Izzie Stevens

Isobel "Izzie" Stevens is an attending at Seattle Grace Hospital. She is known to get too emotionally involved with her patients, and even sometimes to go out of her way to the extent of disregarding rules and protocol to help her patients but she has a good heart. In the last season finale, Miranda Bailey handed over the clinic to Izzie.

Childhood and growing up
Before the start of Season 1, Isobel "Izzie" Stevens lived in a trailer with her mother who nicknamed her "Cricket". As a teenager, Izzie worked as a waitress and had savings for college but her mother spent most of the money on psychics. This forced Izzie to pay most of the bills with her own money. This is the cause of their estranged relationship. When Izzie turned 18, she left home.

Izzie paid for medical school by modeling for a fictional designer, "Bethany Whisper".

In Season 2, after meeting a girl from her hometown, it is revealed that Izzie gave birth to a daughter who she subsequently gave up for adoption. Izzie privately named her daughter Sarah but her adoptive parents named her Hannah. Later, Izzie donated bone marrow to Hannah who was suffering from leukimia.

Personal
At the start of Season One, Izzie quickly befriends her fellow interns, Dr. Meredith Grey, Dr. Cristina Yang, and Dr. George O'Malley. She and George, whom she considers her best friend convince Meredith to let them stay at Meredith's mother's house. After realizing George's infatuation with Meredith she encourages him to ask her out.

In Season 1 when Alex Karev discovered her history as a model, he didn't waste any time in putting up her lingerie advertisements all over Seattle Grace. A furious Izzie confronted Alex and reminded him that while he was sitting on debt, she had paid all her student loans.

Despite the incident, she saw through Alex's shallow, callous exterior and befriended him, to the shock of her friends. Despite the fact she denied having an attraction towards Alex she accepts his offer for a dinner date. Unfortunately for Izzie, Alex had had a tough day prior to the date and didn't treat her well throughout. This put their budding relationship on the backburner until Alex rekindled their relationship by kissing Izzie at the bar.

After George's disastrous sexual encounter with Meredith he moves out of the house, much to Izzie's dissapointment. Despite several attempts, George refuses to tell Izzie where he is currently living. Eventually, he moved back in and frequently had his new girlfriend Dr. Callie Torres over, much to Izzie's dismay. Izzie made it very clear to George that she dissaproved of presence in his life because she considered Callie a freak. Izzie's constant remarks about Callie and George's unwillingness to confront Izzie about it was a factor when the couple broke up later.

Romantic life
After meeting a heart patient named Denny Duquette she was charmed by his playful flirtation and humor. He left the hospital shortly after they met after failing to recieve a new heart.

In Season 2 she fell in love with a heart patient named Denny Duquette. Shortly after he recieved a new heart and she accepted his marriage proposal, Denny died of a stroke, leaving Izzie devastated and overcome with grief.

When there was a bomb threat in the hospital, Izzie felt she needed to do what she wanted before it was to late. She proceeded to have sex with Alex in a linen closet again several times throughout the day.

Izzie and Alex continued their sexual relationship but when Denny was readmitted to the hospital after suffering cardiac dysrthymia Izzie brushed Alex off so she could tend to Denny. Alex became jealous of Denny so he told Denny he should back off because he would probably die from heart failure and if he did if would hurt Izzie. When Izzie finds out that Alex said this to Denny she confronted him and he replied that she can't get involved with patients. She later realizes that she doesn't have to settle for Alex.

In Season 1 when Alex Karev discovered her history as a model, he didn't waste any time in putting up her lingerie advertisements all over Seattle Grace. A furious Izzie confronted Alex and reminded him that while he was sitting on debt, she had paid all her student loans.

Despite the incident, she saw through Alex's shallow, callous exterior and befriended him, to the shock of her friends. Despite the fact she denied having an attraction towards Alex she accepts his offer for a dinner date. Unfortunately for Izzie, Alex had had a tough day prior to the date and didn't treat her well throughout. This put their budding relationship on the backburner until Alex rekindled their relationship by kissing Izzie at the bar.

Due to some difficulties on Alex's part, their sexual relationship didn't take off. After Izzie caught Alex sleeping with Nurse Olivia she ended their relationship and was furious with him. When Izzie discovered her friends were helping Alex study for his failed boards she blew up at them although she eventually forgave him and helped him study as well. Even though she forgave him she ruled out the possibility of another relationship with him.

Other men
 * George O'Malley

Career
At the beginning of her internship, Izzie struggled with other's assumptions of her as an incompetent doctor, due to the fact that she used to be a lingerie model.

Denny had a left ventrical assistant device (LVAD) inserted to keep him alive for longer so he could wait for a heart. Denny was initially reluctant to get the LVAD inserted because it would confine him to his bed but Izzie convinced him to have the procedure. After finding out that Denny had lost a donor heart to someone on the donor list who was ahead of him by 17 seconds, she implored him to let her cut his LVAD wire so his condition would worsen and he would move up on the donor list. At first, Denny refused because it would end her medical career and he didn't want to "steal a heart out of another man's chest" but after Izzie broke down crying and begging him, he agreed. Izzie cut Denny's LVAD wire and sought the help of her fellow interns to keep him alive. As the interns struggled to keep Denny alive, Cristina informed them that Denny's surgeon, Dr. Preston Burke, was shot and struggling to survive. After hearing the news, Izzie panicked, completely at a loss. In the midst of the chaos, Denny proposes to a shocked Izzie.

Dr. Miranda Bailey walked in on the interns and banned them all from any surgeries until the person who cut the LVAD wire confessed. Meanwhile, Alex invited Dr. Erica Hahn to replace Dr. Burke on Denny's heart transplant surgery. Dr. Hahn succesfully completed Denny's transplant surgery and when Izzie visited Denny after his transplant she accepted his marriage proposal. Denny died from a stroke shortly thereafter leaving Izzie devastated and lying next to Denny's body. Alex carried her off the bed and told her that the body wasn't Denny and that Denny loved her and he wouldn't want Izzie to do this to herself. Moments later, Izzie confessed to cutting the LVAD wire and quit the internship program.

The night Denny died Izzie lay on the floor of the bathroom in their house until Meredith helped her get up. Afterwards Izzie dealt with her grief by baking hundreds of muffins to distract herself. Alex convinced Bailey to talk to Izzie and make her stop baking which Bailey succeeded in doing. Denny's father then requested to talk to her about Denny's death and gave her an 8.7 million dollar check which was inheritance from Denny. To the surprise of her friends Izzie decided not to cash the check until something good could come from it. Her reluctance to part with the check was probably also due to the fact that it was the last physical reminder of Denny.

After witnessing Cristina perform surgery, Izzie is inspired to return to the internship program. Bailey convinced the Chief, Dr. Richard Webber to let her return but, she must follow the rules of a strict probation which doesn't allow her to have contact with patients and she is an inferior to her fellow interns. Izzie became dissatisfied with limited amount of medical work she could do and frequently tried to push the boundaries of her probation. This included performing a procedure to remove the tubes that were draining fluid from a man's chest. In an attempt to get back into surgery, Izzie deposited the check from Denny to fund Dr. Bailey's free clinic - the Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic.

During an emergency involving a ferry accident, Izzie saved a man's life by drilling burr holes into his skull with an ordinary drill in the field. This prompted an impressed chief to take her off probation and allow her to finish the rest of the procedure by drilling more burr holes but this time with a real high-speed surgical drill.

Despite the fact Izzie agreed to allow George to pursue his relationship with Callie, she was not very supportive when George announced they're marriage in Las Vegas, mocking the size of Callie's ring. Izzie's constant antagonism towards Callie seperated her and George. Afterwards, George brushed off Izzie's apology for her behavior.

In "Some Kind of Miracle", Izzie and Denny's ghost have a fleeting moment together when they are in the exact same place in the hospital.

After Callie disclosed the fact that she was somewhat wealthy and was paying most of their bills herself and didn't mind doing so, a hurt George told Meredith, who told Izzie. Izzie used this information when making a snide remark about Callie, knowing it would hit a nerve. Infuriated at his indiscretion, Callie kicked George out of their hotel room after voicing her opinion that Izzie "had feelings" for George. Upset and confused, George went to Izzie and Meredith's house with a bottle of bourbon and after getting drunk, Izzie and George slept together. The next day, George had no recollection of their intimacy the previous night and didn't remember until he was having lunch with Callie and her father. George confronted Izzie about it in a linen closet at the hospital and after they almost kissed, George left in a surge of guilt. Later, Izzie wanted to tell Callie but George insisted that it be kept a secret.

While dealing with the aftermath of her sexual encounter with George, Izzie was visited by the adoptive parents of the child she had given up years before. Hannah, now 11, is sick with leukimia and her donor for a bone marrow transplant had died the previous night. Izzie asked if she could meet Hannah, her parents agreed if Hannah wanted to. Izzie agreed to donate bone marrow to save her daughter's life, causing her emotional grief, Dr. Bailey helped Izzie keep her daughter a secret from the other interns and helped her during the beginning of the bone marrow harvest. Hannah's parents informed Izzie that Hannah was tired and maybe Izzie could meet Hannah when she was more well, despite this, Izzie still agreed to donate bone marrow. George noticed Izzie crying earlier and went to find her. He stayed with her for the rest of the harvest, setting aside other emotions. In the recovery room, Izzie confides in George that she has a daughter and says she needs their friendship to survive even though the sex wasn't tragic like the encounter with he and Meredith. George was still conflicted with his feelings for Izzie and his guilt in betraying Callie, he left Izzie crying in the room, only to return once he realized Izzie needed help as a friend. George came with Izzie when she saw her daughter for the first time, noting that Hannah had Izzie's eyes and mouth.

Following which, Izzie and George pretended that everything was fine, and continued spend time together as friends. As Callie became more suspicious, she confronted Izzie and begged her to relinquish George which prompted Izzie to guiltily withdraw from him. She and George both realized they couldn't pretend their sexual encounter never happened, especially because their feelings for each other keep getting in the way. The combination of all these factors leads George to decide to transfer to Mercy West.

After George recieves a letter telling him he's been accepted to Mercy West, pending the results of the intern exam, Izzie tries to convince him not to leave by saying she has no romantic feelings towards him. However, it was made clear to the audience that Izzie really does have feelings for him and lied just to get George to stay. In the finale of the third season, Izzie admitted to George that she was in love with George, who in turn, was speechless.

George admitted he loved Izzie too in the beginning of the fourth season, despite his strange reaction to her in the finale of season three. Their relationship was soon discovered by George's wife, Callie and the two got a divorce. After some time, George and Izzie realized that their relationship was not working as they had very little chemistry. They broke up but continued to have a close friendship.

Izzie decided to try going into cardiothoracics, but was met by a disappointed Cristina, who was also trying to make a career in the same department. She eventually decided that she was not suited for the specialty and stopped pursuing it.

She then took over for Bailey and now owns the clinic.