‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Addresses Teddy’s Fate in Season 20 Premiere: Does She Survive?
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 1 “We’ve Only Just Begun.”]
Dr. Teddy Altman’s (Kim Raver) fate was left hanging in the balance at the end of Grey’s Anatomy Season 19. For 10 months, fans waited anxiously for an update about Teddy. Would she make it out of this medical emergency unscathed or r suffer the same fate as many Grey Sloan doctors before her?
The March 14 Season 20 premiere of the hit ABC series answered that question quickly. Teddy went into V-fib but was able to be resuscitated. In the Season 19 finale, Teddy collapsed in the middle of surgery after complaining all day of a toothache. She was unresponsive, so Dr. Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) and Dr. Simone Griffiths (Alexis Floyd) had to try and save their patient without an attending.
But she wasn’t out of the woods yet. An echo revealed she had bacterial endocarditis, which was caused by the dental infection. Dr. Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) performed an emergency valve replacement to save Teddy’s life.
As soon as Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) learned what happened, he rushed to Teddy’s side. Winston had to ask Owen to leave so he could focus on Teddy. Winston and Dr. Levi Schmitt (Jake Borelli) worked to get Teddy back on the right track as Owen tried to act like everything was completely normal with his kids. “Today is not a normal day. You don’t have to pretend that it is,” Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) told Owen.
When checking up on Teddy, Winston realized that Teddy’s right leg was cold with no pulse. He rushed into surgery to try and save her leg. But first, he had to get Owen’s permission since he’s Teddy’s medical proxy. Winston acknowledged that there were risks, as with any surgery. An emotional Owen gave Winston the OK to do the embolectomy.
Just before Winston got in too deep with Teddy’s surgery, he kicked Dr. Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis) out of the OR because she paused for just a second. He told Schmitt to leave if he felt like he couldn’t set aside his personal feelings. He refused to let anyone’s emotions put Teddy in additional danger. Schmitt, who’s come a long way since last season’s breakdown, stayed with Winston.
Teddy made it out of the surgery unscathed. Owen was waiting in the hospital room for her to wake up. When Teddy opened her eyes, she immediately wanted to know what happened. This near-death experience will have a lasting impact on Dr. Altman moving forward.
“[The experience] is absolutely going to change her,” Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Meg Marinis told TVLine. “That’s part of the reason to tell the story, right? To see what it brings out in the character. We’ve seen Owen have a life-and-death situation, but we haven’t seen Teddy recently have one. So like it would with anyone, it has an impact on her relationship with Owen, as well as with patients and how she treats other surgeons. It’s not going to be one of those things where she recovers and forgets.”
Grey’s Anatomy, Season 20, Thursdays, 9/8c, ABC
