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Breathe

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You might be looking for the season sixteen episode Breathe Again.

“ Until pretty recently, doctors would slap a newborn on the back immediately after birth. It's not that they wanted to make the baby cry. They needed the baby to cry. It meant the baby could breathe on her own. Thankfully, we don't do that anymore. But we still hold our own breath until we hear that cry. And it doesn't matter if you're the baby's doctor or mother. It's the most beautiful sound in the world. The first time, anyway. The first minute in a baby's life is the most terrifying. In that minute, a million tiny air sacks have to perfectly open and fill with air. It's a pretty traumatizing way of entering the real world. In that minute, your whole world stops. It's as if time stands still. And if I'm being honest, that minute is pure hell. But fortunately, most of the time, crying starts, the baby's okay, and the rest of us in the room can finally breathe again. ”

Breathe is the tenth episode of the seventeenth season and the 373rd overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary[]

The hospital ventilator shortage has the doctors gravely concerned when both a mother and daughter are in critical condition with COVID and fighting over the last ventilator. Meanwhile, Hayes' high-risk sister-in-law with multiple sclerosis ends up in the hospital with a kidney stone, and the sister house has a few more kids join it as Amelia plays babysitter for the day.

Full Summary[]

Meredith walks into the ocean and gets her hands wet. Someone hands her a towel. She turns around and sees Lexie smiling at her.

The doctors get Meredith and her ventilator settled in her room.

Elsewhere in the ICU, several doctors are putting their patients on a ventilator.

Jo holds baby Luna in the PICU.

Owen peeks into Allison's room and finds Teddy holding her daughter while staring.

In the morning, Maggie joins Winston in an on-call room as he's listening to his morning playlist. He has to go back to Boston soon. He offers her an earbud so they can listen together. She is soon paged away.

Levi and Sara Ortiz present Marcella Diaz to Maggie. Marcella was moved to the COVID ICU after her sats dropped below 87%. Marcella thinks Levi has been focused on her too much. He knows her daughter Veronica, too, whose COVID symptoms are mild. They videochat with Veronica, who is coughing. Veronica encourages her mother to listen to the doctors.

Cormac barges in as Jo is taking Irene Davis's history. His sons called him to inform him that their aunt was taken away in ambulance. Cormac tells Jo that Irene lives with MS. Also, she has an infantile resistance to Western medicine. Irene cites her sister's death as the reason why. Jo thinks the diagnosis is a kidney stone so she ordered a CT to confirm. She is annoyed with Cormac's constant interfering.

Richard has gathered some attendings in the tent outside and thanks them for pulling extra shifts. Bailey will be back in a few days. With Boston hitting another surge, Winston has to return home. Jackson informs the group that Meredith's oxygen requirements are decreasing. If the trend continues, they can try to take her off the vent. Richard says the hospital is down to their last four ventilators, so the doctors will need to exhaust all other options before putting more patients on ventilators. That means that if they extubate Meredith and she starts to trend downward again later, they may not have a ventilator available for her.

Meredith and Lexie are watching the waves. They like the beach. Lexie asks if Meredith is going to stay. Meredith is not sure as she doesn't know the rules. Lexie says there are no rules, which was hard for her to get used to. Mark walks up and seconds her love of rules. As he sits down with them, he promises Meredith that she's too early with Zola being Sofia's age. Meredith informs them about her experiences on the beach with Derek. Mark says it's not up to him. He says the sand isn't real. Meredith asks if they are together. Mark says it looks like they are on her beach. Moments later, the two of them are frolicking on the beach as Meredith watches with a smile on her face. She repeats to herself that she likes it there.

Tom is waiting for Owen outside of Meredith's room. He heard about the ventilators so he wants to remind Owen, now in charge of Meredith's care, not to take her off the vent too soon. Owen makes it clear he's aware.

Teddy arrives at Meredith's house with Leo and Allison. Leo threw up. Amelia remembers he gets carsick. Leo runs off to go see Ellis in the play room. Teddy knows that Owen asked Amelia to babysit her as he doesn't trust her with the kids by herself. Amelia thinks it can be a fun afternoon.

Cormac joins Jo in the CT boot. He hopes her diagnosis is correct. Irene insisted to move down to Seattle when the pandemic started to look after his sons. She and Cormac drive each other mad but he would be lost without her. Irene appreciates his words. Cormac turns off the mic. Jo then finds a big kidney stone on the scan. Cormac decides to page Catherine Fox. Irene is the only family his boys have left so he wants the best.

Link meets with Richard in the ER. He is excited he'll get to operate again. Richard guides him to a trauma room and shows him a patient with a femur fracture. Link is excited to get to work.

Levi paged Maggie because Marcella's breathing is getting more labored by the hour. Maggie suggests BiPAP but it may be time to consider next steps. Levi informs her there is no directive, Marcella said Veronica will be making all decisions for her. Maggie calls Veronica but she is surprised when Jackson answers the call.

Maggie meets Jackson as he wheels Veronica into the COVID ICU. The rig brought her in half an hour ago.

Catherine joins Jo and Cormac in the exam room. Jo presents the case and shows her the scans. Cormac thinks Irene's special painkilling teas from her acupuncturist are to blame for the kidney stone. Catherine explains the lithotripsy procedure she wants to perform and assures Irene that is completely routine.

Richard and Link are operating on the femur fracture. Link works smoothly, showing no signs of not having operated for a long time. The patients becomes tachycardic and his sats drop, which might indicate he's thrown a fat embolism. Link curses and orders the staff to get the patient packed up for a CTA.

Levi tells Marcella that he called his mother, who stubbornly went out to a grocery store against his advice. Maggie comes in to share that Veronica has been admitted. Marcella wants Maggie to devote her time to Veronica instead of her.

Maggie updates Veronica on Marcella's worsening condition. She asks if Marcella would want a ventilator. Veronica insists her mother wants to live and asks Maggie to focus on that instead of her. Jackson suggests they try this another time to give Veronica a breather, but Maggie says this may be the only time. Veronica says this is all her fault. As Jackson increases her O2, Veronica says she went over to Marcella's house for her birthday. She cooked and they kept their distance, but they hugged once. As Veronica fears she killed her mother, Alma steps in and assures her she did not. She adds that her own daughter is taking care of Marcella right now.

As she's taken to the OR, Cormac gives Irene a short tour of the OR floor. Irene asks about this general surgeon that the boys have told her about. Cormac says she is on a vent in the ICU. Cormac promises to check in on Irene after the procedure.

Link finishes checking up on his patient in the ICU. With that big of an embolism, he is going to have to stay on the ventilator for at least a couple of days. Richard is frustrated with this whole situation. They now only have one ventilator left, which means the hospital has to close its doors to trauma. Tom overhears Richard yelling that people will die unnecessarily because of it.

Owen leaves Meredith's room. Cristina demands an update and forces him to send a picture of the monitors.

As Lexie flies a kite, Mark tells Meredith it is nice being able to talk to her. He spends a fair amount of time trying to talk to people, like Sofia, Callie, and Arizona. He likes to watch his daughter grow up. Sometimes, he sees something bad coming and tries to tell them to wake up so they don't miss the best part of life. Mark claims that sometimes, they seem to hear him but he never gets the credit. They think it's their own idea.

Amelia and Teddy watch the kids play in the garden. Teddy thinks Ellis also looks like Amelia. Amelia won't ask about Meredith. Teddy says she doesn't know anything about her current status. Richard won't let her near the hospital or the charts. Amelia knows she needs a break after DeLuca, which she stresses was not Teddy's fault. She suggests Teddy learn how to share her grief. Teddy asks if there is a recovery program for people who trash their lives and have no drugs to blame it on. Amelia suggests therapy. Teddy tried that once but the therapist wasn't the right fit. Amelia points out she should try another one.

Maggie says Marcella didn't take the news well. Jackson and Maggie miss the fun in their jobs. He is paged about Veronica.

He rushes into the room as Alma tries to get her to get back into bed. Veronica tried to get to her mother but she nearly collapsed. Veronica saw people dying and she knows that the doctors have no clue how to save them, so at least they should allow her to see her mother to say goodbye. Suddenly, Veronica crashes. They start CPR and call for a crash cart.

Levi is urging Marcella to do her best to make it to Friday without needing a vent. She is on BiPAP now. They're Wednesday now. Levi raps a Hump Day song in an attempt to lighten the mood, but Marcella suddenly crashes, too. With her sats plummeting, Levi decides that they need to get her on a vent. He intubates her. Moments later, Maggie arrives. She is horrified and Levi realizes that there is no ventilator available.

Catherine finishes up removing the last parts of the stone. She comments on Jo's good touch and adds that they need more women in Urology. Jo reacts weirdly to the mention of changing specialties. Catherine says they're done and pulls out the scope, only to find that she has pulled out the ureter. She has never seen this before. They have to open her up.

Jackson and Maggie are arguing over whose patient gets the last ventilator. Maggie says Levi can't manually bag Marcella forever. Alma thinks Veronica should get the vent as protocols dictate the patient most likely to recover should get it. Jackson knows Veronica won't be able to forgive herself, but they agree to put her on the vent.

Jo has updated Cormac on the complication. Cormac says Irene is everything to his boys at this point. He can't believe this is happening. He can't lose someone else that is so important to their boys. Jo says it's not a catastrophe. Cormac tells her to go back and fix it.

Maggie returns to Marcella's room. They reached out to every hospital in the state. Levi tries to be hopeful that another vent will arrive but Maggie stays mum. Levi keeps bagging.

Jo returns to the OR and finds that Catherine has removed the kidney. A simple reattachment wasn't possible so Catherine is doing an autotransplant. Jo joins her at the table.

Owen finds Tom staring at Meredith. If she keeps breathing over the vent consistently, they can soon take her off the vent. Tom is glad to hear that. He would hate it if someone like him got to survive and someone like Meredith wouldn't make it. Owen recalls his own survivor's guilt from Iraq. It's a terrible feeling he wouldn't wish on anyone, not even Tom.

Lexie asks Meredith her favorite thing about life. It feels shallow to talk about her favorite things in the middle of a pandemic. Lexie points out it makes no sense for her to think she is not allowed to enjoy her life because of a pandemic. If the having of a life and body isn't cause for celebration, there is no point in avoiding death and she may as well just join Derek. Meredith tells a story of Bailey faceplanting into his birthday cake to make everyone laugh because he had noticed how down everyone was because of the early pandemic. He saw the same sparkle in his eyes that she used to see in Derek's eyes.

Maggie finds Winston in the ambulance bay. She tells him about the ventilator dilemma. She is thinking about quitting so they can go live their lives. Winston knows she won't let herself quit. He hands her his earbuds so she can take a break. He'll check on her patients. She then has the idea of patients sharing a ventilator. She calls someone to make sure Levi keeps bagging Marcella.

Marcella and Veronica are now hooked up to the same ventilator using a splitter on the airflow tube. They used a viral filter to prevent cross-contamination between patients. This buys them some time. Richard is impressed and does a celebratory dance. They can open their doors to trauma again.

Levi goes to take a break. He instructs Alma and Sara to page him for any change. Sara starts tearing up. Alma hugs her daughter.

Jo tells Irene in postop that her vitals are good and she's producing urine. She can go home in three days. Cormac thanks Jo for today. Jo leaves the room. Irene asks if Jo's single. Cormac doesn't know. Irene thinks he should check in on the boys.

Owen and Richard are with Meredith. They think it's time for her to come off the vent now. Owen extubates her.


Meredith, Mark, and Lexie are lying down in a field of flowers on higher ground overlooking the beach. Meredith thinks life is pain and that somehow is the point. Mark and Lexie disagree. Meredith cites all her losses, and her parents even caused her pain before their passing. Mark asks her what caused all the pain. Meredith hates them knowing things that she doesn't. Mark repeats his question. Meredith refuses to say it out loud. Lexie says the depth of grief with all the losses is because of the depth of love. As long as she's alive, she gets to feel it and she gets to do something about it. Everything changes all the time in life, and Meredith fights change all the time. She clings to what she knows. Mark and Lexie think fighting change and resisting pain is a waste of life. Meredith misses them so much. Lexie says that is a waste, too, because they never left her. Lexie and Mark tell Meredith not to waste one single minute of life.

Jackson, Winston, and Maggie arrive outside Meredith's room. Her vitals are normal and stable. Everyone dances.

Maggie and Winston leave the hospital together. Maggie finally liked her job again today. She felt inspired by Winston and their moments of joy and connection. She knows Boston needs him and she knows it is selfish for her to tell him how much she needs him. He pulls out his earbuds case. He thought they could listen to something before he leaves. He opens the case, revealing a ring. He gets down on one knee. He has loose ends in Boston so she has an out if she wants one, but he hopes she does not. He can't imagine life without her anymore. He asks her to marry him. She starts crying and says yes. He puts the ring on her finger and they kiss as a small crowd applauds.

Jo and Jackson just had sex. She says his mom is scary. He comments on her weird timing and goes to kiss her again.

After finishing scrubbing down in the laundry room, Owen enters the kitchen at Meredith's house. He tells Zola that they took her mom off the ventilator and she's breathing on her own. Zola runs off to tell her siblings. Amelia is so relieved. She thanks Owen and hugs Link. Owen thinks they should thank Teddy, who stayed up night after night to monitor Meredith and never gave up. Owen just did what the numbers told him. Teddy and Owen share a cautious smile.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Special Guest Stars[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Meredith Grey[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:
    • Mechanical ventilation

Meredith was breathing over the ventilator, so the decision was made to take her off the ventilator and allow her to breathe on her own.

COVID Patients[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • COVID-19
  • Doctors:
  • Treatment:
    • Oxygen
    • Mechanical Ventilation

Maggie and Winston both treated patients with COVID-19.

Luna Ashton[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Prematurity
  • Treatment:

Luna was still in the NICU following her premature birth.

Marcella Diaz[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • COVID-19
  • Treatment:
    • Oxygen
    • Mechanical Ventilation

Marcella, 62, had COVID-19. She'd been admitted to the ICU with difficulty breathing. She had opacities in both lungs. Her condition worsened, so they considered BIPAP for the next step. They called her daughter to consult her, but learned she was also at the hospital. She later coded, so she had to be intubated and eventually put on a ventilator, which she shared with her daughter.

Irene Davis[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Multiple sclerosis
    • Kidney stone
  • Treatment:
    • Steroids
    • Lithotripsy
    • Exploratory laparotomy
    • Kidney autotransplantation

Irene, 35, was in the ER with abdominal pain. She was also living with multiple sclerosis, for which she took steroids. She had a CT, which confirmed Jo's suspicion that she had a kidney stone in her right ureter. Catherine planned a lithotripsy to break up the stone so it could be removed. It worked, but when Catherine removed the scope, the ureter went with it, so they were forced to convert to an exploratory laparotomy and re-attach the ureter to her bladder. Catherine had to remove her kidney and re-attach it elsewhere because her remaining ureter wasn't long enough to do a simple repair. It worked, and she was stable and producing urine after her surgery.

Jerry Bletzer[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Broken leg
    • Fat embolism
  • Treatment:
    • External fixation
    • Mechanical ventilation

Jerry had been hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk. He was rushed into surgery to put in external fixation. In surgery, he coded, so they did a CTA, which showed he'd thrown a fat embolism, which meant he'd be on a ventilator for a few days.

Veronica Diaz[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • COVID-19
  • Treatment:
    • Oxygen
    • Antivirals
    • Mechanical ventilation

Veronica had COVID-19. Her condition was initially mild, so she stayed home, but she ended up in the hospital when it worsened. She ended up coding in her hospital room and had to be put on a ventilator, which she shared with her mother.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"Trouble Don't" AG ft Rey
  • Meredith sits on the beach.
  • When she stands back up from reaching into the water, Lexie offers her a towel.
  • In real life, Meredith's vent settings are changed.
  • The other doctors treat COVID patients.
  • Jo holds Luna in the NICU.
  • Owen finds Teddy holding Allison.
"Paper Thin" Lianne La Havas
  • Winston listens to music in an on-call room.
  • Maggie sits next to him and he shares the music until she gets paged away.
"Sun Song" TRVSTFALL
  • Lexie and Meredith talk about the beach.
  • Mark joins them and tells her it's too soon.
  • Meredith watches Mark and Lexie play on the beach.
"Hump Day" Cast (Jake Borelli)
  • Levi sings to Marcella.
"Run Like a River" Jamica
  • Owen and Richard extubate Meredith.
  • Meredith, Lexie, and Mark relax and talk about life and love.
  • The doctors gather and celebrate Meredith being off the vent.
"Sing Louder" TRVSTFALL
  • Winston proposes to Maggie and she accepts.
  • They kiss.
  • Jo and Jackson talk about his mother.
  • Teddy and Amelia make dinner.
  • Owen tells Zola they took Meredith off the vent and she goes to tell the other kids.

Notes and Trivia[]

Grey's_Anatomy_17x10_Promo_"Breathe"_(HD)_Season_17_Episode_10_Promo_ft._Chyler_Leigh
  • This episode's title originated from the song Breathe, originally sung by various artists.
  • This episode scored 4.55 million viewers.[1]
  • Out of all returning actors formerly part of the main cast, Eric and Chyler are the first to be credited as special guest stars.
  • Chyler Leigh filmed her scenes via green screen. She was in Vancouver to film Supergirl. Due to strict COVID-19 protocols, she would not have been able to film her Grey's scenes in Los Angeles and return to Vancouver in time.[source?]
  • The promo uses the song "Breathe (2 AM)", which was sung by Chyler Leigh in the musical episode.
  • This episode marks the first appearence of Chyler Leigh and Eric Dane as Lexie Grey and Mark Sloan since Flight and Remember the Time, respectively.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Behind the Scenes[]

Quotes[]

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.


References[]

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