Can't Fight Biology

"Biology determines much of the way we live. From the moment we are born, we know how to breathe and eat. As we grow older, new instincts kick in. We become territorial. We learn to compete. We seek shelter. Most important of all: We reproduce. Sometimes biology can turn on us, though. Yeah, biology sucks sometimes. Biology says that we are who we are from birth. That our DNA is set in stone. Unchangeable. Our DNA doesn't account for all of us though, we're human. Life changes us. We develop new traits. Become less territorial. We stop competing. We learn from our mistakes. We face our greatest fears. For better or worse, we find ways to become more than our biology. The risk of course is that we can change too much to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Finding our way back can be difficult. There's no compass, no map. We just have to close our eyes, take a step, and hope to God we get there."

- Meredith Grey

 is the fourth episode of the seventh season and the 130th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
Things are hostile on all fronts when a visit to the obstetrician results in some disturbing news for Meredith and Derek, and Lexie loses it when she notices Meredith and April getting closer. Meanwhile a car crash brings in multiple traumas and Jackson tries using his physical attributes to get ahead in the operating room, while Cristina's self-doubt carries outside of the hospital and into her house hunting with Owen.

Full Summary
Episode in detail.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
 * Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
 * Chyler Leigh as Dr. Lexie Grey
 * Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Kim Raver as Dr. Teddy Altman
 * Sarah Drew as Dr. April Kepner
 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest Stars

 * Frances Conroy as Eleanor Davis
 * Diane Farr as Lila
 * Christian Clemenson as Ivan Fink
 * Jon Curry as Fred Fisher
 * Nathan Halliday as Jake Fisher

Co-Starring

 * Kate Martin as Vickie Fisher
 * Jennifer Say Gan as Dr. Keating
 * Jackie Houston as Realtor

Meredith Grey

 * Diagnosis:
 * Hostile uterus


 * Doctors:
 * Dr. Keating (OB/GYN)
 * Cristina Yang (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:

Meredith was informed that she had a hostile uterus, which was probably the cause of her first miscarriage and made it likely that she'd miscarry again. Meredith later had Cristina draw blood so she could be tested for the Alzheimer's gene. However, she and Derek decided not to get the test results.

Eleanor Davis

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Lexie Grey (surgical resident)
 * April Kepner (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:

Eleanor came into the ER after running her car into the laundromat. Her scans were clean, but Lexie wanted to look into how she ran her car into a laundromat and had no memory of what happened. All her scans came back normal. Lexie proposed one last test for her. She later confessed to April and Lexie, wrongly believing that they were legally obligated not to tell the police, that she and Larry had actually split up and she ran her car into the laundromat on purpose.

Larry Davis

 * Diagnosis:


 * Doctors:
 * Owen Hunt (trauma surgeon)


 * Treatment:
 * CPR
 * Surgery
 * Splenectomy
 * Kidney removal

Larry was brought into the ER after being hit when Eleanor ran her car into the laundromat. He was caught between the car an a washing machine. In surgery, Owen had to remove his spleen and one of his kidneys, but he was expected to make a full recovery.

Lila

 * Diagnosis:
 * Huntington's Disease
 * Ruptured diaphragm


 * Doctors:
 * Meredith Grey (surgical resident)
 * Teddy Altman (cardiothoracic surgeon)
 * Jackson Avery (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:
 * Surgery

Lila came into the ER after being in a laundromat into which Eleanor ran her car. Lila then revealed to Meredith that she has Huntington's Disease. Lila was revealed to have a ruptured diaphragm from the crash, pushing part of her stomach into her chest. They scheduled surgery to fix that. When Lila went to sign the consent form for her surgery, Meredith noticed chorea in her hand. The surgery was successful and Meredith brought her medication for her hand, but noted it would have to be refilled after she got back from her trip.

Jake Fisher

 * Diagnosis:
 * Osteosarcoma


 * Doctors:
 * Arizona Robbins (pediatric surgeon)
 * Callie Torres (orthopedic surgeon)
 * Alex Karev (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:
 * Chemotherapy
 * Radiation
 * Surgery

Jake, 15, had cancer in his tibia. He was scheduled to have a minor bone dissection. They were waiting on scans to show how much the chemotherapy had shrunk his tumor. A scan revealed that the chemo didn't work and Callie was recommending amputation. Jake, a ballet dancer, didn't want to let them amputate. He danced for them to show them why he needed his leg. Callie, Arizona, and Alex researched other possible treatment options. Alex found a treatment which involved removing the affected part of his bone, blasting it with radiation, and then re-implanting it. Post-op, he was stable and his labs looked good.

Ivan Fink

 * Diagnosis:
 * Asthma
 * Bowel obstruction


 * Doctors:
 * Miranda Bailey (general surgeon)
 * Cristina Yang (surgical resident)


 * Treatment:
 * Surgery

Ivan came into the hospital vomiting up worms, which he was developing as the cure for asthma. He'd had the worms in his body for 343 days and hadn't had an asthma attack in 6 months. However, he had developed a bowel obstruction. He didn't want to have surgery because it would skew his research, so Cristina tried to relieve the obstruction without surgery. When that didn't work, he was taken into surgery. Ivan asked Cristina to try to save his worms, but she was unable to do so due to a complication that required the use of suction. He was cautioned that he needed to stop the worm experiments.

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode's title originated from the song Can't Fight Biology, originally sung by Drop Dead, Gorgeous.
 * This episode scored 12.11 million viewers.
 * April says she's "pulling rank" on Lexie, that she is a year ahead of her. Originally she was, yet April was fired and therefore set back in her training but this was never acknowledged.

Quotes

 * Meredith: I need you to take my blood.
 * Cristina: For what?
 * Meredith: So I can get tested for the Alzheimer's gene. I mean it's time I know one way or the other. I have a hostile uterus, what's a little Alzheimer's too?
 * Cristina: All right. This is a lot bigger than a baby step.
 * Meredith: Just do it before I change my mind.
 * Cristina: Okay.


 * Arizona: Mark stares at my boobs when we talk. He starts at my face, but then somewhere along the way, he gets distracted and ends up on my boobs. I love guys - I love them. But I've tried my whole life to avoid the boob-staring guy. Biology even helped me by making me gay. But now, my girlfriend's best friend is that guy. And I don't think that I need to apologize for the fact that the only person I want staring at my boobs is you.
 * Callie: Boobs... really, you're making this about boobs?
 * Arizona: He stares at them.
 * Callie: 'Cos they're good boobs!


 * Meredith: I drank a lot of tequila in college. After.
 * Derek: Well, it's been a while since I've done my OB rotations but I don't recall tequila getting in the way of conception. It's the opposite, actually.