I couldnt go beyond that. I had an urge to do that very early in the process. Theyre not just props in your story, they are real people whove lived this, and you need to just be respectful of that, and not fall into tropes, and not exaggerate what theyve been through, but also not diminish it. Philip Mayfield, one of Christopher Duntsch's patients, who was paralyzed after his surgery. Its not just about what happened, but how did this occur? Dr Christopher Duntsch - YouTube Peacock released the series to complement its scripted portrayal of the story, Dr. Death, which released a couple of weeks ago and stars Joshua Jackson as the titular character. Right? Were there times when you would look at drafts and be like, "Maybe we should pull back on the administrative stuff?" Its those two question combined the lurid, unstoppable search for an ultimate motive, and the more concrete question of how the medical system allowed this to happen and how we can fix it that make listening to Dr. Death feel like youre eating cake and taking your medicine at the same time. You have reached your limit of free articles. JACKSON: Well, actually, I think it's even one step scarier than that. Why Did Dr. Death Do It? 'Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story' Explains Its a lucrative surgery. How much do you think that affected Duntschs decision to become a neurosurgeon in the first place? We would be lauding him for what he was doing because to this day, several of his patents are still being used in the use of stem cells and neurosurgery. Like a lot of these podcasts, they do start out as a mystery, or they have a big plot twist in the middle. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. Floella Brown went under Dr. Deaths knife in July 2012 and shortly after her surgery, she suffered a massive stroke caused by Duntsch slicing her vertebral artery during surgery. Joshua Jackson on Playing 'Dr. He was charming. [We wanted to profile] enough patients where it was established what he did and the pain he caused, but there was also a danger the only way I know to describe it is a sort of victim fatigue. It is good and healthy and natural and necessary for us to have other people and other perspectives, than just white men. Christopher Duntsch, the focus of Peacock's true crime series Dr. Death, looked good on paper. Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. I spoke to her by phone this week about the series itself, and about the challenges of working in a new medium. . Of course, podcast producers are subject to the same profit motive that helped facilitate a guy like Duntsch, but to their credit, Wonderys producers seem to have realized that a story like Dr. Deaths needed to be built on a foundation of solid reporting. For example, I never knew before I started this that I had such strong feelings about sound effects. He thinks he's the hero of this story. He graduated from a top-tier medical school, was running research labs, and completed a residency program for neurosurgery. The doctor denies doing anything wrong. 7 chilling thoughts of jailed neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch They did a lot of cutting to my script, because Im used to print where you can put a few more details in, and you can have a little more have other characters, or other names, or other information in, because when you are reading, if you miss it, you can just go back and check. Two patients died from his actions and many more suffered permanent injuries, including his best friend, who left Duntsch's operating room paralyzed. Those are the words that Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a Dallas neurosurgeon, wrote to his girlfriend in 2011 in the midst of a two-year period that left 33 of his 38 patients maimed, wounded or dead. Dr. Death season one review: a true crime podcast is even scarier - Vox What are the potential pitfalls for you as a reporter? It was the status, because his friend Rand Page, said that he actually never intended to be a neurosurgeon, that he was gonna work at this [stem cell treatment] company and make his fortune there. Coverage of Duntschs case, the podcast series and the now-streaming Peacock series all make sure to underscore that his story is part of a major systemic failurea common theme in true crime stories. Duntsch had his surgical rights temporarily suspended after his botched surgery on Summers and his first patient back was 55-year-old Kellie Martin. I think Patrickhe chose a very difficult path of how to tell this story, particularly by centering Duntsch. Because that one where he says that, Im God, Einstein, and I do what I want, but also I control things behind the scenes without anyone knowing in the same sentence that just cracked me up. In 2018, he filed for an appeal which was rejected by the court. It was a rambling note that touched on Duntsch's frustrations with his business and personal relationships. And now you have to have empathy for the people who are the victims of your central character. Its not just the story of Christopher Duntsch, its a story about the American healthcare system. Im not saying it was the systems fault. You can't justit doesn't come out wholly formed. Magazines, Digital Was that something that he knew? Duntsch declined a reporter's request for a jailhouse interview Tuesday. 'Sociopath' Surgeon Duntsch Arrested for Shoplifting Pants And that's only four years ago. At the same time, Duntsch was operating on another woman, and the staff in the room said they were unsure whether he was putting hardware in the right places and noticed he kept drilling and removing screws. That woman woke up in pain, unable to move. This position also granted him operating privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center (Baylor-Plano). I don't think anybody but Christopher Duntsch can answer that question. Follow her on Twitter at @lizlet. Well, thank you for your time. Death' Review: Joshua Jackson Is Terrific in Terrifying Peacock Series That's as Sharp as a Scalpel. And never when i not standing there. Heres what to know about Duntsch, what he did and how he was eventually stopped. And I had none of those things. Jodi Smith. But on the other hand, they knew you had to have certain sounds to make the experience really real for people, and really immersive. Patrick Macmanus also explains why the show's supporting characters were such a gift. Of course, a pediatrician couldnt have done as much damage. The show was Dr. Death, from Wondery, the same podcast production company that brought us Dirty John, last years thoroughly addictive series about a stalker/con artist who inserted himself into one Orange County family and nearly tore them apart. He had a very small but vitally important role. Right? And created all sorts of discussion and blowback inside the industry. The value of the doctors, right? I have to say, it was nice to do something different. I will say I'm a hundred percent hypochondriac. This was a very dangerous story for somebody like me to delve into. Christopher Duntsch - Wikipedia Philip Mayfield, one of Christopher Duntschs patients, who was paralyzed after his surgery. A new four-part docuseries from Peacock premiering July 29, called Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story, peers inside the torturous crimes of Duntsch, featuring chilling stories from victims and coworkers who saw the killer surgeon in action and were forever harmed as a result. And also, to let the tape tell as much of the story as possible. That would be my guess. So what it meant for the particulars of our show is that we had three excellent directors. Christopher Duntschs late friend and victim, Jerry Summers, claimed Dr. Death gave him his first hit of acid.. Right? In the Canadian system, you go for care first, and then you pay a couple of times a year into the system. Dr. Death is a new true-crime series on Peacock about the story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? The one where EW follows up with the cast. Those are the words that Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a Dallas neurosurgeon, wrote to his girlfriend in 2011 in the midst of a two-year period that left 33 of his 38 patients maimed, wounded or. We need to actually reform them. So my follow-up question to that is how has the show changed your relationship to going to the doctor? Theres a lot of attorneys not allowing things in this story it seems like. Death.. Yeah, and I listened to it twice, happily. Before that, Naomi was a criminal justice reporter in Dallas, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Dr. Death executive producer explains how Christopher Duntsch could Who Is Wendy Young, The Mother Of Christopher Duntsch's Children, And Both the scripted Dr. Death series and the Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story docuseries are now streaming on Peacock. Dr. Death begins streaming today on Peacock. Duntsch, 44, is being held inthe Dallas County Jail on $600,000 bail on charges involving the death of one patient and the injuring of four others. 'When They See Us': Joshua Jackson, Blair Underwood & Christopher Jackson on the Netflix Limited Series, 'Dr. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. And its all because of one surgeon named Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. He was putting stuff in the wrong place. Ive been writing in print for a long time, so I really enjoyed the chance to do something different. Duntschs career started off bright. Yeah, hopefully even just asking that question today almost feels a little bit dated. Over this period, Duntsch performed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition, paralyzed, or deceased. Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story starts streaming on Peacock Thursday, July 29. I can't think of a more enormous responsibility than trying to find an actor to play that role. The value of the institutions was placed above the value of the patients. I'm happy to be a part of a show that is redressing the failure of creative imagination that has placed a female director as some other thing, rather than a director, meaning a male director. Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971) [1] is a former American neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death [2] for gross malpractice resulting in the maiming of several patients' spines and two deaths while working at hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. This attitude and outlook stuck with Duntsch as he set out to achieve something beyond football and landed on surgery. I am ready to leave the love and kindness and goodness and patience that I mix with everything else that I am and become a cold blooded killer. Duntsch was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Right? I do believe he was born as a narcissistic sociopath. Over the course of two years, Christopher Duntsch operated on 38 patients in the Dallas area. Yeah. And so, one of the overriding things is that when he was at a hospital and it would become apparent how incompetent he was, the hospital would let him go, but they wouldnt do it in such a way that would warn everybody else. But in reality, you don't see a whole lot until the finale. Right? The day that Brown suffered her stroke, Duntsch operated again. So it really came down to the reporting and the telling of the story itself. Nurse who worked with Dr. Duntsch recalls his experiences - YouTube But those graphic descriptions are only in the first episode, because you had to know. Basically someone listened to Dirty John who knew about the story of Christopher Duntsch emailed in and said, Hey, you should get a load of this guy. Because he had gotten a lot of local media attention, but I dont think he was getting huge national attention. So what's scarier to me is, it's not that the systems broke down, it's that they actually operated mostly as they're supposed to. Planes crash because lots of smaller things go wrong at the same time. That made it easy for him to hide from his past for a certain period of time. Tulsa Hospital Shooting Suspect Was a Patient Who Had Recent Back Surgery and Targeted His Doctor: Cops, One Brother Was a Hero, One Was a Serial Killer: New Docuseries Explores the Stayner Family's Plight. And then the rest were injuries. Summers is a former patient of Christopher Duntsch, who was nicknamed "Dr. Death." Duntsch is serving a life sentence in prison after killing and maiming more than 30 patients while working in the . Naysha Lopez hilariously previews 'fashion' and 'some ugly stuff' on, Kandy Muse will be 'the main character' of. Duntsch's criminal defense attorney claims her client made honest mistakes while performing risky surgeries. She is also a produced playwright, a host of podcasts, and a repository of "X-Files" trivia. Some people woke up paralyzed; others emerged from anesthesia to permanent pain from nerve damage. Death' Gets Life in Prison for Botched Surgery, How Other Doctors Tried and Failed to Stop Texas' 'Dr. And that's frankly what I found so compelling about the character is that it's not easy. That's something that I think the show captures really well, especially when it comes to bringing you into the worlds of the patient. The intent of the writing was to leave it sort of an open question for audiences to draw from it as they saw. The trial of Dr. Christopher Duntsch in Texas was one of those most surprising revelations in the past few years. I think Ava is the first person to have a completely female directed show on Queen Sugar. And so, thats really what I zeroed in on, the whole systemic failure that allowed this to happen. Well, if you want to just put in there that after the first episode its a lot less gruesome. There, other surgeons quickly realized their new colleague was not just arrogant about his abilities but an actual danger to his patients as the casualties began adding up. Dr. Death executive producer explains how Christopher Duntsch could have avoided prison The charismatic neurosurgeon was actually a successful researcher before he starting killing people in the. He was a phenomenal partner right up until the pandemic hit and we got shut down. Planes dont crash because one big thing goes wrong. Were there some that you were trying to avoid sounding like. He decided hed be a neurosurgeon and was not going to let anything, including lack of skill or training, stop him in his quest. One lucky person actually improved. Stars of 'Tiger King' : Where Are They Now? In 2013, things came to a tragic head. Dr. Death in surgery. Dr. Mark Hoyle, a surgeon who worked with Duntsch during one of his botched procedures, told D Magazine that he would make extremely arrogant announcements such as: Everybody is doing it wrong. Duntsch focused on his research for a while but was recruited from Memphis to join the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute in North Dallas in the summer of 2011. By the time the Texas Medical Board revoked his license in June 2013, Duntsch had left two patients dead. Because whether it be a hospital network, whether it be a medical board, whether it be the legal system, it doesn't actually place the little guy first. So we were bouncing around quite a lot. I did talk to as many of his high school friends as I could. 'Dr Death' Stars Share Why They Think Christopher Duntsch - TheWrap If convicted, he faces up to life in prison. So yes, there are definitely heroes in the story. The rambling, four-page email,sent Dec. 9, 2011, to an employee with whom Duntsch had a "personal relationship," has been submitted as evidence in Duntsch's criminal case. Beil is a journalist who has specialized in science and medical writing for 20 years, and lives in the Dallas area where much of Christopher Duntschs story takes place. But the path to that point was a long one made difficult by the systems put in place to protect doctors and the institutions they work for, not the patients. So we had all of the tools at our disposal. It was for sure, a team effort, and it was a good team. Dr. If people come away from the show saying, "We don't know who Christopher Duntsch was," that was the intent, right? Yeah, I mean, what strikes me about it so much is that, you can see that, and you can also see why we need systems that clearly weren't working in this case. I listened to this with some friends at one point, and there was a lot of cringing at the medical butchery descriptions. I just need to be able to do it. And he was able to explain away why he had left Baylor, and they looked at the National Practitioner data bank and there was nothing there, because Baylor hadnt reported him. We went into a mode of trying to figure out how to fill those shoes. Death': "He Thinks He's the Hero of This Story", So when it comes to the question of how he was able to get away with it for so long, that involves a lot of breaking down the administrative and legal aspects that keep a doctor like him in a position of doctoring. My instinct was that the only way, that this man has to be evil, because there has to be a reason why all of this spectacularly bad stuff happened and the simplest and easiest answers he's evil. D MagazineChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. To establish that Duntschs disastrous work had been a part of a longtime pattern, prosecutors brought several of his former patients on the stand to testify about their experiences. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles. I dont know, but that would be my guess. Duntsch received his undergraduate degree from the University of Memphis and stayed in town to receive an M.D. I had seen Josh in When They See Us. Prior to serving as Senior TV Editor at Collider, her work had been published by Vulture, Variety, The AV Club, The Hollywood Reporter, IGN, The Verge, and Thought Catalog. Duntsch, better known today as "Dr. Death," moved to Dallas in 2010 with impressive qualifications. I couldve done more, like, the actual surgical details, but listening to it with other people, I could see how youd want to leave some of that out. No. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Despite being known in Texas as a doctor to avoid (at least among professional peers), and despite a report to the data bank and an investigation into his cases by the state medical board, Duntsch continued to be hired. According to Megan Kane, an ex-girlfriend of one of Duntschs friends, she saw him eat a paper blotter of LSD and take prescription painkillers on his birthday. Before working with him, Dr. Hoyle said that he didnt know how to feel about his fellow surgeon. Its just that I figured the listeners would sort of get it, that he was really bad, and he ruined a lot of peoples lives. Offers may be subject to change without notice. And the medical board was the only ones that could really stop him, but they didnt know. Joshua Jackson on Not Playing Dr. Death as an Evil Man I think the systems were working. She was a National . The legal system will protect themselves. It would be easy to say he is a psychopath who was doing all of this on purpose, because that's easy for us to wrap our brains around, right? How many of them struck you funny? The star of the new Peacock drama revealed how he got inside the head of the notorious Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Here, Macmanus talks about how he first discovered the ghastly true story behind Dr. Death which stars Joshua Jackson and drops today on Peacock -- and whether he thinks Duntsch is truly crazy. But I started listening to a whole lot more podcasts after. Duntsch agreed by voicemail to an interview for this story on Wednesday, but did not return subsequent calls for comment. We're moving in the right direction. He shared: We were like 19 years old, I remember we were driving down the road, and he was like, You wanna take a hit of acid., And I was like, Yeah, Ill take a hit of acid with you. And we popped, hit acid., Jerry revealed: I had never taken a hit of acid before. Prior to serving as Senior TV Editor at Collider, her work had been published by Vulture, Variety, The AV Club, The Hollywood Reporter, IGN, The Verge, and Thought Catalog. She was a National Magazine Award finalist in 2016 and in 2018 won the Victor Cohen Prize for medical science reporting. Eventually, they indicted Duntsch on five counts of aggravated assault and one count of causing harm to an elderly person. Dr. Death in surgery. So it has to be taught through generations. And then I believe it absolutely became a full-blown fire when he went through school and went through the different hospitals, administrations that he went through because he wasn't stopped. Well, let me think for a second. So the training craft is being downloaded to a new generation of people whose faces look much more diverse than just a bunch of me-s. And that's good, but we're not there yet. One conversation in Peacocks first episode of Dr. Death sums up the confusion many felt at watching Duntsch work: It was like he knew what he was supposed to do and he did the exact opposite.. Right? By the time we get to Jeff Glidewell, its horrible. How does a doctor get away with something like this? In February 2012, he went under the knife for an elective spinal fusion surgery. Death' Review: Joshua Jackson Is Terrific in Terrifying Peacock Series That's as Sharp as a Scalpel. Determined to play football for a Division I college team, Duntsch dedicated himself to training while in high school. Dr Death Christopher Duntsch's late patient Jerry Summers claims killer I didnt really expect that one to create quite such a reaction. He was affable. Even worse, some of the patients never got the chance to wake up. You have to be spare and selective with the details. When he woke up, he was a quadriplegic with incomplete paralysis. But depositions from Duntschs peers who knew him around that time period, between 2006 and 2008, point to cracks in the facade. We're certainly not there yet. She also said that he kept a pile of cocaine on his dresser in his home office. He wanted to be the one that was front and center and really out there. Its lucrative for the hospital. Scheduling just got in the way there. He was then sent to a program for impaired physicians and still allowed to complete his surgical trainingthough how thorough the training was is unclear. He was even part of a group that founded the biopharmaceutical company Discgenicswhich focuses on developing regenerative cell-based therapies to help with painand brought on two of his mentors in surgery as investors. Where Is Dr. Death Now? - Here's Where Christopher Duntsch Is Today in 2021 JOSHUA JACKSON: Well, the first key and probably the most difficult hurdle for me to get over was to not judge him. Well, the whole email thats coming up in episode three Its hard to pick out because it just goes on and on. Right? I wanted to make it easy for myself. 'Grey's Anatomy' Cast: Where Are They Now? Paying Tribute to the Celebrities Who Have Died in 2023, The True Story Behind Netflix's 'The Good Nurse', The True Story Behind Hulu's 'Welcome to Chippendales'. He's a psychopath. Only years later would the Dallas district attorneys office discover through a search of hospital records that although a typical neurosurgery resident completes about 1,000 operations during their training, Duntsch had actually done fewer than 100. How much of his crazy emails and phone messages did you have to throw out in order to focus on the main story? So really for us, we're in a place where we're actually conscious of it, but the industry still has time to go. As long as I could do the reporting and the writing, they were willing to show me the rest, and it worked out great. Laura Beil Interview: Dr. Death Reporter On Christopher Duntsch - UPROXX And so, in the end, I did have to trust them, and I do. "I am ready to leave the love and kindness and goodness and patience that I mix with everything else that I am and become a cold blooded killer.". The patient Duntsch operated on continues to walk with a cane and lives with chronic pain. Some are on the tape, some are not, just for space reasons. Dr. Death was fired before the end of his first week for the damage hed inflicted on Brown and Efurd. And so, the producers started Googling and decided that he would make a good story, and then they contacted me because they were looking for a local reporter in Dallas who could work on the story. What do you think are some of the contributing factors? Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater join the cast as two doctors who try to stop Duntsch from causing further harm. And then there were comments that he made himself on the Dallas Observer article [about him]. I can tell you that, with the intention of allowing audiences to come to their own conclusions, my conclusion is that Christopher is an extraordinarily complex and tragic figure. Right? So for those of us at just the human level who are interacting with them, we have to realize that we don't just need the systems that have been created to operate better. Were you in the car listening to the podcast on the way to the grocery store and you said, 'Oh my God, I've got to make a limited series out of this?'. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. At first I thought it was simply my world and that it was too much for you. But it ominously preceded Duntsch's short, and deadly career as a neurosurgeon in Texas, where prosecutors say he botched 33 of his 38 surgeries in less than two years. When he arrived in Dallas in late 2010, Duntsch's resume spoke of a skilled neurosurgeon: An M.D. He is serving his sentence at the O.B. So, yeah, I think the fact that he was in a profession that brings in a lot of money for hospitals was certainly a factor. And you know, the hope and dream is that the generation that comes up behind me, it seems inconsequential whether it's all women, all men or a blend of something in the both. But theres one lucky person who escaped, you know? Dr. Death is not a show that you should consider watching right before your next trip to the doctor's office. And it isn't like cops taking down one of their own. "In my opinion, we had a serial killer in our medical community," Dr. Randall Kirby says of Christopher Duntsch in "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story." In "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story," a new docuseries streaming now on Peacock, the victims who were . I will not insult our writers when I say that because they elevated everything, but it's one of those stories that you have to be particularly bad to mess up, right? Death.'. The pair were childhood friends and eventually became roommates. It mightve taken longer. Kirby, along with Dr. Robert Henderson (played in the series by Alec Baldwin), a spine surgeon who had been called in to fix Duntschs mistakes, were among the physicians who reported and attempted to stop him. And that disconnect from reality, I found really compelling. Here are seven chilling statements from that email: Unfortunately, you cannot understand that I really am building an empire, and I am so far outside the box that the earth is small and the sun is bright. There are a lot of explanations proposed for why the real-life subject of Peacock's "Dr. Death" limited series, neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Joshua Jackson), maimed and. Thats why planes dont crash that often. And so there was no world where they were going to let him speak to me. Christopher, known as Dr Death, was Jerry's friend and the surgeon who performed the botched operation on him in 2011 Credit: Dallas County Sheriff's office The four-part docuseries features old footage and new interviews to tell more of the story about the neurosurgeon who was sentenced to prison after maiming or killing more than 30 patients.
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