[voice over] There's an old joke doctors like to tell. "Hey, Doc, it hurts when I go like this." And the doctor says, "Well, don't go like this." It's a lame joke, but it's nonetheless true. As human beings, we can't help but want to follow our instincts to follow our guts our primal urges no matter how much it may hurt.
S16 E16Leave a Light On
[voice over] We hold onto hope, thinking one small detail, one tiny piece of information will somehow make things right, make it different, make it okay stop the world from spinning off its axis. When the truth is there's really no good way to say goodbye.
S16 E17Life on Mars?
[voice over] Your body contains approximately 35 trillion cells, and every one of them is constantly being pulled down to earth by gravity. When you're lying down, gravitational forces are spread between the thorax, abdomen, and legs. Stand up too fast, and blood rushes downward, away from the brain. It causes dizziness or even fainting. It's a minor miracle our cells get anything done at all. Because the human body has to perform even the simplest of tasks, either under unimaginable pressure.
[voice over] You would think weightlessness is a good thing, but it's not. Because people weren't meant to float. Without gravity, we lose blood volume, bone density, muscle. Without it, we're untethered. It may keep you centered. It may keep you safe.
S16 E18Give a Little Bit
[voice over] In 1847, the American Medical Association published its code of ethics, in which physicians were encouraged to provide free services to the poor as part of their public duty. Hospitals were meant to be centers to care for the sick and poor. They were meant to be places of refuge, places to heal. But somewhere along the way, that changed. Healthcare became a commodity sold to those who can afford it rather than a physician's dutiful service to the public.
[voice over] It's been said that you haven't lived today unless you have done something for someone who can never repay you. But that's easier said than done. Because when your life's a mess, it's hard to be much help to anyone else. I wish I had something more encouraging to say. And if that sounds too hard. Well, this might not be the life for you.
S16 E19Love of My Life
[voice over] Most people believe that who they are today is pretty much who they will still be in the future. Our minds trick us into thinking our entire history, every choice, every change and chance, has led to this specific moment what we call "Now".
S16 E20Sing It Again
[voice over] Since our hospital is a teaching program, many of our patients allow their surgeries to be filmed. It's great as a teaching tool. But if you screw up, it ends up online for the whole world to see. Your mistakes will be scrutinized, analyzed, studied, written about, argued over, watched and re-watched. We all make mistakes. We all have moments when we weren't the best surgeon or even the best person. We all have moments we'd rather not relive.
[voice over] There are certain moments in my life that I wish I could relive: first day of internship, first solo surgery, first time I held my children in my arms. The last lucid conversation I had with my mother. But for every one of those there's one I wish I could forget or do differently. Those are the moments that keep me up at night. And no matter what I do, they keep coming back to haunt me.
S16 E21Put on a Happy Face
[voice over] Unless you're paid to be there, no one ever wants to go into an O.R. It's freezing, you're naked, and a stranger will be cutting into your body with knives. But what patients don't know and what we try to keep them from knowing is sometimes it's just as terrifying for us. Traumas, heart surgery, anything to do with the pancreas. Any surgeon who says they're not afraid of those is lying. But no matter how risky the surgery no matter how scared you might be your job is to reassure your patient and tell them, "Everything is going to be okay." Whether you believe it or not.
[voice over] Sometimes, surgeries go better than planned. There's no better gift you can give someone than saying you saved the person they love. I look forward to those moments. Unfortunately, those perfect outcomes are rare. You would think it gets easier, but it doesn't. Each one hurts just as much as the last one. So, we hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Because the worst has a nasty way of finding you.
S17 E1All Tomorrow's Parties
[voice over] I've heard that when tidal waves hit, there are often people watching on shore. They see the disaster coming, see the horizon disappearing. They don't really see until it's too late. There's a lecture we take in residency that's meant to prepare us for such surprises. It's called Disaster Ethics Where future surgeons imagine what they would do when the unimaginable happens. But it's imperfect. Because while it's good to plan for the worst, you can't really know how you'll handle it until you're smack dab in the middle of it, under the wave, trying not to drown.
[voice over] Disaster has a tendency to melt away everything else in life. So if you want to know who you'll be in a disaster, ask yourself: who am I now?
S17 E2The Center Won't Hold
[voice over] As proud as we surgeons are of our stitches, they aren't meant to be a permanent fix. Your body still has to do the real work. An army of different cells comes in to build new tissue. And eventually, you've produced enough collagen to heal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't obsess about technique. Because even one mistake, one slip, can cost a lot of blood.
S17 E4You'll Never Walk Alone
[voice over] Medical schools often ask applicants for an essay describing a time they faced adversity and how they overcame it. They want to know how people will cope with the challenges they'll face as a doctor. Some students worry they have nothing to write about. I didn't have that problem.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Grey's Anatomy pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.