Currently airing season 15, Grey’s Anatomy has covered quite a bit of ground throughout its seemingly unending reign on prime time television. Viewers were hooked almost immediately thanks to the show’s impossibly quotable dialogue, epic romances and complex medical cases set to an amazing soundtrack. Grey’s made household names of all its stars and reminded the world that ‘80s heartthrob Patrick Dempsey was still a total dreamboat. The series is also largely responsible for the impressive Shonda Rhimes television takeover that followed.
It is true that much of the best Grey’s Anatomy drama stems from its core cast, despite the fact that the majority of faces have changed drastically since season 1. However, the doctors of Seattle Grace aren’t the only memorable characters to appear in the long-running series. Many of the patients have also been pretty incredible - even if the majority of those cases resulted in an intense need to hug your loved ones.
Over the years, Grey’s has introduced fans to some pretty unforgettable patients. Thanks to the show’s seamless mix of heart and humor, these cases often touch upon the full spectrum of human emotion. There were moments that made viewers laugh out loud, but others that had them reaching for the nearest box of tissues. Although the most lovable patients on the series are too numerous to name, there has also been the occasional transient that fans wish they had never met.
Excluding our favorite doctors' family , here are 14 Patients Every True Fan Will (And 6 We’d Rather Forget.)
Memorable: Denny Duquette Jr.
Has there ever been a more memorable patient than Denny Duquette Jr.? Seriously, no matter how wrong the season 2 romance between Izzie and her patient was, viewers refused to stop rooting for them. There have been plenty of heartbreaking patient losses on Grey’s Anatomy, but none quite so gut-wrenching as when Izzie discovered that Denny had slipped away.
Denny was not only kind, but also funny and thoughtful. Of course, much of this can be attributed to Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s undeniable charms - side note: why do so many shows and movies insist on offing his characters? As much as fans loved watching the romance between Izzie and Denny develop, the less said about his season 5 stint as a ghost/hallucination, the better.
Want To Forget: Sonya Cowlman And Adam Morris
We can appreciate that Sonya Cowlman and Adam Morris had a complex marriage and an even more complicated divorce, but that doesn’t change the fact that their medical case was kind of icky. They appeared in season 3 episode, “Oh, the Guilt”, portrayed by Faith Prince and Arye Gross, respectively. Sonya and Adam were a divorced couple that hadn’t quite gotten over each other since their marriage ended.
Unfortunately, a midlife crisis piercing that Adam had gotten wound up caught on Sonya’s method of contraception, leaving the two in a rather compromising position. They got stuck and had to be taken to the hospital. Making matters worse, their daughter walked in on this horrible visual, before the doctors were able to separate them. Talk about needing years of therapy!
Memorable: Beatrice Carver
The fact that Season 2 patient Beatrice Carver is memorable shouldn't come as too much of a shock, considering it was Laurie Metcalf who played her. Despite being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Beatrice was intent on hiding her looming fate from her daughter, Amelia. Keeping the secret was so important to her that she even attempted to check out of the hospital against medical advice to celebrate her daughter’s birthday.
Ever the realist, it was Alex who convinced Beatrice that she needed to be honest with Amelia before it was too late. In a beautiful, but heartbreaking scene, Beatrice told her daughter the truth. However, she did more than just explain how sick she really was. Beatrice crammed a lifetime’s worth of maternal wisdom into just a few moments, knowing that she wouldn’t have much more time to do so.
Memorable: Jake Burton
Played by future Friday Night Lights alum, Jesse Plemons, Jake Burton appeared in season 2 as well. He came to the hospital with a brain tumor, which had been caused by his incredibly severe case of lionitis. Derek planned on resecting the tumor and Mark suggested that, since the patient would be under anesthesia anyway, the plastic surgeon might as well attempt to remove the growths from his face. This would make the fifteen-year-old look “normal” for the first time in his life.
In a soul-crushing turn of events, Jake did not survive the tumor resection. Thankfully, Mark was still game to perform the other surgery with Alex and Cristina assisting. Jake may never have been able to see his new face, but his parents wept in gratitude.
Memorable: Bonnie Crasnoff And Tom Maynard
What can we say? Season 2 had a lot of memorable patients. Few left more of an impression than Bonnie Crasnoff and Tom Maynard. These two were victims of a train crash that flooded the hospital with patients. Their case was unique, however, because they had been impaled on a metal pole… together.
The pair were joking, bonding with each other right up until the end. Unfortunately, there was no way to save them both and the patient with the better odds of success was Tom. In a heartbreaking moment, Bonnie asked that Derek be the one to tell her fiancé what happened. When the two patients were separated, the life began to drain from Bonnie immediately. The other doctors rushed to save Tom, but Meredith refused to abandon her.
Want To Forget: Lawrence Jennings
Lawrence Jennings (Mitch Pileggi) made his first appearance in season 3. He was a member of the board, but his debut episode saw him show up as a patient. After spending some time in the Amazon, Larry found himself experiencing certain uncomfortable symptoms. Chief Webber diagnosed him as having a candiru fish, which is basically a fish that swims up the last place anyone would ever want one to.
It’s not just that Larry’s case was kind of gross. The larger issue is that he was cheating on his wife with his assistant and was awful to both of them. By episode’s end, Larry did lose his marriage and his mistress, but he’s still a patient best left forgotten.
Memorable: Nick Hanscom
One of several Buffy the Vampire alums to appear on Grey’s Anatomy, Seth Green showed up in season 4 for “Crash Into Me” Parts 1 and 2. He portrayed the sweet, but short-lived, Nick Hanscom. One of Lexie’s first patients, Nick had a huge tumor removed from his carotid artery. He was left with just a small flap of skin covering this very sensitive area.
Nick and Lexie quickly developed a good rapport, which made it that much more difficult when his artery inevitably burst. Lexie did everything that she could to save him, but sadly, it wasn’t enough. Thanks to Green’s charms, most viewers were just as heartbroken as Lexie after he bled out.
Memorable: CeCe Colvin
CeCe Colvin is the most recent Grey Sloan Memorial patient on this list. She was portrayed by Caroline Clay and appeared in six episodes during the show’s current season. CeCe was inadvertently responsible for taking someone's life after ing out behind the wheel due to her health issues. Nisha was driving the car that CeCe hit and she suffered tremendous guilt over the fact that the other woman didn't survive.
CeCe was a professional matchmaker with an 85% success rate, so she took an immediate interest in Meredith’s lack of a love life. Finally ready to attempt to find romance, Meredith was actually somewhat receptive. Sadly, even though she convinced CeCe that she deserved to live, in the end, Meredith couldn’t save her thanks to a power outage during surgery.
Memorable: Mary Portman
Before Mandy Moore made America fall in love with Rebecca Pearson on This is Us, she was one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most memorable patients. Mary made her debut in the season 6 finale, also known as one of the most intense two-parters in the history of television. She was at the hospital for a routine surgery, but after her husband left to grab her something to eat, everything went crazy.
Bereaved husband, Gary Clark, walked into the hospital and started shooting people. Mary was trapped in her hospital room with Bailey and later, Charles, during the incident. In a gut-wrenching twist, Mary survived the shooting, just to later lose her life following the procedure that she had originally gone to the hospital for. The surgery seemingly went off without a hitch, but Mary never woke up.
Want To Forget: Rebecca Pope/Ava
After seeing the patient/doctor romance story rendered in such swoon-worthy fashion with Denny and Izzie, the one between Alex and Ava was pretty disappointing. Rebecca (Elizabeth Reaser) showed up in season 3 as a pregnant Jane Doe who was wounded beyond all recognition from the ferry crash. Alex was the one who found her and the two grew quite close over time.
The issue was, there wasn’t much chemistry between Justin Chambers and Reaser, plus the storyline just dragged on for far too long. The questions raised by Ava’s identity crisis could’ve been interesting, if the story wasn’t so focused on her lackluster relationship with Alex. She kept leaving and every time she returned, viewers cared just a little bit less about what happened to her.
