Izzie’s Medical Debt and 5 More Grey’s Anatomy Plot Holes That Still Don’t Make Sense

At this point, Grey’s Anatomy is never going to end, and if it does, television just won’t feel the same. It’s been on the air for what feels like forever, and with that kind of longevity comes the likelihood of plot holes—many of them.

Some are nitpicky and don’t actually affect the enjoyment of the show. However, there are others that really stand out and make you wonder how no one in the writers’ room failed to notice the inconsistencies.. Those are the ones we’ll be talking about today. As we explore these plot holes, we can appreciate the complexities of storytelling, recognizing that even our favorite shows are not immune to occasional missteps. These ultimately serve as a reminder that imperfections are part of what makes a long-running show enjoyable and relatable.

6Ellis Grey Is Forgotten

Look, we can give a little bit of leeway to the Grey’s team here because it has got to be difficult keeping track of 20+ years of lore and characters. But the timeline in this show makes no sense. For starters, Ellis Grey (Kate Burton) is said to have had a scrub nurse at Seattle Grace whom she worked with for 18 years, yet no one recognized her when she was admitted to the hospital on multiple occasions. Also, she’s Ellis Grey, a well-known doctor, as we come to know. Meredith Grey is basically a nepo baby in this show; all of her colleagues want to get close to her because of who her mother is, yet we’re supposed to believe nobody recognizes Ellis when she’s admitted to the hospital? No way.

On a similar note, the entire existence of Maggie Pierce (Kelly McCreary) feels far-fetched as well. There’s no believable reality where people aren’t catching on to a well-known doctor like Ellis Grey being pregnant. Let alone pregnant with Richard Webber’s (James Pickens Jr.) child. Her existence has always felt a little too far-fetched, even for a show as soapy as Grey’s Anatomy.

5Richard Webber’s Timeline Doesn’t Add Up in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Speaking of timeline inconsistencies, Richard Webber’s timeline doesn’t add up within the show. It is said many times throughout the show that Richard has been in Seattle most of his life. He did his residency at Seattle Grace alongside Ellis, and he met and started a life with Adele (Loretta Devine) there. He eventually worked his way up to become Chief of Surgery, which is when we as viewers first meet him. But if you go by Derek’s (Patrick Dempsey) and Addison’s (Kate Walsh) timeline, Richard’s doesn’t make sense at all. When we first meet Derek, he says he’s never been to Seattle. Yet when we meet Addison, we learn that Richard was a mentor to both her and Derek, despite the two of them living in New York previously. So either Richard left Seattle to move to New York at some point and failed to mention it, or Derek lied about never visiting Seattle.

To make things even more confusing, Richard has no idea who Mark (Eric Dane) is when he arrives in Seattle, despite him being Derek’s best friend and practically growing up with him. Considering how close the show painted Richard, Derek, Addison, and even Adele, it seems highly unlikely that Richard wouldn’t know Mark. Especially considering the whole affair situation that tore Addison and Derek apart and prompted Derek to take the job at Seattle Grace in the first place.

4How Old Are the Characters in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’?

If you think the timelines are confusing, try figuring out how old the characters are. It’s pretty much impossible. Early in the show, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) states that she has been married for 10 years, and at that point, she is only a four-year resident, which would mean she got married pretty soon after she graduated from high school. It’s shown in a Season 6 flashback that she met Richard during her intern year, but it’s later said that he was present during her first wedding, so these timelines just don’t add up. As fun as the flashback episodes are, they cause a lot of headaches in terms of timeline inconsistencies. It’s best to just shut your brain off and not think too hard about it, lest you be frustrated.

3What Happened to Izzie’s Debt?

In Season 5 of Grey’s Anatomy, Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) discovered she had cancer. She underwent surgeries and chemotherapy, and beat it, thankfully, but her character was ultimately written off the show in a pretty confusing way. She sort of just leaves for a while, then comes back briefly, and leaves again. As a result, the debt from her cancer treatments is left with Alex (Justin Chambers), since they got married while she was in treatment.

It’s a pretty big deal that he’s left with her debt. He’s already devastated about her leaving him, and he’s now saddled with $200k of medical bills and nowhere near enough money to pay them off. But for some reason, the show doesn’t dwell on it. As quickly as it’s brought up, it’s dropped again. It’s very likely that Izzie took care of things off-screen, or that her $8m donation back in Season 3 was enough for the hospital to just call it even, but it’s still a pretty big thing to drop on Alex and then never come back to.

2Derek’s Death Is Filled With Plot Holes

Grey’s Anatomy made it clear early on that it was not afraid to kill off its characters, but no one could have seen it coming when they killed off McDreamy. Especially with such a horrendous and poorly executed death. A world-renowned neurosurgeon dies because of a lack of a head CT. It’s honestly embarrassing. But outside of the actual death itself, the events leading up to it are plot hole central. He stops to help a family in need of medical attention and discovers that there is no cell reception, yet when he returns to his car, he miraculously receives a phone call that conveniently distracts him from the oncoming semi-truck that collides into his car. It’s a detail that so many fans have been up in arms over, because it’s such a small detail that shouldn’t have been missed.

Also, he was still near Seattle at that point, and as mentioned, he’s a world-renowned neurosurgeon. Like Ellis Grey, how did nobody recognize him? No one checked his ID and thought, “Hey, this guy looks familiar?” He was also taken to a level three trauma center, despite being near Grey Sloan Memorial. None of it makes sense, and it’s just a messy episode altogether. Don’t even get us started on how Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) didn’t bother to call his family.

1Meredith Wins a Harper Avery, But Cristina Couldn’t

There’s truly no other option for the number one spot, because to this day, it is the thing fans are most confused about. How did Meredith win a Harper Avery, and Cristina (Sandra Oh) wasn’t allowed to? The Harper Avery Award is awarded to surgeons at the top of their profession, but doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial are unable to win due to the Harper Avery Foundation being a partial owner of the hospital. Cristina was nominated for her 3-D printed heart conduit project, and was the clear frontrunner, but it soon became clear that she was used as nothing but a ploy to garner interest, and she was never going to be allowed to actually win the award due to the Averys owning a share in the hospital. This led to her leaving Grey Sloan and going to another hospital where she could flourish and be celebrated for her work, like she deserves to be.

But just a few seasons later, Meredith was nominated for a Harper Avery and won. And Bailey later won one as well. This really just feels like a slap in the face to Cristina, who deserved that award. Many fans have speculated as to why the rules suddenly changed to allow Meredith, and eventually Bailey, to win. And though it can really just be pinned down to being that she’s Meredith Grey and the main character, some have speculated that it’s because Harper Avery died in the show’s canon, and the rules changed. Also, after the Harper Avery scandal, Catherine (Debbie Allen) changed the award to be in her name, so she very well could have changed the rules, too. We may never get a proper reason for it. But let’s just hope Cristina is winning all the Harper Avery awards she can now!