Our Favorite Cases on Grey's Anatomy

We know lots of you are missing Grey’s Anatomy over the summer, so we thought we would give you a taste of it in the form of a list, spanning seven years of decent television (with a few rough patches). Obviously, Jane Doe/Ava, Mandy Moore’s character, George’s dad, Ellis Grey, Thatcher Grey, Teddy’s fake husband, and Denny Duquette were memorable and big parts of the show, but we are focusing on the ones that only got one or two episodes and the ones who weren’t major characters/hospital employees like Izzie and George. Here goes, in no particular order

Bailey’s Cystic Fibrosis Guy
We first saw the soft side of Bailey in season one when she operated on this long-time patient who died. When she had to call his mom to tell her that the patient didn’t make it, we totally teared up.

Izzie’s daughter
Izzie’s kid who she gave up for adoption showed up at the hospital, needing a bone marrow transplant. Even though it was painful and the daughter didn’t even want to meet her birthmother, Izzie gave up the goods and saved her life. We seriously wish the show had followed up on this story, which was a lot more touching than Mark’s long-lost daughter story.

The Girl Who Got Illegal Surgery in Mexico
We loved when Meredith told this girl, “You don’t know this yet, but life isn’t supposed to be this hard.” It was a glimpse of the mature, compassionate, motherly Meredith that we would see many years later. We also loved when Meredith stood up for the girl, telling the parents that she got the illegal surgery in order to be skinny for her mom. The dad finally grew a pair and told his wife to shut up. We think now that he’s in his daughter’s corner, the kid has a chance.

The Fat Woman with the 60-Pound Tumor
Annie Connors’ appearance gave us the opportunity to see Alex Karev at his worst, charming this patient to her face and badmouthing her behind her back. It was creepy and interesting to think about why Annie let her tumor get that bad. And one of George’s best moments was when he confronted the elephant in the room, asking her why she had let herself go. It was a sweet conversation, until George made it all about him. The interns in the surgery had to hold up her fat flaps for hours, and she still didn’t make it.

The Man with the Nails in His Head and the Tumor
“He’s still my Jorge, and I’ll remember for us both.” So sad. This man had to choose between losing his personality and memories and losing a few years of his life. Meredith had a meltdown because of what was going on with her mother, and she confronted Jorge’s wife to try to convince her to choose the memories. We agreed with Meredith that Jorge made the wrong choice, and that a life without what makes you who you are is no life at all. But we get why his wife gave him the extra years he wanted. This case reminded us of what’s important in life, and the relationship Jorge had with his wife was so sweet. Bummer though.

The Guy with the Bomb in His Chest
The first of the big “disaster episodes” brought the great Kyle Chandler to the show for a two-parter. The patient wasn’t that memorable, but the effect on the regular characters was.

The Girl Who Lost Weight for Her Boyfriend then Died Because of It
After hearing that her husband cheated on her and then forgiving him, Callie had to deal with another male jerk. When his girlfriend died and Callie went off on him, we wanted to slap her a high five. Bailey chewed Callie out for her emotional speech and near attempt to fight the man, but we thought he deserved it. And it was bad ass.

The Pole Couple
Bonnie and Tom were in a train accident and were skewered on the same pole. Only one could be saved and Tom had a better chance of living, so the doctors sacrificed sweet, soon-to-be-married, Bonnie. This was one of the saddest cases in Grey’s history and the case that most people cried over (and actually, one of us is tearing up, thinking about it years later). This was the best way Grey’s ever chose to highlight Meredith’s abandonment issues.

Cement Boy
A young man got into some cement to try to impress a girl and her bullying friends. This really did not go well for him. But watching Callie convince the girl to stand up for the kid and watching Bailey at her finest, saving his life and comforting them, made this a great case. Lots of tension on this one, and you felt bad for the guy.

Tree Guy
Ok, we know this is a gross pick, but you know you remember this guy. There’s nothing worse than a forgettable case. We also felt bad for him. We enjoyed the gross-outs and the bug and the sawing.

Wallace
The sweet little black boy who liked to play doctor but couldn’t absorb nutrition. His super-rich parents gave the hospital a generous donation, even though Wallace died, because of what a great, honest doctor Arizona was. This is one of the two incidents that made us love Arizona (the other one was the “Good Man In a Storm” speech she gave to Callie’s father.) She’s just a sweetheart, and this patient brought it out in her.

The Nazi
This man didn’t want black people to operate on him and he had a big swastika tattooed on his chest. Ugh. Gross. He decided that Bailey and Asian Cristina could operate on him, but only if George was in the room, because he trusted the white man to keep him safe in there. That day, Bailey gave up her nickname, and that’s what people usually remember about this episode. But what we remember is George telling him that if it were just George, the white man, in the room, George would have let him die, and it was Bailey who had the integrity to do no harm. The Nazi’s face contained the perfect reaction. We were not George fans, but that moment almost won us over. Bad ass.

The teens who had sex for the first time during Derek’s trial
Dying of the same sickness, these two teens were madly in love. Some Seattle Grace doctors blocked the door while they did the deed. The boy died, and the girl didn’t fall apart. She became the first survivor of Derek’s trial. Sad and happy at the same time. That always gets us crying.

The woman who crashed into her husband and his girlfriend with her carShe saw them doing laundry and freaked out. After hitting them with her car, she came to the hospital and told the doctors. She said, “It’s a good thing you can’t tell anyone, because of confidentiality.” Um, that’s lawyers, lady. Oh how we would have laughed, if she hadn’t been so creepy in her revelatory moment.

The guy Izzie drilled the holes intoIzzie sucked after Denny died and this was her comeback. It was awesome, until that character started sucking again by sleeping with George.