‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Some Fans Don’t Want to Find Out DeLuca Was Right About His Patient
The coronavirus pandemic ruined a lot of things for a lot of people. Not to mention it deprived fans of a full season of Grey’s Anatomy. The show’s 16th season was cut short in April after the pandemic made working on the show unsafe.
The good news is the crew is back on the set working on Season 17, and fans are hopeful that some of the loose ends left at the end of season 16 will be tied up. However, fans are torn about DeLuca’s storyline.
DeLuca thought his patient was a victim of human trafficking
In an episode that aired on March 19, 2020, according to Digital Spy, DeLuca encountered a victim of human trafficking. He became suspicious when the patient’s aunt did all the talking in the exam room and tried to share his concerns with his fellow staff members.
However, no one believed him. DeLuca’s questionable mental health seems to have altered his colleagues’ opinions of him, and they thought he was reading too far into the situation.
The patient and her aunt left the hospital amid DeLuca’s increasingly hysterical objections. Although DeLuca and the other staff at Grey Sloan never knew what happened to the patient, many viewers believed that DeLuca was right, and the girl was in fact a victim of human trafficking.
Some fans hope that DeLuca will be vindicated in the new season, but others aren’t sure that’s such a good idea.
Some fans don’t want ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ to explore the topic of human trafficking
Although some fans are excited to see DeLuca prove his colleagues wrong, others think that Grey’s Anatomy isn’t the right place to discuss issues of human trafficking.
One fan wrote on Reddit: “I hope they treat that very carefully. The idea that people have about what sex trafficking is is wildly incorrect and I don’t need Greys spreading that. Also with Deluca’s illness, I really don’t want them to take the fact that he was right to ignore the fact that he’s still clearly very ill.”
There are a lot of myths surrounding human trafficking, and a lot of TV tends to perpetuate those myths.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, human trafficking doesn’t need to involve border crossing or kidnapping. A lot of people assume that trafficking victims are taken from their homes or held against their will. That’s not always the case.
Victims can be trafficked in their own homes, and the means their abusers use to control them are varied, and not always violent. Some traffickers will steal their victims’ passports or deny them access to cash in order to control them.
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ may be the perfect vehicle for an accurate depiction of human trafficking
Although some fans are worried about Grey’s Anatomy perpetuating an over-dramatic and unrealistic view of human trafficking, others disagree. Some fans think that Grey’s could be the perfect place to get a depiction right.
Grey’s is still a hugely popular show, despite the fact that it’s coming up on its 20-year anniversary. It could be a great place to change the perception of trafficking.
One fan thinks that Grey’s set up the situation in a way that could lead to a more realistic trafficking scenario. Since the patient and her aunt “appear to actually be related (though I am literally only judging by the color of hair) so it seems like they could lean in to a storyline of the girl’s parents dying/leaving and the aunt taking custody and exploiting her, because that is usually what sex trafficking looks like, a minor in need being exploited rather than a ‘Taken’ situation.”
