Alternate reality

In a few episodes of Scrubs, an alternate reality has been shown.

Occurrences

"My Occurrence"

Things are too good to be true in "My Occurrence".

Main article: "My Occurrence"

In the Season One episode "My Occurrence", Dr. Cox's good friend and Jordan's brother Ben Sullivan visits Sacred Heart. A blood test is put in for him. When the results come back, J.D. gives the good news to Dr. Cox and Ben that Ben is healthy. However, in reality Ben has leukemia and J.D. initially couldn't emotionally handle breaking the bad news. This is an extended fantasy that takes up a good portion of the episode. Multiple times in the episode, characters hint that sometimes you can't change bad news, no matter how much you want to.

"My Screw Up"

Ben follows Dr. Cox around. ("My Screw Up")

Main article: "My Screw Up"

In Season Three, Ben Sullivan returns to Sacred Heart to be checked up for his leukemia. At the same time, J.D. is charged with taking care of an elderly patient. When J.D. breaks the news to Dr. Cox that "he died", Dr. Cox gets upset that J.D. killed the elderly patient and is angry at him for the rest of the episode. Ben then follows Dr. Cox around for the rest of his day until Jack's birthday party. At the party, J.D. helps Dr. Cox snap to reality that it was Ben who died and they were attending his funeral, not a birthday party. Throughout the episode, Ben and others make comments that hint toward the reality, rather than Dr. Cox's hallucinations of Ben.

"My Butterfly"

The butterfly lands elsewhere, causing a second scenario. ("My Butterfly")

Main article: "My Butterfly"

In Season Three, the staff of Sacred Heart has a rotten day. Turk botches a surgery because he doesn't have his lucky do-rag, Janitor is angry because he has to clean up a mess made by J.D. and doesn't have time to help Elliot find a stuffed animal. J.D. then ponders what would happen if just a small thing were different. Rather than staring at a butterfly land on a busty woman's chest (which caused the first scenario), the two look away when it lands on a fat man's chest. J.D. doesn't make the mess and Janitor has time to help Elliot successfully find the stuffed dog. Carla manages to find the do-rag for Turk before his surgery. However, the patient dies in both scenarios. This episode is an homage to the chaos theory of the butterfly effect.

"My Life in Four Cameras"

Main article: "My Life in Four Cameras"

The Season Four episode "My Life in Four Cameras" explores a lengthy fantasy that J.D. has about a his life at Sacred Heart being the basis for a sitcom. It is more of a meta reference and extended fantasy than an alternate reality because J.D. and the audience know it is a daydream.

The staff sing and dance. ("My Musical")

"My Musical"

Main article: "My Musical"

J.D. and Elliot find a woman, Patti Miller, collapsed in the park. When she is admitted to Sacred Heart, she complains of only hearing music and seeing everyone around her sing and dance. Most of the scenes in the episode are from her perspective, although J.D. still narrates. It may be considered a different perception of reality rather than an alternate reality because Patti, the staff, and the audience know she has a medical problem. The problem turns out to be a tumor in her head.

"My Princess"

Dr. Cox describes himself as a knight. ("My Princess")

Main article: "My Princess"

The Season Seven episode "My Princess" is told via two methods: the actual day at Sacred Heart as narrated by J.D., and a fairytale version of the same story as told by Dr. Cox to his son Jack Cox as a bedtime story. The characters are the same, but Dr. Cox describes them to Jack with fairytale characteristics.