Grey’s Anatomy has never shied away from having its characters (or stars) speak out on current events and political issues. The show has seen its rotating slew of surgeons engage in conversations, advocacy, and even on-the-ground action on issues like racial equality and the Black Lives Matter movement, the erosion of women’s reproductive rights after the overturning of Roe V. Wade, and, of course, the cruelty of the American healthcare system for low- and middle-income residents writ large.
Still, the show has quietly developed a tradition of not mentioning Donald Trump by name in discussions of those issues, all of which have been hot topics under his administration(s). That convention continued in Thursday’s (March 12) new episode, “Love the Way You Lie,” even though it was very, very clear who the dialogue referred to. Warning: Spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy Season 22 Episode 13 ahead!
In this case, Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) was despondent that a beloved patient of hers, Katie Rogers (Samantha Marie Ware), was being prepared for hospice due to her rapid decline after the experimental treatment she was taking, which was working, was stopped as a result of the Trump administration’s widespread budget cuts to programs like cancer research.
To Lucas Adams (Niko Terho), she complained, “I’ve replayed the steps in my head every night: ‘Could I have operated earlier? Could I have pushed oncology harder? Could I have filed more appeals with the drug manufacturer?'”
After Lucas assured her that she did everything she could, Bailey continued, “I did everything I could 15 years ago for Katie’s grandmother. But immunotherapies didn’t exist then. She died from actual cancer. But Katie? No, Katie’s dying from bureaucratic stupidity. Just years of hard work to finally develop a medicine that was working, and instead of helping people access it, our government is dismantling science!”
The impassioned speech continued, “Just like that, clinical trial, gone. And not just Katie or cancer. It’s maternal health, diabetes prevention, substance abuse programs; space exploration is even on the chopping block. Just decades of groundbreaking work [ripped apart] without even a single thought to its cost in human lives.”
This isn’t the only time Grey’s dialogue has taken a shot at Trump without directly naming him. Back in a key Season 13 episode, which aired in October 2017, Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) was recovering from brain surgery and was asked whether she knew who the president was, and she replied, “I wish I didn’t.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane) was put on defense after Kavita Monhanty (Anita Kalathara) blamed her for the surgery-gone-wrong on Toni Wright’s (Jen Landon) patient, but the people whose opinions she most cared about — that is, Benson “Blue” Kwan (Harry Shum Jr.) and Winston Ndugu (Anthony Hill) — took her side on it, with Blue even telling his quasi-girlfriend to accept her job offer in Boston, effectively breaking up with her over the issue.
Grey’s Anatomy, Thursdays, 10/9c, ABC
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