Pam Tanner (Clare Carey) is the main villainess from "Just Lose It," episode 4.10 of Grey's Anatomy (airdate December 2, 2010).
Backstory & Introduction[]
She was married to Bruce Tanner and they had one son Justin. They were seemingly a happy family, with her being close to her son and her husband thinking she babied too much.
They had come into the practice once for their son and were tended to by Dr. Cooper Freedman over three years ago. In the present time, a now teenage Justin had gain a significant amount of weight and became diabetic, with his condition giving high blood pressure and nearly rendering him immobile. His father believed him lazy so they hired a nutritionist, trainer, and even sent him to fat camp but nothing worked. During an argument, Justin passed out and was hospitalized.
At the hospital, Pam and Bruce argued over the cause, with Pam thinking it was stress and that food was acting as comfort but Bruce was unconvinced and accused her of coddling him.
Heel Turn[]
When Justin regained consciousness, he told Cooper that he was being molested and that the eating was to make himself unappealing but it wasn't working. With that, Cooper found and punched Bruce while thinking he was the culprit. The infuriated Bruce denied the allegation and quickly dialed a lawyer for his assault while Cooper phoned the police.
Much later, Cooper went into Justin's room to tell him of the news while Bruce demanded he stay away from his son. Pam tried to deescalate by having Cooper leave but he refused. Justin spoke up to reveal that while he was assaulted by someone, he never said it was his father. This led to a now agitated Pam to tend to her son, who tried to shoo her away while she promised to care for him like always. This sight did not go unnoticed by Bruce and Cooper, who put aside their differences to carefully observe Justin's scared facial reaction to his mother's touch while Pam told them that Justin was suffering from the medication. Putting it together, Cooper told her to back away from Justin, as she refused until she was ordered to in an assertive tone by Cooper. Seeing his son scared, Bruce confronted Pam on her action and asked how she can traumatize their son. Having been exposed for her abuse, she simply replies "He loves me". Enraged, Bruce attempted to charge at her but was held back by Cooper who had security come in to detain her for the police.
Climax and Arrest[]
Pam was then arrested, while the distraught Justin revealed while he hated the pain, he still loved her and blamed himself for her incarceration. However, the hospital brought in a therapist so he could talk about his pain when he is ready. Soon Bruce came in and reconciled with his son for not knowing his condition was to cope with his abuse.