After the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy, it seems that Meredith and McDreamy might be getting back together. But, as blogged by Shonda Rhimes (the show’s writer and creator), nothing is as easy on that show as it seems: “Just remember that nothing is ever wrapped up easily on this show.”

So, what if Addison were to return to New York, but responds to an urgent call from Seattle Grace to consult on a complicated surgery that just happens to be her specialty? But there’s a terrible blizzard in New York and she can’t fly to Seattle, so she assists via Internet? Great - thanks for pitching in, Addison! Or not. Consider, in a world with government-regulated Internet traffic, when the patient on the table is crashing and Addison needs to tell Bailey what to clamp or suture, the (Internet) tubes get clogged — with email. Flatline. Intubate. (Hands Off doesn’t actually know many medical terms.this is just for color.)

This scenario occurs to us not just because we’re excited about the return of Grey’s Anatomy to ABC’s primetime schedule, but because of a recent op-ed in the Martinsburg Journal that brought up one of the more serious, albeit underexplored, reasons to oppose new net neutrality laws: The needs of telemedicine. In the op-ed, health care writer Vanessa McLaughlin explains:

“Net neutrality advocates say every bit of Internet traffic should be treated alike. But that makes as much sense as an emergency room that eliminates triage and treats a broken nose with the same urgency as a heart attack. In an ER, some cases are more critical. On the Internet, some bits of data are more important. Medical data needs to get where it’s going fast and safe. If an e-mail or music video is delayed by a traffic jam on the network, the damage is minimal. If a medical transmission is disrupted, someone could die.”

That would surely make for an interesting episode of Grey’s Anatomy, but it’s not something we would ever want anyone to deal with. And it’s just one more reason to oppose far-reaching new Internet regulations.