Ellen Pompeo's exit from "Grey's Anatomy" looms as clues are being dropped in almost every episode that Meredith is suffereing from Alzheimer's. Creator Shonda Rhimes, meanwhile, is coy about that possibility.

The possibility of Meredith getting Alzheimer's has been hanging on the fans' heads since the pilot season of "Grey's Anatomy," but the writers have ramped up the clues in season 11 which makes it interesting for Ellen Pompeo's character heading to season 12.

"In Season 9, Meredith finally allowed herself to be tested for the Alzheimer's gene. She tested positive for multiple genetic markers of the disease," Zap2it noted. "Since then Meredith has been very candid, in her dark and twisty way, that she's likely to die the same way her mother did."

Patrick Dempsey left the show in a big way by having his character Derek killed off. And Ellen Pompeo's exit in "Grey's Anatomy" could also be precluded by having her come to terms with her Alzheimer's which should give her plenty of ammunition to give the performance of her life.

"Dedicating an entire season to Meredith struggling with the diagnosis would be a great way to send Pompeo off the show," Zap2it added. "It's a dynamic arc for an actor to pull off and it would give Meredith a powerful storyline outside of losing Derek."

"She'd center the season as her own person and drive plot without tying herself to a new romantic interest. It's the kind of thing Emmys were made for."

But Shonda Rhimes declined to talk about Ellen Pompeo's exit from "Grey's Anatomy," but she said that Derek's death has placed Meredith in a situation where she has to stand on her own.

"This is the first time that's happened for her in a long time," Rhimes told The Hollywood Reporter.

She explained, "For Meredith, this journey is really about her coming into her own as a surgeon, figuring out who she is and who she wants to be, standing on her own two feet and trying to be her own person for the first time without the support of Cristina (Sandra Oh) and without the support of Derek."