Grey’s Anatomy: Bailey’s 5 Best Pieces Of Advice (& Her 5 Worst)

In Grey’s Anatomy, Miranda Bailey has always been a leader. Consequently, she always feels compelled to give advice to those who report to her. Sometimes her counsel extends to those above her in the hospital hierarchy, with Derek and Richard being the senior recipients of her advice in most cases.

While Bailey’s advice is normally golden, she has given improper guidance on a few occasions. Nevertheless, she always states her convictions confidently. Whether she is right or wrong is not a big issue to her. As a natural-born leader, what matters is that she gets to steer someone in a specific direction.

10 Best: Bailey’s Advice To Addison About Love And Identity

“No Man, Not Derek, Not Mark, Defines Who You Are.”

Bailey isn’t impressed when Addison starts panicking after Mark joins the staff as the new Head of Plastic Surgery. When Addison claims she is unable to function, which is one of Addison’s emotional Grey’s Anatomy quotes, Bailey gives her a dressing down before finishing off with a great piece of advice.

Addison has the right to feel how she does since she, Mark, and Derek are in the same building, and this creates a complicated situation. Nevertheless, as an accomplished surgeon, her medical judgment shouldn’t be compromised by the appearance of a former lover. She should have the ability to compartmentalize her life and bar one thing from infiltrating the other.

9 Worst: Bailey Tells Derek That Love Is The Most Important Thing

“Pick The Person You Love. All Of This Means Nothing If You’re Alone.”

As he is campaigning to take over from Richard as Chief, Derek bumps into Bailey and laments that being with Meredith is complicating his career. Bailey quickly advises him to choose love instead of the position of Chief if there ever comes a time that he has to make that choice.

It’s strange that such a career-oriented character as Bailey would have such an opinion. Derek has always dreamt of being Chief. It’s the reason he came to Seattle Grace in the first place. He has never really dreamt of love. It just happened. Without love, he’ll still be proud to call himself Chief Derek but with only love, he just might be considered an underachiever.

8 Best: Bailey’s Stance On Patient Deaths

“When We Tell A Family A Patient Has Died, I’d Prefer We Be Correct!”

In one episode, a patient names Georgia has a heart attack while holding her dead husband’s hand. After failed attempts at resuscitation, she is pronounced dead and the family is informed. 20 minutes later, Georgia wakes up and Bailey regrets that the family had been given fake news. She advises her colleagues to refrain from premature pronouncements in the future.

Though death is common on the show, it always leaves permanent scars on those it affects. Having been around for a long time, Bailey has seen many family members sob uncontrollably after getting tragic news about loved ones. She would never want to cause someone all that pain only for it to turn out that whoever they are grieving is still alive.

7 Worst: Bailey’s Advice About Mark

“Let Us Get Back To Our Jobs So He Can Get Back To His Job And Help The People.”

Bailey feels like time is being wasted when she finds a good number of Grey’s Anatomy‘s best nurses protesting about Mark. Apparently, the lothario has been sleeping around with every nurse and doesn’t see a problem with that. Well, an unimpressed Bailey orders them to get back to work so that Mark can do so too because they all consented to sleep with him.

While Bailey is right about the consent part, Mark’s tendency to pick all his one-night-stands from the hospital has triggered jealously and animosity. This, in turn, has led to a poor working environment. Some nurses aren’t working well with each other because they see each other as competition. So, even if Mark hasn’t committed a crime, the protest is important in order to get Mark to change his ways.

6 Best: Bailey Supports Alex When He Makes A Mistake

“You D*mn Well Have To Be On His Side.”

Bailey isn’t happy when Alex makes a mistake during surgery and George jokes about it. She tears into him, reminding him that he should never make jokes about other surgeons because their jobs are very delicate. One mistake can always lead to death hence the person making the mistake should be sympathized with rather than ridiculed.

Even though George’s joke is insensitive, it’s a creative one. He refers to Alex Karev as Dr. Karev-ian, which is a creative take on Dr. Kevorkian who was renowned for advocating for a patient’s right to die. Dr. Karev-ian might not be one of the best nicknames in Grey’s Anatomy but it sure brings out George’s often admirable comical nature. Nevertheless, Bailey is right. Matters like these aren’t to be joked about.

5 Worst: Bailey’s Statement About Being Feared At Work

“It’s Good To Be Feared.”

Meredith is devastated when she finds out that the interns nicknamed her “Medussa” because the name is associated with meanness. Bailey tells her not to worry about it because being feared is great.

Bailey makes the assumption that being feared is as good as being respected but she’s wrong. In fact, Richard later bursts this belief by informing her that most of the residents think she is a bully. Generally, creating good relations with people yields better outcomes than terrorizing them, so Bailey’s advice is guaranteed to lead Meredith down a dark path.

4 Best: Bailey Knows How Quickly Infections Spread

“You Must Do Everything In Your Power To Contain Them. Because When The Monsters Wake Up, They’re Out Of Control.”

In one of the most Bailey-centric episodes in Grey’s Anatomy, she finds herself being investigated by the CDC for the deaths of several of her patients. The cause of the deaths is an unknown infection that originated in the OR.

Bailey’s remarks are good enough to be taken seriously by not only the characters on the show but the viewer too. To the viewer, the message is that the early detection of disease is always a good thing. To those on the show, the message is that there should never be any assumptions in the OR because lives are always at stake.

3 Worst: Bailey’s Strange Words To Meredith

“Don’t Demand Anything. You Deserve Nothing.”

Bailey is once again disappointed upon finding out that Meredith has taken a liver she had reserved in order to perform a transplant on Samantha Calder. When she confronts Meredith about it, Meredith insists she deserves the opportunity to perform the surgery because she had been benched for 9 months. Bailey disagrees, telling her to not ever think she deserves anything.

Meredith takes this advice a bit too seriously since she kinda slows down from grabbing opportunities and demanding things from thereon. In the cutthroat world of Grey Sloan Memorial, such a laid-back attitude is never a good thing. In Season 12, it’s revealed that Meredith is still getting paid less than she is worth. This once again points to her believing she doesn’t deserve more.

2 Best: Bailey Helps Meredith Find Strength

“Turn Around And Walk Away.”

Derek tries to approach Meredith at the hospital and check on her right after he rejects her for Addison but Bailey stops him in the hallway. She makes it clear that now is not the best time for him to do that because Meredith is hurting.

By barring him, Bailey saves Derek from an awkward situation because Meredith is feeling rather resentful. She clearly needs her space and if Derek pushes too hard, he might not be able to win over her heart ever again. And by following Bailey’s advice and staying away, Meredith is able to heal and she and Derek eventually get back together.

1 Worst: Bailey’s Confusing Statement

“Stare Him Down!”

Callie once comes to Bailey asking how she can get Derek to agree to do a consult on her surgery. Bailey advises her to stare him down if he says no, which she goes ahead and does. It works since Derek agrees to do the consult but he later confesses that he hated it.

By staring Derek down, Callie totally goes against her personality. She also forces Derek to do something he doesn’t like, which translates to her not getting the best of the neurosurgery. The act of “Staring down” would only yield good results if Bailey herself was the one doing it.

About The Author

Philip Etemesi
(1215 Articles Published)

Philip Etemesi is an author, journalist, screenwriter and film critic based in Nairobi. Kenya. As a child, he preferred watching movies like The Goodfellas instead of Home Alone. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV but he just keeps returning. Stubborn dude! An animal lover, Philip also has a pet giraffe called Refu.

More From Philip Etemesi