While Grey’s Anatomy is still one of the best medical dramas in history, there have been many instances of medical and surgical errors and mistakes that cannot be overlooked, at least not by me nor any medical health provider.

Other mistakes, however, are so blatant that it is impossible to look away.

And while I am totally in love with the characters and their lives, I can’t help but notice there are some serious but hilarious medical errors in the show.

Nothing that regular folks would notice, but for diehard medical doctor fans like me, these plot holes and continuity mistakes can be, well…funny and annoying at the same time 😉 After all, what fan doesn’t take pride in noticing things that nobody else does?

GREY’S ANATOMY MEDICAL MISTAKES

A. When doing surgery it is extremely important NOT TO WEAR any jewelry of any kind. And you can see the female surgeons in this TV show operating with their earrings on!!!! 😬😨 This is a constant error throughout the seasons. I wonder why the medical advisors of the GA failed on this issue.

B. In order to ensure the most sanitary environment possible prior to beginning surgery,  surgeons have to «scrub in» before they enter the operating room.

Surgical scrubbing is the removal of the germs and bacteria as possible from the bare hands and arms. After scrubbing, doctors should keep both hands above waist and below neckline.

Surgeons should keep them in view at all times. Scrubbed hands and arms are considered contaminated once they fall below waist level. On the other hand, surgical gowning and gloving provide a barrier between the patient and healthcare provider.

After that, only sterile clothing and sterile body areas of the patient can be touched. 

In some episodes some doctors cross their arms after scrubbing. This is a direct medical NO-NO-NO, as the hands would now be contaminated.

I also notice that Dr. Bailey makes sterilization mistakes: in several episodes she ties her own sterile gown right before starting surgery. She touches others surgeons gowns with her sterile gloves.

C. Now, this storyline alone is pretty hard to believe, but let’s say anything is possible in TV land: Derek tells Meredith to do an MRI on a female patient with a fork in her neck. Ferromagnetic metals aren’t allowed inside the MRI, due to its magnetism. A fork is a stainless-steel item, and iron is its main component. Iron is ferromagnetic.

So, an MRI is magnetic, very expensive test and non-necessary. A regular x-ray would have sufficed.

D. This is hilarious and totally unnecessary: some doctors enter the scrubbing room from the gray area with the hands up! hahahaha, no need to do this, since the hands aren’t sterile yet because they haven’t been scrubbed. Oh jeez, when I watched this I had a good laugh!

E. Another terrible medical mistake in Grey’s Anatomy; the nails of the patients. Patients who are going to be operated on have to have their nails free of nail polish. If the patient’s oxygen levels do drop, the fingernails would turn blue; signaling it to the surgeon, anesthesiologist and surgical nurses that there is a serious problem. But this would be hidden by the nail polish.

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