailey screen herself repeatedly for MRSA and decline to operate . The incident also triggers her latent ( and then - undiagnosed ) obsessive - driven disorder ( OCD ) , cause a restitution to the OR even more hard .
3Taryn Helm
For many time of year , fans have been askingGrey ’s Anatomyto do Taryn Helm justice ; Jaicy Elliot ’s occupant - turned - mixologist has been exclusively defined by her unrequited compaction on Meredith Grey . But whenGrey ’s Anatomydecided to cover the real - mankind encroachment of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare prole , Helm ’s history expand a flake . With elected surgeries on hold , Helm and the other residents were tasked with caring for COVID patients , which take a literal toll on her .
Not only was Helm ’s idol , Meredith , in a COVID - induced coma , but the hospital was experience unprecedented losses every day . feel separated and discharge , Helm expressed her desire to step away from the aesculapian world . finally , the temporary closing of Grey Sloan ’s residency program made the conclusion for her . While the conclusion of season 19 see Helm return to the OR , it ’s percipient that the untold pandemic losses form her , both personally and professionally .
2Addison Montgomery
In late season , Grey ’s Anatomyproved time and again that it was n’t afraid to harness difficult real - globe subject . time of year 19 sequence 5 is one such lesson : Addison returns toGrey ’s Anatomyand joins Bailey on a trip . The self - described " aesculapian Thelma and Louise " chatter a friend of Bailey ’s who runs an understaffed family - planning clinic on the Washington - Idaho perimeter . In Idaho , miscarriage services have become illegal , lead to an inflow of patients in the neighboring clinic .
" When I Get to the mete " takes another turn when Susan , a pregnant woman living in Idaho , ca n’t reach the care she so desperately needs . Bailey and Addison drive across land lines to retrieve Susan , who ’s faced with a life-time - imperil ectopic pregnancy that all of her Idaho - based doctors are too nervous to help with , given the country ’s restrictive novel law . When Susan get going bleed out in the cable car , Addison ca n’t save her . An cheesed off Addison seems exhaustively defeated at first , but the fugitive despair turns into new resolve .
1Penelope Blake
Although Penny fights for the head CT — and Derek ’s life — she , ultimately , return in . Later , it takes Dillard ’s brain surgeon an excessive amount of time to arrive ; he suggest a head CT would ’ve commence him there sooner , only augmenting Penny ’s guilt and frustration . When Derek dies in one ofGrey ’s Anatomy ’s most shocking twists , Meredith tells a broken cent that , although she ’ll never leave Derek , Penny ca n’t stop being a operating surgeon because of one outcome . Although both Penny and Meredith retain to practice medicine , mislay Derek push Meredith to leave Grey Sloan — and her life — for a year .
