9 Times ‘Grey’s’ Docs Got Their Jobs Back — Don’t Worry, Meredith! (PHOTOS)
Meredith Grey was fired
Meredith first lost her job at the hospital when she tampered with Derek’s (Patrick Dempsey) Alzheimer’s trial to make sure Richard’s wife Adele Webber (Loretta Devine) got the drug and not the placebo. Richard eventually took the fall for the misdeed, and Mer got her job back.
Meredith Grey was suspended
Mer was also suspended by Bailey (Chandra Wilson) for refusing to work with residency consultant Eliza Minnick (Marika Dominczyk) out of loyalty to Richard. Bailey later tried to get Mer to bend the knee, so to speak, but it wasn’t until Mer got a pep talk from Richard that she returned to her job.
Alex went into private practice
Alex left the hospital to work with Oliver “Dr. Butthole” Lebackes (Patrick Fabian) at the Lebackes Pediatric Surgery Clinic to pay off his med school loans. But Lebackes fired him when he discovered Alex was seeking a seat on the hospital board, and Alex promptly returned to Grey Sloan.
Alex Karev was suspended
Alex was also suspended for assaulting DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) after walking in on him and Jo (Camilla Luddington) in a compromising (but totally innocuous) situation. DeLuca eventually dropped the assault charges, and Alex once again got his old job back.
Cristina Yang joined the Mayo Clinic
Cristina (Sandra Oh) accepted a residency offer at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota following the plane crash and had a successful mentorship under Dr. Craig Thomas (William Daniels). But when Thomas dropped dead of a heart attack in the OR, Cristina decamped to Seattle, and Owen (Kevin McKidd) reinstated her.
April Kepner was fired
April (Sarah Drew) lost her job at the hospital — then known as Seattle Grace Mercy West — when Richard determined it was April’s distractedness that cost a hotel fire victim her life. When Derek became Chief of Surgery, however, he rehired her.
April moved back home
April also left the hospital after failing the boards and seeing all of her fellowship offers rescinded, even Seattle Grace’s. She moved back to her parents’ Ohio farm and stayed there until Owen convinced her to return to Seattle.
Leah Murphy was fired
Richard let Leah (Tessa Ferrer) go during her residency, telling her that she was an excellent doctor but not an excellent surgeon. But after honing her skills at Foster Hospital, she was re-hired at Grey Sloan—though, admittedly, we haven’t seen her recently.
Vik Roy was fired
Richard also fired Roy (Rushi Kota) for practicing medicine under the influence of a weed cookie. But Roy sued for wrongful termination and got his internship at the hospital back. Fast forward to Season 15 and Roy’s misdiagnosis of a patient, which led Alex to give him his walking papers again. Is that the last we’ve seen of him? On this show, one never really knows….
Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) was fired in the Grey’s Anatomy Season 15 finale alongside Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Richard (James Pickens Jr.) — accused of insurance fraud in the case of Gabrielle Rivera, a young lymphoma patient whom Mer listed as her own daughter to get a pricey surgery covered.
But Mer shouldn’t despair. Even if the ABC show didn’t revolve around her surgical career, odds are good that she will get her job back. It’s not the first time she and Alex left their Grey Sloan positions, after all.
Click through the gallery above to see nine occasions when the surgeons of Grey’s left the hospital — voluntarily or otherwise — only to return episodes or seasons later.
Grey’s Anatomy, Season 16 Premiere, Thursday, September 26, 8/7c, ABC
