Harold O'Malley was the father of George O'Malley and his two other sons, Jerry and Ronny. The O'Malley patriarch was a truck driver with a passion for vintage cars. He died at Seattle Grace Hospital due to multi-system organ failure.
History[]
Thanksgiving[]
Every year, Harold took his three sons out hunting to shoot a turkey. When he was an intern, Harold insisted that it would be George's year to shoot the turkey. While they were out in the woods, the others started trading cars, but George didn't participate. They believed it was because he didn't know anything about cars, but he explained that it was always the same conversation over and over again and he was tired of it. George ultimately did shoot the turkey, but as they were packing up, one of them accidentally shot Harold in the butt. George took him to the hospital where he removed the birdshot and stitched him up. ("Thanks for the Memories")
In addition to taking his sons turkey hunting every Thanksgiving, Harold also took the boys on camping trips to White River at least once a month. ("Where the Boys Are")
Hospitalization and Cancer[]
Harold was brought to the hospital, where Callie Torres treated him. ("Where the Boys Are")
He had passed out, fallen, and broken his clavicle. Callie said his clavicle would be fine, but he was complaining of abdominal pain, so they scheduled an endoscopy. The endoscopy showed that Harold had esophageal cancer that had spread to his stomach. He was told he'd need surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation to treat it. His EKG showed abnormalities, so they looked at his heart and found out that he had a leaking aortic valve. He needed to have his valve replaced before they could start treating the cancer. George insisted that Burke do the valve replacement, because he's the best. ("Staring at the Sun")
However, after becoming suspicious about Burke's hand, George talked to Erica Hahn and hired her to do his father's valve replacement. When Harold and Louise heard, they wondered why George would want Erica to do the surgery instead of Burke. After talking to Izzie about the switch, they decided to go back to having Burke do his surgery. ("Staring at the Sun")
The day of his surgery, Harold went into V-tach and had to be given lidocaine. He was then taken in to have his valve replaced and it went well. ("Don't Stand So Close to Me")
After his heart surgery, Harold said he felt better than ever, so his extended family came to visit and have a bit of a party before he started cancer treatment, figuring he wouldn't be feeling up to visitors after starting treatment.
Before his initial cancer surgery, which was mostly exploratory, Harold met with an oncologist, who said they might not complete the surgery if they saw that the tumor had invaded other organs. He asked them to remove all the tumor, no matter what, saying O'Malleys are fighters and he could fight it. Richard agreed to do so.
In surgery, they discovered that the tumor had spread, but they abided by Harold's wishes and removed as much of the tumor as they could.
After surgery, the big concern was multi-system organ failure. George monitored his kidneys as those would be the first to go, but his kidney function was good. ("Six Days, Part 1")
After his surgery, he was intubated. The tube kinked and had to be replaced, but because of the swelling in his throat, putting in a new tube was difficult. His family was warned ahead of time that they might not be able to place a new tube and he'd die. It took Bailey a few tries to intubate, but she was able to get a new tube in.
Shortly after that, his urine output started to decline as his kidneys failed. His other organs started to fail and his family was informed that he was entirely dependent on his life support machines. They were given the choice to keep him on life support and allow nature to take its course or they could take him off life support. They chose to take him off life support after asking George, who said that Harold was in pain. They removed the tube and stayed with him while he died. ("Six Days, Part 2")
Relationships[]
Romantic[]
He was married for 40 years (since he was 23) to his wife, Louise, and took great pride in all his sons.
Familial[]
Harold was close with Ronny and Jerry. His bond with George was more distant and they struggled to understand each other, but still loved each other.
Career[]
Harold was a truck driver. ("Break on Through")
Notes and Trivia[]
- Harold was Catholic.
- His life insurance papers were in the second drawer of his night stand.[1]
- He kept his porn magazines in the garage.[2]
- He accidentally ran over George's dog when George was young, but only told George many years later and shortly before he died.[3]
- He was 63 at the time of his death.
- George claimed that if he could have, he would have saved his father by giving him his heart.
Gallery[]
Episodic[]
Episode Stills[]
Appearances[]
| Grey's Anatomy, Season 2 | |||||
| #01 | "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" | #10 | "Much too Much" | #19 | "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" |
| #02 | "Enough is Enough" | #11 | "Owner of a Lonely Heart" | #20 | "Band-Aid Covers the Bullet Hole" |
| #03 | "Make Me Lose Control" | #12 | "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" | #21 | "Superstition" |
| #04 | "Deny, Deny, Deny" | #13 | "Begin the Begin" | #22 | "The Name of the Game" |
| #05 | "Bring the Pain" | #14 | "Tell Me Sweet Little Lies" | #23 | "Blues for Sister Someone" |
| #06 | "Into You Like a Train" | #15 | "Break on Through" | #24 | "Damage Case" |
| #07 | "Something to Talk About" | #16 | "It's the End of the World" | #25 | "17 Seconds" |
| #08 | "Let It Be" | #17 | "As We Know It" | #26 | "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response" |
| #09 | "Thanks for the Memories" | #18 | "Yesterday" | #27 | "Losing My Religion" |
| 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" | ||
References[]
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