‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Recap: Is This The End Of Seattle Grace Mercy West?

This hospital is facing an uncertain future -- but it wasn't all bad news this week: Meredith felt her baby kick for the first time! The doctors at Seattle Grace Mercy West were forced to comply with new hospital procedures on the Jan. 31 episode of Grey's Anatomy. While Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), Bailey (Chandra Wilson), and the Chief (James Pickens Jr.) had to take a class on new techniques, Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and April (Sarah Drew) tried to come up with a new budget cuts plan that would save the ER.

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Reading Time: 3 minutes
January 31, 2013 11:50PM EST
Grey's Anatomy Season 9 Episode 13
Image Credit: Courtesy of ABC

As part of the new hospital protocol for efficiency, a totally creepy Big Brother-style camera system was installed throughout the hospital for surveillance. The system was run by “Dr. Richardson,” who kept constant watch over all the doctors.

Alanna (Constance Zimmer) was the driving force behind all of the new hospital protocals. In an attempt to prove how important that ER is to the hospital, Owen (Kevin McKidd) cornered Alanna into scrubbing in on an emergency surgery for a patient who had been air lifted to the hospital.

In fear of losing her job due to the budget cuts, Bailey did some major sucking up to the instructor of her new techniques class. After sharing her theory with Meredith and the Chief, the class instantly became a competition between the trio. During the class, pregnant Meredith became alarmed when she felt something funny in her stomach, but after Bailey’s reassurance, Mere realized it was only the baby kicking for the first time.

After devising a new plan to save the ER with Derek, April set out on a mission to convince the other departments to make the necessary cuts. Unfortunately, April’s persuasion skills were not the best. Thankfully for her, Derek and his great head of hair were much more convincing.

Meanwhile, Cristina (Sandra Oh) had a very difficult case on her hands: a badly injured Jehovah’s Witness who couldn’t accept blood. Respecting his religious wishes, Cristina was forced to perform heart surgery without any blood transfusions. Cristina’s intern Leah (Tessa Ferrer) went behind her back and tried to give the patient blood, but she was stopped by Dr. Richardson, who was watching her through the newly installed cameras. The patient eventually died because he did not receive any blood.

Alex (Justin Chambers) and Callie (Sara Ramirez) also faced difficulty with their patient, a sassy 13-year-old gymnast recovering from hip surgery. The discouraged girl refused to do the recovery exercises she needed to do because to her, no more gymnastics meant her life was over. Because of her similar story, Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) shared about how she overcame her leg amputation. Although she gave an inspirational performance, Arizona was unsuccessful in motivating the girl and had to resort to tough love.

Thanks to Derek, the new budget plan he and April created received the support it needed. But when they presented the plan to Alanna, the doctors learned there was more to Alanna’s plan than just some budget cuts. The new changes to Seattle Grace Mercy West were all a part of Alanna’s plan to spruce it up before selling the hospital.

— Jenny Pickard

More Grey’s Anatomy News:

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  3. ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Recap: Adele’s Fate Is Revealed After Bailey’s Wedding