Grey's Anatomyis the longest-running medicaldramain television history, having been on the air for 18 seasons. Naturally, as a medical drama, the show would not work without having the doctors treat patients in between their interpersonal issues and steamy scenes. While any real doctor would tell audiences thatGrey's Anatomyis not the most medically accurate series in the world, the patients' ailments aren't the point.
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Sometimes the point of the patient onGrey's Anatomyis to teach the doctors about life in some way, shape, or form. These patients have left an unquestionable impact on these characters and their worldview, for better or worse.
Denny Duquette
Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) was a sweet, funny guy with a very weak heartwhom Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) fell in love with. Of course, the lesson that Denny taught Izzie was about openingup and loving someone. He also showed her where her ethical and moral boundaries are. Izzie famously cut Denny's LVAD wire in order for him to get a heart of his own.
Unfortunately, however, Denny would die, leaving Izzie bereft and in a ton of trouble with the medical review board over the whole LVAD incident. Denny's death would continue to stay with Izzie through the rest of her run onGrey's Anatomy.
Becca Wells
Becca Wells (Amy Gumenick) was the patient whom Alex (Justin Chambers) treated before his marriage to Izzie inGrey's Anatomyseason 5, episode 22 "What A Difference A Day Makes." Becca was on her way to her college graduation with her friends when they were in a horrific car accident, which left the valedictorian the lone survivor of the accident.
Alex ended up bonding with Becca and had her recite her speech to him in order to calm her down before the surgery she needed to survive. A lot of what Becca said to Alex clearly stuck with him as some of her lines ended up in the final version of his vows to Izzie.
Cathy Becker
Cathy Becker (Erinn Hayes) deserved better care than what the doctors gave her at the time. She arrived during the Seattle Grace/Mercy West merger when the residents and attendings were not getting along well at all. Due to all this drama, the quality of work at the hospital suffered. This led to April Kepner (Sarah Drew) not checking Casey's airways properly after she had been in a fire.
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Due to this negligence and drama getting in the way of actual patient care, Casey died. April was let go from the program, and the residents and attendings got a reminder about not letting their drama get in the way of their jobs.
Lou
Lou (Dohn Norwood) is a patientwho was in a car accident and entered a fugue state while in the hospital. During this fugue,caused by an epidural hematoma, Lou attacked Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and severely injured her. Meredith lost her hearing briefly and was unable to talk or walk for a while.
Later, Meredith met with Lou, who apologized for attacking her and genuinely felt bad for his actions.This taught Meredith about forgiveness, as she was able to accept Lou's apology.
Nick Marsh
In season 14 ofGrey's Anatomy, fans were introduced to the oh-so-dreamy transplant surgeon, Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman). For the first time since Derek's (Patrick Dempsey) death, Meredith actually seemed to form a genuine romantic interest in someone, showing her that maybe she could love again after the death of her beloved husband.
Nick did return forGrey's Anatomyseason 18, where he's joined the main cast of the series. Fingers crossed that Meredith gets a second chance at a big love story.
Mary Portman
Before Mandy Moore had audiences sobbing with her performance as Rebecca Pearson onThis Is Us, she had audiences sobbing with a guest stint onGrey's Anatomy. In the series, Moore plays Mary Portman, who had arrived at the hospital for a routine procedure. Unfortunately, this is when Gary Clark (Michael O'Neill) goes on his shooting spree. Mary went through it with Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and saw Charles Percy (Robert Baker) die.
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Even after all that, Mary ended up dying after her routine procedure, never waking up from the anesthesia. With it, the lesson that sometimes bad things happen to really good people for no reason comes to the forefront. Like Bailey, audiences really loved Mary and were devastated when she died.
Rick
Grey's Anatomy always delivers on its big disaster set pieces, not as wild as the9-1-1franchise, but still pretty big. Not only do these episodes thrill viewers, but they also allow for raw emotional character drama to come forth as well. In season 3, episode 15 "Walk On Water", a ferry crashes into the Seattle Harbor, leading the doctors to go treat victims on site. For Izzie, this means Rick (Billy Mayo), who was crushed between two cars while trying to help people.
Izzie was in a bad place emotionally due to the whole Denny situation. Through treating Rick, however, she learned that genuinely did love being a doctor. Better yet, Rick survived.
Bonnie Crasnoff And Tom Maynard
In one of the most memorable cases from the early seasons ofGrey's Anatomy, Tom Maynard (Bruce A. Young) and Bonnie Crasnoff (Monica Keena) were stuck together, quite literally, when they were impaled by a pole in a train accident. The two were transported to the hospital where the doctors had to make the hard decision of which of the two would they save. In the end, it was revealed that Bonnie's injuries were too severe to survive off the pole.
In the moments before she died, Meredith stayed with her screaming for the others to try to do something to help save her. It was an interesting parallel to what was going on in Meredith's own life at the time as well, showing her that sometimes people are just forgotten.
Beth Monroe
Beth Monroe (Jurnee Smollet) was a cancer patient in Derek and Meredith's clinical trial. She was in love with her fellow patient, Jeremy West (Marshall Allman), whom she met in a cancer support group. Unfortunately, Jeremy died during the trial, leaving Beth devastated.
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During this time in the series, which was the end of season 4, Derek and Meredith's relationship was on the rocks in a big way. Seeing the love that Bethhad for Jeremy ledMeredith to win Derek back in one of the biggest gestures on the series with the house covered in candles.
Abby Redding
In season 15, Abby Redding (Khalilah Joi) comes to the hospital after being sexually assaulted. During her assault, however, she sustained some serious internal injuries, which required surgery. Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington), seeing Abby freak out about having to see a man's face because she kept seeing her attacker's face, pages all the women in the hospital to line the hallway in order to give her their support in one of the most tear-jerking scenes in all ofGrey's Anatomy.
Afterward, she decides to start a police investigation against her assaulters, thanks to Jo's encouragement. It was just a really powerful story and a reminder of the power of women supporting each other.
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