10 Tiny Grey’s Anatomy Details That Will Forever Ruin the Show for You

There is no TV show that is realistic all the way through. To make even the most realistic stories work on screen, the writers have to cut some dialogue, motivations, or subplots. This is especially true for procedurals, where the basics of medical, fire, and police work are butchered to better fit the narrative.

While viewers probably won't notice any fundamental flaws unless they're involved in the same field, the most observant fan will find a lot of little details that pile up throughout the show.

From a few technical problems to plot inconsistencies, here are 10 things that never made sense on Grey's Anatomy.

Meredith’s House

As much as it's nice to see Meredith take in someone each season, the size of her house doesn't make sense. Somehow it easily fits her, three kids, and whoever else needs a place at the time.

Besides, when she first shared her house with other interns, they had to line up for the bathroom in the hallway. But when Derek moved in, the master bathroom suddenly appeared.

Getting Dirty at Work

There is not a single person who would want to be a patient in a hospital like Grey Sloan Memorial. Not only are there a ton of surgical mistakes happening all the time, but the staff doesn't care about keeping their place clean. Who do you think cleans after the doctors get saucy in an On-Call room? We haven't seen a single person wipe anything up yet.

Chief of Surgery

Of course, there have to be some differences from the real hospital hierarchy to make the characters fit better into the story. However, if they'd just implemented a Chief of Medicine role, the actual Chief of Surgery might have had more free time and less headaches every episode. After all, the Chief of Surgery is nowhere near the CEO of the entire hospital.

Fantasy Event-Management

Back in 2013, when the hospital was struggling to make ends meet after the superstorm, the idea of a fundraising gala night was floated. While the event made for a nice episode in a different setting, it wasn't at all realistic.

In fact, the gala in Seattle, where the show is set, would have taken about half a year to pull off. Given the need for a venue, collectibles, and other important details, the team pulling it off in about 5 days was just a fantasy scenario.

The Lack of Nurses

You don't have to be a doctor to figure out that the show's lack of nurses is completely unrealistic. Every other medical drama emphasizes nurses and acknowledges their importance, and Grey's did that, but only in the early seasons. Now it seems like the surgeons are the only ones doing anything important in the entire hospital.

Derek’s Fishing Habit

First of all, most of Derek's fishing analogies felt like an endless dad joke. Second, for a person who made so many references to fly fishing specifically and posed as a fly fishing expert, he was never seen fly fishing at all. So maybe it was all a farce to make people think he was more successful at his hobby than he really was?

Classes Erasure

Since the premise of the show is to follow new groups of interns every few years, people tend to focus on their group the most and notice everything else. For example, Grey's Anatomy often removes entire classes of residents, leaving only first-year interns and attending physicians, as if there weren't 4 mandatory years in between.

Research Animals

There is a whole separate argument about whether or not it is ethical to show animal experimentation on TV, and that is not what this is about. Just as the doctors on Grey's Anatomy don't seem to care about the protocols for working with human patients, they don't care about the animals.

The show portrays the doctors as having mice in cages in the lunch room and doing whatever they want with them without having to follow any instructions, and that's not how it is in real life.

Everyone’s a Star…

Given the number of mistakes and malpractice cases that have occurred at Grey Sloan Memorial, it is surprising to see every single doctor portrayed as a genius and exceptional in their field. Especially since most of them are in their early 30s and have had almost no time to actually gain expertise. Maybe we should all move to Seattle for medical care?

…And a Superhero Too

Meredith Grey, as well as all the other mothers on the show, must have some sort of supernatural powers to fit in as many tasks as they do in a day and still be able to take care of the kids, clean the house, get the groceries, and do a whole list of household chores.

Yet we rarely see even a nanny, let alone a housekeeper, helping out. This is both impressive and completely out of touch with the reality of motherhood.