Leah Murphy

"Really, Shane? I hung on his every word, all year. All of us did. He's the greatest teacher I have ever had. So maybe if it were someone else saying this, I wouldn't believe them, but Webber? I gotta find what I'm good at. And I will."

- Leah Murphy to Shane Ross

Leah Murphy is a surgical resident at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. She was fired during her second year of residency because she wasn't fit to be a surgeon, but later returned to their residency program after working hard to improve herself at another hospital.

Early Life
When she was 19, she believed she wanted to be a radiologist. Her mother briefly dated Mark Sloan and he helped Leah to get in the surgical program at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.

Starting Her Internship
A couple of months into her internship, Leah started to make out with Alex in a supply closet for the last time before he left for Hopkins. They had had sex a couple of times already, as Alex slept with nearly every intern. Just as he was giving her the goodbye speech he used on every other intern, they were interrupted by Callie, who was crying in the closet as they came in kissing. Leah apologized and quickly got out of the room. While watching the intern appy, the interns talked about how mean Medusa was and Leah questioned if Medusa had always been Medusa. They soon stopped when Owen pointed out that the intercom was on and Meredith had heard everything they said. Along with the others, Leah was shocked as Meredith bumped Jo aside when she froze in the OR.

During one of Derek's boring lectures about inserting a central line, Leah talked to Jo and Stephanie about a patient in the hospital with scrotal lymphedema. During a practice, Leah was shown not to be very good at placing central lines, as she still didn't manage to do it correctly after several failed attempts. The next day, she, Jo, and Stephanie went to look at Brian's giant testicles, about which Leah kind of exaggerated as she described them as "so big a sheet couldn't cover them", until Meredith chased them away. Before Derek could start another lecture, they asked him if they could go watch Meredith remove the rare tumor. He thought Meredith wasn't removing a tumor, as she had told him she wasn't going to do it, but he stormed out when Leah told him she and Dr. Brooks were in the OR at that moment.

When Jo brought up how mean Alex was to her, Leah asked Jo if he said anything about her. Stephanie told her not to be the sad girl with the hang-up, as it's pathetic. She asked why she'd even start her year with having sex with her boss. "Because he's stupid hot!" Leah replied. However, Leah didn't let it go and later approached Jo. She asked if it may be something that she did to make him stop talking to her. She didn't understand, as things were really heating up and suddenly, he stopped returning her texts. He barely talked to her and she couldn't figure out what happened between them. Jo told her what happened is that he's a guy. Leah asked if that meant they were done. Jo simply said that she should be done with him, but Leah still asked if he was done. Jo told her to stop and proposed she started something with Shane as he was nice, but unfortunately, she didn't like nice. Jo pointed out that she picked the right guy then, as Karev was mean. And thoughtless and a douche, Leah added. That day, Leah was on Bailey's service. Bailey planned to get Arizona back to the hospital and acted as if she had ordered Leah to deliver a chart at Arizona's house, though she hadn't ordered Leah anything and used Leah's "stupidness" as an excuse to make Arizona come to the hospital for the chart.

While competing with Stephanie while they were both on Cristina's service, they were both indefinitely banned from the OR when their fighting led to Leah hooking up a patient's oxygen to her IV, a potentially fatal mistake.

She sat with Richard Webber while Bailey and Meredith operated on Adele and he explained to her, everything that they were doing.

Post-Operative Infection
Leah was on Bailey's service, afraid to make another mistake and be thrown off, seeing as she'd already messed up two times. When she and Bailey checked Joyce Basche, a person they had performed a surgery on weeks before, she had a post-operative infection. Soon after, another former patient of theirs came up with the same infection. Leah was in charge of both of their post-op care, and Leah had a cold the day she operated on both of them with Bailey. When Seth Lepik showed up with the infection, Leah seemed doomed, but as it turned out, she never touched Seth, and the only doctor who touched all three patients was Bailey. Bailey was found as the source of the infection, so Leah was innocent the whole time.

Mudslide
While the hospital was dealing with the mudslide patients, Heather was being treated. When Leah went to scrub in on a surgery, Callie offered to give her time if she needed it, but she declined and scrubbed in. She, Stephanie, and Jo later got into a disagreement over whether or not Stephanie liked Heather.

When Heather died, the other interns were given time off. Derek told them to think of happy Heather stories for her mother, but they realized they didn't have any as they were not very close to her. They went to Meredith and she told them a story about George stealing jello for all of them, a story she had shared with George's mother when he died. They used alcohol from Alex to get drunk and bond, but when Heather's mother arrived, they still didn't have a story to tell her, so they stole Meredith's George story, as well as using a question Stephanie had asked Jo and changing it to involve Heather. Using their newfound bond, the four of them went out to the pile as a group to help.

After Heather's death, the interns began all sleeping at Alex's house and studying. Jo was waiting for Alex to proposition her so they could have sex and Alex was waiting because he thought she was still grieving, so he said they could stay there as long as they wanted. Jo went to the others and said that they needed to leave.

Sleeping with Arizona
On the night of the fundraising gala, Arizona Robbins and April Kepner bonded over drinks in the hospital storage closet. Since they were too intoxicated to drive, Leah called them a cab. Shortly thereafter, Leah called to make sure the girls arrived home safely and ended up visiting Arizona at her apartment. The two watched movies and talked all night (though Arizona remembered none of it). Worried about what took place that night, Arizona asked Leah if anything happened between them and Leah told her nothing had.

However, the two ended up making out on a different occasion, causing Leah to become somewhat obsessed with Arizona (much like she did with Alex). Arizona rebuffed her obsession and ended things. Leah told Arizona that she respected her so much and the thought of Arizona thinking about her in that way made her feel amazing. That night, Arizona texted Leah asking 'What are you up to?' implying that she wanted her to come over.

On the morning of Halloween, Leah woke up in Arizona's hotel bed. She got ready to leave, waking up Arizona. Arizona said that she didn't have to leave. Leah said she knew she wasn't supposed to sleep over and apologized, but Arizona said it was okay. Leah thought it wasn't, as she was all about easy. At the hospital, Leah got bit in the neck by a drug addict and was tested for HIV. Arizona helped calm her worry. She told Leah a similar story to reach out to her. Her rapid HIV test was negative.

When talking about April's wedding, Leah said she didn't want to go because she didn't want to see Arizona being beautiful there. Later, she decided she was going to go to the wedding and demand what she felt she deserved, but she immediately figured out that that was a bad idea.

Jimmy Evans' Surgery
She agreed to cover Jo's patients for her while Jo went to April's wedding, but was over her hours, so Shane showed her how to modify her hours so it looked like she worked fewer hours than she had. While Jo was gone, Jimmy had a heart attack. She and Shane took him into surgery by themselves. In surgery, Shane began to panic after things went poorly and started to refer to the patient as "she," so Leah left the OR to find someone. She found Richard and brought him back into the OR so he could attempt to fix the damage Shane had done. By the time Richard got back into the OR, Shane had completely frozen and was just staring into Jimmy's chest cavity. Richard talked to Shane and sent him out of the OR so he could operate.

Afterward, she looked for Shane and wasn't able to find him.

Sexual Harassment Claim
After finding Stephanie miserable on the stairs and talking to her about how Jackson treated Stephanie and Arizona treated Leah, Leah decided that someone should do something about it.

She filed a sexual harassment claim, which resulted in a non-fraternization policy being enacted at the hospital.

It was later revealed that Leah had filed the complaint against Callie, not Arizona as previously believed. When Arizona tried to send Leah away when she came to scrub in with her, Leah asked if she really wanted to do that. Arizona operated with Leah and taught her during the surgery.

Richard's Teachings
When a case came in of two sisters, one of who had developed three kinds of cancer in her lifetime, Richard told the residents to do research on Li-Fraumeni, as that's the condition the girl had. They did the research and developed a treatment plan, but Rory Williams had already died.

At Richard's birthday party, Owen asked him to be director of the residency program because he noticed how well he'd been mentoring the residents.

When Leah contracted the virus that was going around the hospital, Richard encouraged her not to go home. She attempted to power through, even hooking herself up to an IV while operating, but was ultimately sent home when she vomited in the OR behind her mask.

Derek, warned that he wasn't teaching enough, took all the residents to work on a case with him that he had rescheduled several times. As the OR wasn't available until 1 AM, he then took them to the ER to work on the incoming patients, including having them work on a patient who was already dead so they could work with real brain tissue. When a man came in with scissors puncturing his forehead, they took him into an OR for a controlled extraction. When Leah was unable to pull them out quickly, Jo took over and pulled them out. Then they went back to the case of Nova Jenkins. Each of the residents took a turn to step up to the microscope and ask a question so they could learn. When it was Leah's turn, she made a mistake that could have caused permanent damage. However, after surgery, Nova woke up and was responsive. Derek told Leah she got lucky, but next time, she might not get so lucky. He encouraged her to remember the feeling of not knowing rather than the feeling of relief, so she wouldn't make the same mistake again.

While working on Francesca McNeil, Leah had to put a stitch in a heart that she had never done before. She did the stitch successfully, but there were other complications and Frankie died in the OR. She spoke to Shane, who assured her that it was nothing that she did.

Conjoined Twin Surgery
The residents were part of the group operating on Annie and Liz Cooper. Leah was selected to do the burr holes, but she was nervous about it because she had previously drilled through a table. In surgery, she was able to do the burr holes without puncturing the dura.

Getting Fired
After hearing that a resident was going to be fired, Leah began to stress eat. Richard invited her to work with him that day. When she came up with the idea to use a magnetic sphincter normally used at the bottom of the esophagus in a patient's anus, she scrubbed in on the surgery with Richard. He coached her throughout the surgery. Leah asked to stay on the case and be there for follow-ups, but Richard pulled her aside and told her that her surgical skills were lacking. She was an excellent doctor, but surgery was not the right fit for her. He told her to find where she could be great and offered to put in a good word for her at a research facility.

Mall Explosion
When Leah heard about the explosion at the lab, she came into the hospital even though she had been fired. She worked on several patients, but once things had calmed down and there wasn't anything for her to do, she took off her gown and left the hospital.

Time at Foster
After leaving Grey Sloan, Leah worked at Foster Hospital. She spent the time improving her skills and discovering that she wanted to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. In particular, she wanted to study under Maggie Pierce after reading a paper she'd published. When she learned Maggie was working at Grey Sloan, she worked to get re-hired there.

Return to Grey Sloan
Leah was ultimately re-hired after proving herself. Her return was immediately awkward, with multiple doctors speculating about why she had returned and what would happen. Despite this, Maggie took a shine to her after seeing her technique. When Maggie learned that Leah had previously been fired, she observed Leah more closely in surgery and quizzed her as she worked. Leah knew what she was doing and then told Maggie what she'd done to earn her spot back at the hospital.

Despite all her hard work, Leah admitted she sometimes still had trouble following Maggie's train of thought, making it difficult to learn from her. Leah presumably told Eliza Minnick, the education consultant hired by Bailey, about this during the meeting with the residents and interns.

Building Collapse
When a building collapsed, the hospital was flooded with incoming traumas. Leah treated Micah, who asked for a priest. When one wasn't available, Leah brought Ben to talk to Micah instead and they were both shocked to learn that Micah, the landlord, knew the building wasn't structurally sound.

Comforting Jo
After Jo had been sent home to get some sleep, Leah and Stephanie brought over pizza. Jo tried to send them away, but agreed to let them come in. Stephanie wanted to have a strategy session, to talk about what to do to improve their chances. They then surprised her by telling her Alex wasn't in prison as she thought.

Matty
Leah tended to Matty when he came into the ER. However, Stephanie took over the case shortly afterward.

Personality
Leah Murphy is the perfect example of a mean girl on the outside, but a sweet and complex girl on the inside. She comes across as somewhat cold and selfish, but in fact she cares a great deal about the people around her. Like her fellow interns, she is very competitive, but she is also very insecure (about her skills and herself in general). Leah also tends to become infatuated with anyone who shows the smallest bit of interest in her (which stems from her insecurities).

Alex Karev
She had a brief sexual relationship with Alex Karev. Contrary to him, she thought it was more than just sex and got really attached to him. He then broke off their relationship, after which she obsessed about why he stopped contacting her.

Arizona Robbins
On the night of the fundraising gala, Arizona Robbins and April Kepner bonded over drinks in the hospital storage closet. Since they were too intoxicated to drive, Leah called them a cab. Shortly thereafter, Leah called to make sure the girls arrived home safely and ended up visiting Arizona at her apartment. The two watched movies and talked all night (though Arizona remembered none of it). Worried about what took place that night, Arizona asked Leah if anything happened between them and Leah told her nothing had.

However, the two ended up making out on a different occasion, causing Leah to become somewhat obsessed with Arizona (much like she did with Alex). Arizona rebuffed her obsession and ended things. Leah told Arizona that she respected her so much and the thought of Arizona thinking about her in that way made her feel amazing. That night Arizona texted Leah saying 'What are you up to?' implying that she wanted her to come over.

On the morning of Halloween, Leah woke up next to Arizona in her hotel room. She got ready to leave, waking up Arizona. Arizona said that she didn't have to leave. Leah said she knew she wasn't supposed to sleep over and apologized, but Arizona said it was okay. Leah thought it wasn't, as she was all about easy. At the hospital, Leah got bit in the neck by a drug-addict and was tested for HIV. Arizona helped calm her worry. She told Leah a similar story to reach out to her.

After Callie won her malpractice suit and spoke to her father about his marriage to her mother, she came to Arizona's hotel room to ask her to come home. Unbeknownst to Callie, Leah was in the room with Arizona. Once Callie was gone, Arizona lay on the bed and told Leah to get dressed and leave.

Less than a week after Arizona had moved back in with Callie, Leah had to scrub in with the two of them. Callie knew that Arizona had been with someone while they were separated, but didn't know who. After Leah freaked out in surgery after making a mistake and was unable to calm down, she turned to Arizona for help, revealing to Callie that it had been her. After the surgery, Arizona asked Leah what she was thinking and she said that Callie hated her and would blame her for what happened between the two of them because she loved Arizona too much to blame her.

Familial
Leah's mother once dated Mark Sloan. Mark later helped Leah get into the internship program at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.

She also has an uncle who has suffered from debilitating facial pain since having LASIK eye surgery. He was an accountant, but had to give up his practice because he can't do math anymore.

Career
Leah Murphy was a surgical resident at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

As a surgical intern, Leah's competitive nature led her to be called a shark by fellow intern Stephanie Edwards. While on Cristina Yang's service, she got reprimanded for accidentally almost killing a patient and was banned from the O.R. until further notice. Later, also while on Yang's service, she tried to administer blood instead of fluids to a patient who was a Jehovah's Witness. Leah was caught and thrown off of Yang's service.

Soon after the superstorm, Leah passed her intern exam and became a second-year resident.

During her second year residency, Leah was fired because even though she has everything it takes to be a good doctor, she is not a good surgeon. Webber offered to pull some strings to get her a position at a research facility where she could put all her talents to use. However, Leah didn't follow up on that offer and get herself into the program at Foster, where she practiced and worked hard to become the best.

Notes and Trivia

 * Cristina originally considered calling her Droopy. Cristina also once said that Leah "didn't suck as much as she expected her to suck".
 * Leah and Heather were roommates.
 * Leah dressed up as a cowgirl on Halloween.
 * She has slept with both known pediatric surgeons at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital: Alex and Arizona.

Appearances
Leah Murphy Leah Murphy