The staff faces the dreaded Code Black, which (apparently) threatens the hospital.
What's a Code Black, you ask? Excellent question.
"It's bad. It's real bad," said Kate Walsh, who co-stars as Dr. Addison Shepherd.
"It's a code and it's also black," obfuscated executive producer Betsy Beers.
OK, that was enlightening. Is a Code Black something you made up? Is it something we could go look up someplace?
"You could," said creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes. "And I think it says that's bad and it's black and it's a code, honestly."
"And we should all hold hands and pray that it doesn't happen here," joked Ellen Pompeo, who stars as Meredith Grey.
If that all seems like just a little bit too much in the way of secrecy, well, it's standard operating procedure for Rhimes. And, quite frankly, it's sort of refreshing that -- in a age when TV and movie promotions seem to give away most of the plot -- they're trying to keep a few things secret.
History
Technically, there’s no formal definition for a “Code”, but doctors often use the term as slang for a cardiopulmonary arrest happening to a patient in a hospital or clinic, requiring a team of providers (sometimes called a “code team”) to rush to the specific location and begin immediate resuscitative efforts.
Each hospital or clinic can decide how it wishes to manage and inform staff of potential emergencies. Many institutions use colors (e.g. “Code Red”, “Code Blue”) to identify specific types of emergencies. “Code Red” and “Code Blue” are both terms that are often used to refer to a cardiopulmonary arrest, but other types of emergencies (for example bomb threats, terrorist activity, child abductions, or mass casualties) may be given “Code” designations too. Colors, numbers, or other designations may follow a “Code” announcement to identify the type of emergency that is occurring.
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