The actress called the experience a “one-in-a-million freak accident” and noted that she is “still processing” everything that happened.

Grey’s Anatomy actress Leven Rambin is ‘lucky to be alive’ after doctors ‘nicked’ her aorta during endometriosis surgery

The actress called the experience a “one-in-a-million freak accident” and noted that she is “still processing” everything that happened.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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July 13, 2026 3:11 p.m. ET

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Leven Rambin. Credit:

Amy Sussman/Getty

- Leven Rambin is recovering after a doctor accidentally nicked her aorta while performing her endometriosis surgery.

- The *Grey’s Anatomy* alum said she was informed by doctors that she was “lucky to be alive” after the incident.

- “I’m here. I’m alive. But, sheesh, rough,” she said.

*Grey’s Anatomy* alum Leven Rambin says she’s “lucky to be alive” after suffering an unexpected health scare while undergoing endometriosis surgery.

The actress, who starred as McSteamy’s (Eric Dane) estranged daughter on season 6 of the beloved ABC medical drama, revealed that she is on the mend after a doctor accidentally nicked her aorta while performing the surgery.

“I went in for routine endo laparoscopy,” Rambin wrote on a TikTok published on Saturday. “I had a Netflix job I needed to be at in 2 weeks and my doc said I would be fine.”

A laparoscopy is a procedure in which doctors insert a rod, called a laparoscope, with a tiny camera attached to it into one’s stomach or pelvic area to search for any potential ailments, per the Cleveland Clinic. However, the treatment did not go as planned.

“I woke up after surgery to many doctors and surgeons telling me they ‘saved my life’ after the doctor accidentally KNICKED [sic] my aorta,” she wrote, noting that her medical team “immediately performed repair surgery” and gave her a blood transfusion after the incident.

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Rambin also shared details about her ongoing recovery. “I’m on every med under the sun. My mom flew in,” she wrote. “I did get diagnosed with stage 1 end & polyps. I had to quit the Netflix show.”

Behind her words, the* All My Children* alum can be seen giving the camera a thumbs up from her hospital bed. She also included an audio taken from *Grey’s Anatomy* that features Ellen Pompeo’s character Meredith Grey repeatedly stating that she is fine.

In a follow-up video, Rambin explained that she is “still glad I got the surgery though” so that she knew “wtf is going on” with her body. Endometriosis is a condition in which interior uterine tissue grows outside of the uterus, causing scar tissue, cysts, pain, and fertility problems, per the Mayo Clinic.

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“Yes, I am lucky to be alive, everyone,” Rambin said. “I went in for my endo surgery, woke up with a bunch of doctors and surgeons saying that I was lucky to be alive because my aorta got nicked and was bleeding.”

She continued, “They saved me. Urgently. So now I have a bigger scar and the endometriosis stuff. And I’m with my mom and my husband in my hospital for the next few days. I’m here. I’m alive. But, sheesh, rough.”

The actress has continued to share health updates on her TikTok account, revealing that she was informed by doctors that because she is “so fit and thin,” they anticipate she will “bounce back like that” in the future. She also responded to a commenter who wrote that she should’ve seen a specialist for the procedure.

“She was a ‘specialist,’ okay?” Rambin said, making air quotes. “The first thing she told me when I woke up out of the surgery was, ‘You could’ve lost your life. We saved your life. You could’ve lost your legs, et cetera.’ The first thing I said to her through my anesthesia was, ‘Is this your fault?’ And she said, ‘Yes, it’s my fault.’ I said, ‘Aren’t you a specialist?’ She said, ‘I’m human.’”

She continued, “So there’s a lot of people [online] who know a lot of things, apparently. I’m pissed, obviously, but I understand that it was a risk, you know? Like anything. It was a one-in-a-million freak accident. I’m still processing this.”

Leven Rambin and Eric Dane on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.

Rambin confirmed in a separate TikTok that she’d been discharged from the ICU and was now staying in a separate hospital room on Sunday. In the video, she explained that she underwent the surgery “because I was in pain and I was trying to increase my fertility for having children.”

She also opened up about how “the reality is starting to hit me of what happened” to her on the operating table and how close she came to losing her life in a subsequent post.

“I was clearly in shock and medicated when I was making all those funny videos, but it’s now starting to land,” she admitted. “Don’t you worry. The gravity is starting to hit.”

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