10 Grey’s Anatomy Moments Too Disturbing to Watch More Than Once

When it comes to medical dramas, fans can expect a little bit of gore every now and then, especially if it’s shown post-watershed. But, since Grey’s Anatomy tries to be as medically realistic as possible, it tries to avoid certain motifs and stereotypes. Yet, that doesn’t mean that the show isn’t teeming with uncomfortable moments or gut-wrenching cases.

While this type of content is subject to taste, many fans feel that the show wouldn’t be the same without it. These distressing moments help Grey’s Anatomy break away from its workplace dramas and diversify itself from other modern procedurals. So, even though these gory scenes are enough to turn any viewer’s stomach, they’re integral to the show’s canon.

A Maintenance Worker Suffers a Life-Changing Accident

Season 15, Episode 9, “Shelter from the Storm”

While Grey Sloan often boasts about being one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in Seattle, it isn’t immune to a few minor faults. During a particularly bad windstorm, a few of the doctors are trapped in elevators, leading to a ton of drama unfolding. While this episode focuses a lot on Meredith’s blossoming relationship with Andrew, it also shows a maintenance worker suffering a critical accident.

ther the worker frees Bailey from the elevator shaft, his legs get crushed severely. This moment is particularly graphic because it doesn’t shy away from showing the man’s bones shooting out of his knees as his legs are crushed. As such, it’s pretty hard for fans not to wince in pain themselves when watching this episode.

Meredith Is Assaulted by a Violent Patient

Season 12, Episode 9, “The Sound of Silence”

While Meredith has undoubtedly gone through a lot of hardships during her time on Grey’s Anatomy, a harsh confrontation in “The Sound of Silence” suggests that she’s fighting an uphill battle. The audience is introduced to Lou, who seems to be suffering from a plethora of head injuries after a car crash. Once Meredith had managed to stabilize his seizures, he continued to complete a routine exam. But, when her back was turned, Lou lunged at her and started throwing her around the room.

Of course, this wasn’t exactly Lou’s fault, as he was suffering from a very dangerous epidural hematoma. But watching Grey get battered and bruised by one of her patients is absolutely terrifying, and Pompeo does a great job of showing the fear in the character’s eyes. Overall, this episode is, unfortunately, a dark reality for a lot of healthcare workers.

Mark Sloan’s New Girlfriend Handles a Tricky Procedure

Season 8, Episode 10, “Suddenly”

After a family gets involved in a serious car crash, the doctors are determined to nurse every member back to full health. Abby was still unconscious after the crash and arrived at the hospital with a shard of glass stuck in her eye. With no one around to help save this little girl, Mark Sloan recruits his partner, Julia Canner, as a stand-in vireo-retinal surgeon.

As if this procedure wasn’t tense enough, Canner initially gets distracted by Derek’s constant pestering and accidentally pushes the glass deeper into her eye. After what feels like centuries, Dr. Canner slowly removes the sharp spike of glass as well as some of the girl’s bone fragments. While audiences are glad that the girl regained her sight, this scene truly places them on the edge of their seats.

A Patient’s Vanity Gets in the Way of Their Health

Season 5, Episode 12, “Sympathy for the Devil”

“Sympathy for the Devil” mostly focuses on Derek’s mother, Carolyn, and her new relationship with Meredith. However, this episode also features a truly sickening and unforgettable case. Mark and Callie meet Chuck Rubin, who has just returned from Hong Kong after undergoing a leg-lengthening procedure. But, instead of coming back a few inches taller, his legs were teeming with infection.

The state of Rubin’s legs is horrific and presents a wealth of open surgical sites and infected bones. Thus, the surgeons had no choice but to cut open his legs once again so that they could remove the device and treat the awful infection. Though Rubin was a little sad that he was still 5’3″, fans were just glad that they never had to witness his disfigured legs ever again.

A Charming Man Suffers a Devastating Accident

Season 4, Episode 9, “Crash Into Me, Part 1”

Nick Hanscom is an iconic character within the Grey’s Anatomy universe because not only is he played by a baby-faced Seth Green, but he also suffers one of the most distressing cases fans have ever seen. Hanscom recently had a large tumor removed from his neck and had a small flap of skin covering his carotid artery. As such, Mark Sloan warmed the patient, and everyone else needed to keep a close eye on him so that it wouldn’t rupture.

But, while having a joke with Lexie, Hanscom laughed a little too hard, and his artery exploded over him and Grey. Of course, this moment is exceptionally scary, and fans are forced to gaze into the patient’s terrified eyes. But, the amount of blood on show is astonishing and truly explores how far Grey’s Anatomy is willing to go to show realistic medical procedures.

A Lady’s Headaches Showcase Something Much More Sinister

Season 11, Episode 17, “With or Without You”

Andrea arrives at Grey Sloan complaining of recurring headaches and nosebleeds. Though this seems like quite a common issue, she explains that every time she tries to wipe the blood from her nose, it mysteriously travels back up there. At first, the doctors assume that she’s making it all up, but when Jo notices it, too, she concludes that there must be something living in her nose.

Jo used a ton of gadgets and tools to get a proper look at this obscure creature, but the patient kept on telling her to stop because she could feel it clawing. After a lot of convincing, Andrea allowed the team to extract it one more time and found a leech residing in her sinus cavity. It’s hard for audiences to imagine how much pain she must have been in, let alone how it managed to live in her nose for so long.

Warts Obscure a Man’s Entire Body

Season 7, Episode 3, “Superfreak”

At first, Jerry was too scared to get out of the car, and it was only until his wife forced him that he felt comfortable revealing himself to the doctors. Jerry suffered from HPV as well as a weak immune system, causing an abundance of warts to spread across his entire body. Because each wart has its own blood supply, they have to remove each one separately.

Aside from having to watch this painstaking surgery, audiences are forced to watch Lexie dispose of large chunks of discolored skin at a time. At one point in the operation, a huge spider crawls out of one of the wart clusters, suggesting that Jerry has been dealing with this struggle for decades. Although Jerry still needed a ton of skin grafts to help him look somewhat normal, audiences were relieved that he was able to get rid of some of that extra weight.

A GI Virus Puts Grey Sloan in a Spin

Season 10, Episode 18, “You Be Illin'”

A GI virus is never good at the best of times, but when it spreads in a hospital full of sick patients, things are bound to get worse. While Leah is trying her hardest not to vomit profusely, she’s forced to work with Meredith and Richard to fix Mr. Gordor’s infected bowel. As Richard removes a hoard of pus and feces from the organs, Leah proceeds to throw up in her mask.

Not only is this procedure quite unpleasant, but seeing Murphy looking worse for wear only makes the situation more revolting. Although fans expect these doctors to be unfazed by bodily fluids at this point in their careers, it’s also quite difficult to watch the characters speak so openly about such disgusting topics. In general, this episode explores the horrors of being sick.

A Researcher’s Odd Tests Lead To a Disgusting Discovery

Season 7, Episode 4, “Can’t Fight Biology”

Though Ivan Fink had big dreams of curing his asthma, he almost killed himself in the process. He arrived at Grey Sloan vomiting worms because he believed that ingesting them was the only way he could control his respiratory condition. As such, the researcher managed to keep the worms inside of him for 343 days and didn’t experience a flare in his asthma for around 6 months.

Watching Cristina Yang use a suction device to remove these worms is not for the faint-hearted, and fans sit in constant fear that the researcher is going to suffer even more complications. The worst part is that Fink doesn’t want to harm the worms in any way and is actually quite content with them living in his body. It just shows the extent to which patients will go to relieve themselves of certain conditions.

Halloween Just Got Worse at Grey Sloan

Season 10, Episode 7, “Thriller”

Although “Thriller” is a Halloween episode, it’s often praised for being tooth-achingly sweet. For example, Derek and Ben don their surgeon gear to help repair Zola’s fairy wings for her costume. Yet, one patient’s fear of the hospital takes this episode to a completely different level.

Marge complains of a four-month-old bug bite that she says is getting worse. The doctors prepare to see a minor source of infection but are instead met with a huge laceration filled with maggots. Although these bugs probably helped to minimize Marge’s infection and potentially stopped her from going septic, the initial shock of seeing them was brutal for audiences.