Meredith Grey's 5 Most Memorable Fails on Grey's Anatomy

Whenever Meredith isn't fighting for her life, she is struggling to save a life or mourning the loss of one, which is why she always looks miserable. While she is a fighter and a survivor, both as a doctor and a mother, she is also a troublemaker and can be annoying sometimes.

Interfering With Derek's Trial

Derek invested a lot into the Alzheimer's trial and the least that Meredith could do was help him succeed. Adele's Alzheimer's hadn't progressed enough to qualify for the active agent, and being a doctor herself, Meredith should have known better than to switch the envelopes. Her move led to the failure of the possibly groundbreaking medical trial.

She ruined Derek's life because he got blacklisted by the FDA, and their adoption of Zola also nearly collapsed. Her decision was dumb and selfish as she jeopardized everything Derek had worked for and nearly lost her license.

Double Dating Finn And Derek

Despite claiming to love Derek so much, some of the decisions that Meredith made suggest that she only saw him as her fallback guy. She rescued the dog to get over Derek, only to fall for her dog's vet and then cheat on him with Derek. She had convinced herself that she could leave Derek and Addison's relationship and make hers with Finn work but she ended up creating a love triangle.

After she cheated on him, Finn was willing to forgive her and move on, but she treated him like a fling because she only had feelings for Derek. Even though Finn made big promises about their future together, Meredith still dumped him and went after Derek. In the end, Finn and Addison were the victims as they had no part in the cheating.

Richard And His Drinking Problem

Richard and Meredith had an awkward relationship, but she still respected him as a father figure and a surgeon. As a doctor, Meredith was sworn to save people's lives though, and protecting a surgeon with a drinking problem didn't support that oath. Richard's bad habit put every patient he operated on in danger, and it was already obvious that he couldn't handle it alone.

If Derek hadn't reported Richard to the board, one of Richard's patients might have died, and it would have been Meredith's fault. Derek did the right thing in the end, but it was shameful of Meredith to betray her profession so easily, especially considering her history with Richard.

Shutting Everyone Out After Derek's Death

After Derek died, Meredith lost herself and became emotionally selfish. She had caused Derek to resign and come back to Seattle because she wouldn't move with him to Washington DC. But immediately after his death, she chose to move to San Diego. She was selfish in the way she handled the loss and left everyone to worry for her and the children while also dealing with the grief of Derek's death. She even sold their house without consulting any of their friends and Derek's family. She behaved as if she was the only one affected by Derek's death.

Committing Insurance Fraud

When Luis was unable to access government aid for Gabriella Rivera's surgery, Meredith decided to help him by putting her daughter's name in the form so that her insurance would pay for the procedure. Her compassion for Gabby was moving, but committing insurance fraud in the process was unwise.

Putting Ellis' name on that form meant that Luis was also implicated in the fraud which would have ruined his prospects of getting asylum, leaving Gabby in even more trouble. She would also lose her doctor's license and probably go to prison, which would be catastrophic. She should have listened to Richard's opinion before committing fraud and risking everyone's life like that.