‘Grey’s Anatomy’: The Gross Reason Why Surgery Scenes Make Actors Gag
The characters of Grey’s Anatomy are often seen doing surgeries on patients. It can sometimes be gross to watch, but apparently it’s also challenging to film. Sarah Drew, who played April Kepner, revealed some people gag while filming.
The O.R. board on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ includes the crew members
The characters of Grey’s Anatomy are often checking out the schedule for the operation rooms that’s on a board. But the board isn’t just filled with well-known characters. The names of crew members can also be found on the board.
Shows often find clever ways to shout out crew members in the background of scenes. The show also has multiple medical professionals involved to keep it slightly realistic.
Real doctors try to help get things right
There are a lot of little details that go into the medical scenes of the show. The writers often turn to real medical professional for help to write them.
Dr. Karen Pike is a medical consultant on the show and registered nurse Linda Klein is on the set to make sure the surgeries look right. “We wouldn’t be able to do what we’re doing without her,” Patrick Dempsey, who played Derek Shepherd, said according to TV Fanatic. “We love her and respect her immensely and she makes us look good.”
There is also a real nurse acting in the room. Bokhee An is a real scrub nurse and has appeared in the show since season 1.
Sandra Oh, who played Dr. Cristina Yang, tweeted about this fact. “The nurse in that scene, Bokhee, is a real surgical nurse. She’s been with us since the beginning. She’s like my 2nd mom, she’s the best,” she tweeted.
The actors also are given information about specific procedures to look like they know what they’re doing. “When we have a specific procedure that we have to perform, the medical staff here is very knowledgeable and they always provide us with a CD or information from the internet about what the procedure is, why it’s done, how it’s done,” Pompeo said in an interview. “We can watch a video of it if we like.”
Cow’s organs are used on the show
Sometimes the surgery scenes can be hard to watch for fans. But it also sounds like it’s hard to film. Drew told the Miami Herald that filming makes her gag.
“We work with Bovine organs, which is cow’s organs,” she explained. “The smell is repulsive and makes us all gag. And we use an actual soldering tool to solder the organs. It smells like burning flesh. There’s also a lot of silicone and blood matter – red jello [jelly] mixed with blood and chicken fat. It’s pretty gross.”
That definitely doesn’t sound like a pleasing smell. But the actors are good at their job because they don’t make it very noticeable.
