Paging Peds: Why Do So Many Pediatric Surgeons Leave Grey Sloan?

As Grey’s fans prepare to say goodbye to two more brilliant Grey Sloan doctors, we can’t help but notice a fascinating trend throughout the show’s impressive run.

Pediatric surgeons leave Grey Sloan frequently, giving many actors the perfect exit to leave the show with an open-ended storyline should they want to return. Should we assume all Grey Sloan pediatric surgeons will only briefly be on Grey’s Anatomy?

Levi Schmitt is the latest Grey Sloan actor to exit the show after an extended stint on rotation. After a rocky start, Schmitt found his groove and became a hell of a doctor.

But while he was great with patients and colleagues, he struggled to find his surgical niche. Then, a new pediatric surgeon arrived to tilt the scales.

Monica Beltran first appeared in Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 as the peds attending.

She inspired Schmitt to consider pediatrics, although it took some time to convince her that it was his passion and not just a career opportunity.

When Levi first approached Beltran for a recommendation to a peds fellowship, she turned him down. And it was the right thing to do. While peds is where Levi belongs, he was trying to transfer for the wrong reasons.

The Levi-Beltran mentorship gave old-school Rollins-Karev vibes.

The duo made a nice pair from the ‘rizz to the snark. But fans knew not to form a bond since Levi would be leaving. His transition to pediatrics was his excuse to go.

Bailey and Richard heard about Levi’s offer in Texas and tried to lure him into staying at Grey Sloan as an attending general surgeon. But after spending one shift in charge — which he rocked — Schmitt chose the pediatric research job instead.

Like his best friend, Jo Wilson, said in Levi’s finale episode, he has come a long way from the intern who dropped his glasses on a patient during surgery.

Schmitt is just one in a line of pediatric surgeons who rotate through the halls of Grey Sloan. The peds floor might be a revolving door for Grey’s Anatomy cast ready to jump ship from the show.

It’s hard not to get attached to a compassionate, brilliant doctor great with kids. That combination could be what made fans so obsessed with Dr. Alex Karev, who lasted through 16 seasons on Grey’s Anatomy.

Like Levi, Alex didn’t go straight into peds. A powerful mentor inspired the career swap.

For Karev, a few prominent mentors led him to the Head of Pediatric Surgery. His interest started with an internship with Dr. Addison Montgomery’s OB/GYN rotation, where he experienced neonatal surgery.

Once Addison left Grey Sloan, Karev worked under the brilliant Dr. Arizona Robbins, Head of Pediatric Surgery, throughout his residency and fellowship.

From her first appearance in the fifth season, fans fell in love with Robbins, who went through the wringer in life and romance. She spent time training under Dr. Nicole Herman for a fetal surgery fellowship.

Dr. Herman ended up with a brain tumor, which excelled Robbins’ training and her promotion when she stepped in to fill the role left by the former fetal surgeon.

Herman’s career ended due to going blind after her tumor removal. Rollins left Grey Sloan in the fourteenth season to move across the country to be with her daughter, who lives with her mother, Callie Torres (baby mama of Mark Sloan).

Throughout the twenty-plus years that Grey’s Anatomy has been on TV, several other pediatric surgeons have come and gone, usually on a single-season basis.

We’ve witnessed other Peds surgeons, Dr. Jordan Kenley in Grey’s Anatomy Season 5, Dr. Robert Stark in Grey’s Anatomy Season 7, Dr. Mel Barnett in Grey’s Anatomy Season 9, and Dr. Cormac Hayes, who handled peds from Grey’s Anatomy Season 16 to Season 18.

While we’ve been through numerous peds doctors over the years, at least most of them have a happily ever after exit.

That’s more than we can say for non-peds physicians.

One of the most traumatizing character exits of all time was George O’Malley, the deceased husband of Callie Torres. While O’Malley was set to leave to serve in the military, he died a heroic death, saving a pedestrian outside the hospital.

Derek Shephard (Patrick Dempsey) was another death that impacted us for years. As did several other doctors close to Meredith Grey and her colleagues.

Grey’s Anatomy revisited the trauma of one of their own fighting for their life with the second character exit for Grey’s Anatomy Season 21.

Fans have known that this would be the last season for Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis), so it didn’t surprise anyone when she had a horrifying car crash after falling asleep at the wheel.

Despite an emotional hour of touch and go as she fought for her life, during which we heard loving testimonies from her friends, she survived the accident.

Fans were thrilled but our joy was temporary. Because while Mika lived, her younger sister Chloe, who was going through cancer treatment, did not. And it was Yasuda’s fault.

So, instead of exiting the show by death, Yasuda will resign under a wave of grief that could permanently alter her life course.

In terms of character departures, it’s a new way of giving an emotional farewell, which is impressive after twenty-plus years and dozens of character exits.

So, midway through a season, Grey’s Anatomy fans are saying goodbye to two of the show’s current favorites. While Yasuda’s exit will be on a wave of sadness, Schmitt’s final hurrah was enough to shed tears.

The show did a bang-up job letting our favorite peds surgeon perform a life-saving, cribside procedure on an infant while having an emotional goodbye with Wilson.

And before he rode off into the car pollution with his very own happily-ever-after in Chaplain James, Wilson gave Levi the biggest honor of his life — the title of godfather to her twins.

We hope that statement is foreshadowing a guest appearance from Schmitt at a later date once the babies arrive. He was adamant about visiting often and making lots of calls.

But we know how life gets busy, and things fall by the wayside.

Most characters don’t return once they’ve left, although they may get referenced from time to time. Especially former peds surgeons.

However, Grey’s fans had the pleasure of a guest visit from Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) in Grey’s Anatomy Season 20 Episode 4, so there’s always hope!

Given what we know about peds surgeons not lasting long on Grey’s Anatomy, should we worry about Beltran’s future? Especially when there’s something brewing between her and Amelia. Or is it Ndugu?

Maybe Shondaland will use a card from Ryan Murphy’s recent approach to alternate romantic entanglements and try a throuple between the three, like Doctor Odyssey.

They’re already testing the waters with open relationships with the show’s newest cast addition, Dr. Cass Beckman (Chicago P.D.’s Sophia Bush).

Over to you, Fanatics.

Do you think there is a correlation between doctors transitioning to peds and leaving the show? Which peds surgeon has been your favorite so far? How do you feel about Schmitt leaving Grey’s Anatomy under the guise of doing peds research in Texas?

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