Dell Parker was a nurse and midwife, as well as the receptionist at Oceanside Wellness Group. He was married to Heather Parker until her death and had one daughter, Betsey Parker. He died following injuries sustained from a car crash.
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Who was Dell Parker's wife in Private Practice?
What was Dell's role at Oceanside Wellness Group?
How did Dell Parker die in Private Practice?
What was Dell's relationship with his daughter Betsey?
What led to Dell's addiction to heroin in Private Practice?
History[]
Early Life[]
During his childhood, Dell was abused by his mother.[1]
Dell became addicted to heroin and he introduced his girlfriend Heather to his drug dealing friends. When he was 17, Heather became pregnant with their child, Betsey. Dell wanted her to have an abortion. They even drove up to the clinic and when Heather refused to get out of the car, he yelled at her for it. However, after Betsey's birth, he was grateful Heather didn't have the abortion. The experience caused him to become anti-abortion.[2]
Dell managed to stop using, but it wasn't for a few more years that Heather managed to stop.
Education[]
Dell was enrolled as a student in the South Bay School of Holistic Midwifery and Family Nursing. He earned credit towards his degree in midwifery by assisting staff doctors with obstetrical exams and childbirths. Dell's hobbies included surfing during his lunch break.
Relationship with Heather[]
When Heather got a promotion at work, she talked to Dell, informing him the promotion was in St. Louis. Dell did not want this to happen, and they fought about it. Later on, when Dell went to talk to her, he found her apartment empty, and Betsey gone. However, the job put pressure on Heather and she started using again. She returned to Los Angeles to ask Dell for $10,000 in exchange for his daughter. While he got the money from Sam, he changed his mind when Heather came to collect it. He told her he would call the police or DCFS if necessary, but he couldn't give her money to go kill herself with drugs since Betsey loved her. Heather then left but promised she would somehow get Betsey back.
Later, Dell married Heather when she went through rehab. Most of the group at the practice did not approve of this. He later yelled at Violet and Naomi due to them not approving of his marriage. This angered him and led him to say things that they had done.
House Explosion and Heather's Death[]
One night when Dell was heading out for work, his home exploded. Betsey was injured, and Heather received 3rd degree burns on her body. Later, the explosion was revealed to have been caused by Crystal Meth being cooked on the stove by Heather. Dell was furious and told Heather to go die and suffer a miserable death due to putting their daughter in danger. After this, Dell refused to let Betsey see her mother. Later in the hospital that night, Heather died due to her injuries, without having the chance to say goodbye to Dell or Betsey.[3]
Car Crash and Death[]
Just before his death with his daughter Betsey
Dell announced he was accepted into the UCLA Medical School. Dell died of a brain hemorrhage and subdural hematomas sustained from a collision with an intoxicated driver while driving Maya to the hospital to deliver her baby. His bleeding was overlooked causing the damage to spread before being detected.[4]
Personality[]
Dell often gets caught up in his emotions. He loves and hates wholeheartedly. As often shown, this can lead to situations he has not thought through well.
Relationships[]
Romantic[]
Naomi Bennett[]
Dell had a crush on his boss, Naomi Bennett. He often showed it by getting her coffee, bringing her home-baked chocolate cake, and generally complimenting and adoring her. Naomi didn't take his crush seriously, calling him a "kid" although when she needed to feel better, at one o' clock, she and Violet would go to the lobby to see Dell walk down to the beach for surfing in only his swimming trunks and also an hour later, when he was wet.
After realizing his feelings had developed into something more serious than a crush, Dell decided to fight for Naomi and when putting her jacket on her, he kissed her and told her he sure didn't have it all together, but that he was a man, not a kid. He promised he'd fight for her and left her office, only to see her kissing Sam seconds later. This made him realize Sam was fighting for ex-wife again, just like him.
Unable to handle the pressures of covering for Naomi and financial problems of the practice any more and not even getting some attention from her in return, a frustrated Dell quit his job. He started working at St. Ambrose Hospital, where Naomi came to say hi after finding out. He didn't want to talk to her and just continued working. She later returned and told him she took him for granted and should've listened to him, and that she and the practice had been adrift since he left. She begged him to come back, but he told her he was happy at the hospital, as he was respected and taught there.
Heather Parker[]
Dell married Heather and most of the group at the Practice did not approve of this. He later yelled at Violet and Naomi due to them not approving of his marriage, which angered him to say things they had done, such as Violet being so cold to Pete and their son Lucas, and Naomi leaving the practice for the other practice downstairs.
Familial[]
Dell was primarily raised by his grandparents. His father presumably left his mother during her pregnancy or shortly after Dell's birth, as he didn't have a part in raising Dell. Dell's mother, whom he described as a "traveling stone", started traveling around the world. She "rolled right off" and left Dell with her parents. She only sends him occasional postcards. Thereby, Dell has no close relationship with any of his parents. When his grandmother died, Dell was left on his own when his grandfather moved to a nursing home.
Career[]
Dell greeted people with a happy smile when they arrived at the Oceanside Wellness Group. Much more than just their receptionist, Dell performed many of the day-to-day operations that kept the practice up and running. Dell received his nursing degree.
Dell was also a trainee midwife, frequently shadowing Naomi Bennett and Addison Forbes Montgomery during births at the practice.
Dell also briefly worked at St. Ambrose Hospital as a nurse after he left Oceanside Wellness, unable to handle the pressures of covering for Naomi and financial problems of the practice any more.
Dell got into medical school at UCLA before his death. No one knew about it except Charlotte, Violet, and Maya, whom he told her in order for her to calm down.
Notes and Trivia[]
- He hated wearing pink scrubs.[5]
- Dell was pro-life.[6]
- He had a scar from when a patient threw a coffee cup at his head.[7]
- He was 25 when he died.[source?]
- He was the only adult main character of either Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice who wasn't a doctor.
- He was the first main character to be killed off in Private Practice.
- Dell had a personalized scrub cap, which was outer-space themed.[source?]
Gallery[]
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A more complete gallery with pictures of Dell Parker can be found here. |
Notable Episodes[]
These episodes are Dell-centric or are otherwise very informative about his life.
- In Which Dell Finds His Fight
- Serving Two Masters
- Crime and Punishment
- Blowups
- The End of a Beautiful Friendship
Memorable Quotes[]
- Dell: I think Betsey's owed one. She's just had such a tough life, you know, teenage parents and a mom on drugs. And I will never know what this has done to her. But I figured she's owed, right? She's had it so bad, that this can't be her end. Because then, what was her life for, just suffering? That would be cruel. That would be just beyond cruel.
Appearances[]
| Grey's Anatomy, Season 3 | |||||
| #01 | "Time Has Come Today" | #10 | "Don't Stand So Close to Me" | #19 | "My Favorite Mistake" |
| #02 | "I Am a Tree" | #11 | "Six Days, Part 1" | #20 | "Time After Time" |
| #03 | "Sometimes a Fantasy" | #12 | "Six Days, Part 2" | #21 | "Desire" |
| #04 | "What I Am" | #13 | "Great Expectations" | #22 | "The Other Side of This Life, Part 1" |
| #05 | "Oh, the Guilt" | #14 | "Wishin' and Hopin'" | #23 | "The Other Side of This Life, Part 2" |
| #06 | "Let the Angels Commit" | #15 | "Walk on Water" | #24 | "Testing 1-2-3" |
| #07 | "Where the Boys Are" | #16 | "Drowning on Dry Land" | #25 | "Didn't We Almost Have It All?" |
| #08 | "Staring at the Sun" | #17 | "Some Kind of Miracle" | ||
| #09 | "From a Whisper to a Scream" | #18 | "Scars and Souvenirs" | ||
| Private Practice, Season 2 | |||||
| #01 | "A Family Thing" | #09 | "Know When to Fold" | #17 | "Wait and See" |
| #02 | "Equal and Opposite" | #10 | "Worlds Apart" | #18 | "Finishing" |
| #03 | "Nothing to Talk About" | #11 | "Contamination" | #19 | "What Women Want" |
| #04 | "Past Tense" | #12 | "Homeward Bound" | #20 | "Do the Right Thing" |
| #05 | "Let It Go" | #13 | "Nothing to Fear" | #21 | "What You Do for Love" |
| #06 | "Serving Two Masters" | #14 | "Second Chances" | #22 | "Yours, Mine & Ours" |
| #07 | "Tempting Faith" | #15 | "Acceptance" | ||
| #08 | "Crime and Punishment" | #16 | "Ex-Life" | ||
| Private Practice, Season 3 | |||||
| #01 | "A Death in the Family" | #09 | "The Parent Trap" | #17 | "Triangles" |
| #02 | "The Way We Were" | #10 | "Blowups" | #18 | "Pulling the Plug" |
| #03 | "Right Here, Right Now" | #11 | "Another Second Chance" | #19 | "Eyes Wide Open" |
| #04 | "Pushing the Limits" | #12 | "Best Laid Plans" | #20 | "Second Choices" |
| #05 | "Strange Bedfellows" | #13 | "Shotgun" | #21 | "War" |
| #06 | "Slip Slidin' Away" | #14 | "Love Bites" | #22 | "In the Name of Love" |
| #07 | "The Hard Part" | #15 | "'Til Death Do Us Part" | #23 | "The End of a Beautiful Friendship" |
| #08 | "Sins of the Father" | #16 | "Fear of Flying" | ||
References[]
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