| Amelia Shepherd | |
|---|---|
| Private Practice & Grey's Anatomy character | |
| File:Amelia Shepard.jpeg | |
| First Episode Appearance | "Eyes Wide Open" 3x19, April 1, 2010 |
| Created by | Shonda Rhimes |
| Character played by | Caterina Scorsone |
| In-universe information | |
| Nickname | Amy |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Neurosurgeon at Seaside Wellness and Health |
| Family | Carolyn Shepherd (mother) Derek Shepherd (brother) Nancy Shepherd (sister) Kathleen Shepherd (sister) Liz Shepherd (sister) Meredith Grey (sister-in-law) Addison Montgomery (former sister-in-law) Zola Shepherd (niece) Bailey Shepherd (nephew) |
| Children | Unnamed Son (with Ryan; deceased) |
Amelia Shepherd is a fictional character on the ABC American television medical drama Private Practice, portrayed by Caterina Scorsone. The character also appeared on Grey's Anatomy in its 7th Season. After Amelia visited her former sister-in-law, Addison Montgomery, she becomes a partner at the Oceanside Wellness Group.
Storylines[]
Amelia Shepherd is the youngest sister of Dr. Derek Shepherd, and like her brother, she is also an excellent neurosurgeon. Her ambition to prove herself equal to her brother is only surpassed by her surgical skill. After graduating in the top of her class at Harvard and completing her surgical residency at Johns Hopkins, she comes to Los Angeles on a medical case and decides to stay. She asks Naomi Bennett for a job when the two practices merge. She has known Dr. Addison Montgomery for many years and views her as a close friend and surrogate sister. As a young woman, she was addicted to prescription medication and crashed Derek's car while high. When she came home, she overdosed and was dead for three minutes. Derek saved her life, but was and still is angry with her. Amelia ended up sleeping with Derek's best friend Mark Sloan, following in the footsteps of her sister Nancy and her ex sister-in-law Addison Montgomery after making peace with Derek following his own shooting.
Amelia first appeared in season three, brought in to consult on a surgery at a hospital with Addison Montgomery. Amelia manages to bring the surgery about but butts heads with the hospital board, leading her to be fired. She soon begins to hang around Oceanside Wellness, annoying Addison a bit with her free-living attitude but also giving advice on Addison's relationship with Sam. Amelia was also the surgeon who operated on Dell after the car crash. As season 4 begins, Amelia is reluctant to visit her brother, Derek, when he is shot, but Addison eventually encourages her to go to Seattle to see him. On the way, Amelia has an in-flight romance with a man with a brain tumor and brings him to Seattle Grace for surgery. She and Derek bicker constantly over the surgery, but eventually settle their differences. She also has a one-night stand with Mark Sloan. When she returns to Los Angeles, she learns that there is a merge going on between the two practices. Amelia asks Naomi Bennett if she could become Ocean Wellness' new neurosurgeon, a move that annoys Addison.
When Charlotte is attacked and raped, Amelia is out with Cooper and Sam, but after receiving a visit from Violet, she comes to Charlotte's aid and confides in Charlotte about her addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol while stitching up a laceration on her arm. Later, when a drunken Cooper makes a move on Amelia, who rebuffs his advances and tells him to go home to his fiancée. Cooper eventually tells Charlotte about his interaction with Amelia and though Charlotte confronts her, they remain good friends. Charlotte asks Amelia to be her maid of honor in the episode "Something Old, Something New". At the wedding reception Amelia asks for a glass of ginger ale instead of champagne but by accident gets champagne, which she spits out. By the end of the season, however, Amelia relapses into addiction and refuses to get the help suggested by Charlotte. Charlotte tries to intervene with meetings, but Amelia skips them. Later, Charlotte discovers that Amelia operated on a patient while she was under the influence and as a result, Charlotte revoked all of her medical privileges.
Amelia continues her downward spiral in the premiere, injuring herself at a bar falling down drunk. Sheldon picks her up and takes her to the hospital while she sutures herself up in private to avoid Charlotte. The two later find out Pete has had a heart attack and needs surgery. Furthermore, Amelia operates on Pete's brain while under the influence. Later, Amelia passes a breathalizer test, but is seen drinking alone at home in Addison's old condo. Amelia's friend with Huntington's disease returns from Italy and requests Amelia's help with physician-assisted suicide. Pete and Sheldon disagree over Amelia's decision to help her. Later, Amelia and Pete discuss Pete's past when he reveals he once assisted a dying patient. Later Amelia begins a benzodiazepine injection on her friend, who has an adverse reaction and requests to be saved before she stops breathing; Amelia rushes her to the hospital, where Pete tends to her friend. Shortly after discovering her friend had completed her own suicide after being rescued, Amelia consumes what is believed to be three OxyContin pills she palmed after discovering the friend's body.
Following her friend's death, Amelia goes on a drug bender with a man she meets named Ryan. When she is caught by Addison doing drugs with Ryan, Addison kicks her out and they move into a hotel. Despite her friends' pleas to get help, Amelia begins writing prescriptions for herself until she is caught by Charlotte, who revokes her ability to write prescriptions. While high, Ryan proposes to Amelia and she accepts, giving him her father's watch. Soon after, Addison and the rest of the doctors stage an intervention for Amelia, but she resists until Addison discovers that she gave Ryan the watch. While telling the story, Amelia lashes out at her and leaves with Ryan. Later that night, Ryan dies from an accidental overdose. Eventually, Amelia is put into rehab, where she recovers from her addiction with the help of her co-workers at the practice, particularly Sheldon. In addition, Sheldon seems to display some romantic feelings towards Amelia, but she does not wish to pursue a romantic relationship.
Several weeks later after being confronted by Sheldon, Amelia admits that she is 20 weeks pregnant with her deceased fiancee's baby. At the moment, she is struggling on whether or not she should keep the baby and therefore, is heavily depending on Sheldon for advice. In the end she decided to keep the baby, but then she finds that her baby boy would be born with no brain, resulting in her shutting down emotionally and pushing her friends away. She eventually decides to continue the pregnancy to term and donate her baby's organs when he dies, after a father of a patient she pronounced brain dead decides to donate his daughter's organs so that something good can come from her death. In the season finale, she ultimately gives birth to her anencephalic son with the help of Addison and Jake. During her labor, she wished to be left alone, fearing that if anyone was with her, she would break down and show her emotions. At one point while going through a painful contraction, she asked Jake to leave her alone, and when he refused, she broke down crying, letting all of her fears out in the open. Additionally while she was in labor, Jake finally told the practice of her plans for organ donation which divided the doctors. Some believed it was a courageous act, while others believed it was murder. Sam was against the organ donation and refused to do the harvesting, but after a talk with Amelia, he ultimately changed his mind. When it came time for her to push, Addison heard her cries from outside the room and walked in. Amelia initially refused Addison, but later allowed Addie to coach her. When her son was born, she initially did not want to see nor hold him and wished that his head would be covered. Before taking him away for the donation, she wished to hold her baby, where she lifted the cap from his head. When the baby went into respiratory distress in her arms, she momentarily broke down, wishing for more time, but, then handed the baby over to Addison for the donation. Her last words to her son were "Your daddy is waiting for you in heaven. His name is Ryan."