Meredith Grey has been the lead character of Grey’s Anatomy from the beginning, going through a variety of situations – from funny ones to truly tragic moments – including being fired from Seattle Grace/Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital twice. Created by Shonda Rhimes, Grey’s Anatomy premiered on ABC in 2005 and has since become one of the most popular and successful medical dramas in recent years. Although its quality has decreased over the years, Grey’s Anatomy continues to be unstoppable, and it still has a solid fanbase that continues closely following Meredith’s story.
Grey’s Anatomy follows the basic premise of medical dramas, focusing on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they do their best to balance their personal and professional lives, all this with a touch of humor and a lot of drama happening inside and outside the hospital. Grey’s Anatomy is led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), whose journey began when she joined Seattle Grace Hospital as an intern alongside other fan-favorite characters, such as Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers). Meredith is one of only three characters from season 1 that continue being an active part of Grey’s Anatomy, and the audience has seen her go through a lot over the course of more than 15 seasons.
Meredith has seen many of her closest friends leave the hospital to move on to bigger and better things or for personal reasons, she has also seen some of her loved ones die (such as her husband, Derek Shepherd, and mother, Ellis Grey) and has been close to death on different occasions – and in addition to all that, she has also been fired from the hospital twice.
Grey’s Anatomy: Every Time Meredith Has Been Fired
Meredith has witnessed a variety of cases at Seattle Grace/Grey Sloan, was there when the hospital merged with Mercy West Medical Center, and has seen it go through a number of obstacles, most recently the residency program being at risk, but she has also been involved in a lot of trouble there, and in two different occasions, that led to her being fired. First, Meredith was fired after tampering with Derek’s Alzheimer’s trial, even though she did so to help Richard Webber’s wife, Adele. Following Meredith’s mother’s death and her struggles with Alzheimer’s, Derek decided to try and find a cure. When Adele’s condition began to worsen, she was put into the trial, and in order for her to get the active agent and not the placebo, Meredith switched the envelopes and tainted the trial in the process, leading to her firing. This almost cost her and Derek the adoption of their daughter, Zola, as the social worker found out that they weren’t living together and she had been fired. Luckily for Meredith, she and Derek were ultimately able to adopt Zola and she returned to the hospital.
The second time Meredith was fired on Grey’s Anatomy was all due to insurance fraud. In order to help a lymphoma patient who needed surgery and years of treatment and follow-up, Meredith listed her as her own daughter so the insurance would cover the expensive surgery. Of course, this got more complicated and Meredith was fired and spent some time in jail, and after a long process in which her friends and colleagues testified in her favor, Bailey told her she could return to work at Grey Sloan, which she happily accepted. After everything she has gone through at the hospital, Meredith’s happy ending might be all about leaving Grey Sloan and starting a new chapter in her life far from it and all the bad memories linked to that specific place.