Meredith Grey and Me: A Nested Autoethnography of Miscarriage

The present study details an autoethnography of miscarriage, the author’s personal experience nested within the mediated pregnancy loss story of Meredith Grey in the long running television series, Grey’s Anatomy. Through the lens of Burke’s framework of equipment for life, various themes emerge surrounding miscarriage communication and experience through several roles in personal and professional circles. The linear and complex timeline of these roles in pregnancy and pregnancy loss factor into the influence of varied life equipment garnered within different stages of womanhood and within various dichotomies in relationships and experiences in this health context. Implications for patient-centeredness and miscarriage communication and experience, as well as the employment of Burke’s concept of life equipment in health settings, are detailed. Meredith’s mediated story of miscarriage provides cultural equipment that aids in better understanding and defining the author’s lived loss experience. This work may aid in exploring autoethnographic, media-based analysis and offer others another script or story in pregnancy loss. Further, it may offer an expanded way to employ Burke’s concept in health settings.