General Hospital Gets Too Real With This Grey’s Anatomy-Inspired Storyline

Summary:

• Like all other existing soaps, General Hospital is known for relying on unrealistic plot twists and soap tropes.
• However, the allergy to the hip replacement that was supposed to explain Heather's behavior isn't as unrealistic as you might think.
• Not only is metallosis a very real condition, but the topic has been explored in another ABC medical drama, Grey's Anatomy.

There are many ways that any TV show can let the bad guys off the hook. And when it comes to soap operas, the list doubles, allowing for even more insane possibilities.

From running from the law and spending time in hiding to faking your own death and undergoing countless plastic surgeries to change your appearance, long-time soap opera viewers have seen it all and know every trick in the book. Which is why General Hospital took a different approach to surprising its viewers.

To explain Heather Webber's most heinous crimes, the show's writers decided to look at some real-life medical diagnoses that were so unbelievable they could have easily been lies. But metallosis is more real than you might think, and General Hospital is not the first show to use it.

What Is Metallosis?

To put it plainly, what Heather Webber is experiencing is true metal poisoning from her hip replacement. As two pieces of the prosthesis rub against each other in her body, she is slowly being poisoned by cobalt. This poisoning is the cause of all the unexpected behavioral changes that have turned Heather into a true psychopath.

Although this condition is rare, it is believed to occur in up to 5% of all hip replacement patients. Considering that the number of hip replacement surgeries in the U.S. alone has risen to 766 thousand, 5% is still more than 38 thousand people, all with different symptoms.

On the other hand, this statistic is exactly what makes it believable that the exact same thing could have happened to both General Hospital's Heather Webber and her ABC counterpart, Dr. Richard Webber of Grey's Anatomy. Don't let the same last name fool you, the two are not related, but both were victims of the same conditions.

The only difference is that while Heather's poisoning drove her to murder people, which must be the soap opera twist on a real-life diagnosis, Dr. Webber experienced a different set of symptoms, leading many to fear the early stages of dementia. Fortunately, they are both now free from the agonizing experience.

If you're interested in seeing what the future holds for Heather Webber now that we're all aware of her health issues, be sure to tune in to General Hospital Monday through Friday on ABC.