Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. Christopher Duntschs late friend and victim, Jerry Summers, claimed Dr. Death gave him his first hit of acid.. Naomi is an enterprise/ investigative reporter who has covered Dallas County government, Parkland Memorial Hospital, juvenile detention and the county jail. I needed to establish its not just that he was a little bit bad, he was horrible. His resume included a combined MD/PhD program and neurosurgical residency at The University of Tennessee at Memphis College of Medicine and was bolstered by a prestigious spine surgery fellowship in the city, a research patent under his name and published academic papers. 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. And the medical board was the only ones that could really stop him, but they didnt know. Because how can I do anything I want and cross every discipline boundary like its a playground and never ever lose. Death' Based on a Shocking True Story, Joshua Jackson Becomes a Dangerous 'Sociopath' Surgeon in 'Dr. But that was probably the one thing that was hardest for me to get used to was that balance between my wanting spare sound effects and their wanting to make a good podcast. RELATED: Joshua Jackson on Playing 'Dr. It's a complicated plank that he tried to walk. (An exclusive trailer is shown below.). I did talk to as many of his high school friends as I could. When Josh and I had our first conversation, he said to me from the beginning, 'I've got to figure out how to approach this character without any judgment. Because Im on there clearly, but when you can tell it through the tape, its so much better. So the Canadian system is very different than the American system. He is serving his sentence at the O.B. He had 15 years of medical training under his belt, his CV reportedly spanned 12 single-spaced pages and he exuded confidence all of which landed him a job performing minimally invasive spinal surgeries. I can't think of a more enormous responsibility than trying to find an actor to play that role. Christopher Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison in February 2017 for his heinous acts. Right? Duntsch received his undergraduate degree from the University of Memphis and stayed in town to receive an M.D. Other patients who went to Duntsch had similar experiences: entering the operating room with the expectation of relieving a great burden and waking up to an even worse reality. And thankfully, knock on wood, I've never had some spectacularly horrific outcome, like Christopher Duntsch, but I grew up in Canada and I'm Canadian. Right? And that's frankly what I found so compelling about the character is that it's not easy. In the meantime, prosecutors were working with Kirby and Henderson to find a way to indict Duntscha challenge, considering Texas had never previously handled such a case. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. JACKSON: I mean, I think, leaving aside our show, it means that finally the industry as a whole is starting to redress some of the failures of imagination that have led us into a predominantly male, predominantly white-dominated creative industry. Yeah, that was a concern. We need to actually reform them. Dr. Death is not a show that you should consider watching right before your next trip to the doctor's office. The medical boards will protect themselves. He was a phenomenal partner right up until the pandemic hit and we got shut down. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Duntsch, sentenced to life in prison in February 2017, is believed to be the first surgeon sentenced to go to prison for a botched surgery, according to USA Today. Dirty John would seem hard to top the story of a psychotic con-man who spent his days playing Counter Strike, posing as a doctor and telling fake war stories. And that wasnt a manufactured thing. Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months as a practicing surgeon at multiple Texas hospitals until he had his license revoked in 2013. The next question is how he was able to continue performing surgeries even as he butchered patient after patient. This thrilling drama is based on a hit podcast of the same. And I had none of those things. I have to figure out how to humanize this guy.'. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action Little Mermaid with a new generation's Ariel. Former Texas Neurosurgeon 'Dr. Death' Christopher Duntsch Subject Of Documentary, TV Miniseries CBSDFW 20K views 1 year ago 'Dr. Death,' The Neurosurgeon Who Left Patients Maimed Inside Edition. And then there were comments that he made himself on the Dallas Observer article [about him]. Death. Do you think at some point he came to the conclusion that he really was a horrible surgeon, or do you think to this day he thinks everybody else is wrong? And by doing that, then you also bring in his patients. 7 chilling thoughts of jailed neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, Pete DeBoer says Stars have one key trait shared by championship-caliber teams, Mass shooting in Cleveland, Texas; manhunt underway: What we know, Rangers, Josh Jung combine balanced approach with aggression in rout of Yankees, Willie Nelson makes music with his friends at 90th birthday concert, Search area widened for Texas suspect after 5 killed following complaint about gunfire, Motley Fool: United Rentals stock a good investment for the long term, Rossman: You can buy an over-the-air DVR for less than $50, Southwest Airlines unveils another jet dedicated to a U.S. state, Government report blames airlines for most flight cancellations, High bar vs. picky buyer: How Pioneer and Exxon execs view Permian Basin tie-ups, How Dallas video game icon Randy Pitchford became the new owner of Hollywoods Magic Castle, Stars to face Kraken as Seattle defeats Avalanche, eliminates defending Stanley Cup champs, Cowboys 2023 undrafted free agent tracker: See which players Dallas added after NFL draft, Stanley Cup playoff central: Second-round schedule, stories Dallas Stars fans need to know, 5 things to know about Cowboys CB Eric Scott Jr., including his freakish athletic tools. 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. I dont know, but that would be my guess. For you, coming at it with the job of trying to dramatize this story, what was key to approaching that? 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. ", "You, my child, are the only one between me and the other side. I don't believe that anybody in any of the administrations were actively trying to encourage this man to do what he did. But theres one lucky person who escaped, you know? So we had all of the tools at our disposal. By the time we get to Jeff Glidewell, its horrible. I think Ava is the first person to have a completely female directed show on Queen Sugar. So, while I wish that the administrations acted sooner, at the end of the day, and this is something that I've said for quite a bit now, Christopher Duntsch deserves to be in jail for the rest of his life, because how he acted was completely inhuman and any human that had that ability to feel would have stopped after the first or second surgeries. 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. In this case, Duntsch remained a popular hire in part because neurosurgeons bring more revenue to the hospitals they work for than nearly any other medical specialty, and officials are unlikely to second-guess a candidate with stellar credentials and recommendations. What can I find out about this guy? Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. 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. Duntsch took careful steps to put across the image of a hardworking, competent and caring person and doctor. and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee Health Center. One, since the [Mary] Efurd case in the one that eventually goes on trial, I thought it was important to know what happened in that case, so thats one. Prior to his death earlier this year, Jerry discussed his relationship with Christopher in a new interview for Peacocks Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story. The Peacock limited series, based on the Wondery podcast, covers the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Joshua Jackson ), whose surgical career ruined the lives of numerous. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. When he arrived in Dallas in late 2010, Duntsch's resume spoke of a skilled neurosurgeon: An M.D. Duntsch was offered a $600,000 advance and a temporary suite in a luxury hotel to come to Dallas while the couple searched for a new home in Plano, according to a 2018 "Dr. Death" podcast, which inspired the Peacock series. Christophers baby mama Wendy Young described him and Jerry as the party boys, and Jerry described just how true that was. Those were way more telling than the emails, I thought, because if you just read through those you get kind of a look into his mind. And so, he was an attractive hire. Dr. Death was fired before the end of his first week for the damage hed inflicted on Brown and Efurd. The True Story Behind Peacock's 'Dr. Death' | Time Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com. And theyre great at Wondery, and theyre really good at doing what they do. How many of them struck you funny? The best of these series retain the lurid appeal of the news magazine while offering the opportunity to go deeper; to tell stories that resonate as much as they titillate. So, he would have the title of neurosurgeon, but he wouldnt actually have to do surgery. I could only go as far back as his Memphis days, so I did go back to Memphis, and I did talk to quite a few people who knew him in high school. She is also a produced playwright, a host of podcasts, and a repository of "X-Files" trivia. ProPublica reports that Duntsch resigned voluntarily in April 2012. Martin would become Duntschs first casualty when she bled out in intensive care unit after her relatively common procedure. Naysha Lopez hilariously previews 'fashion' and 'some ugly stuff' on, Kandy Muse will be 'the main character' of. Heres what to know about Duntsch, what he did and how he was eventually stopped. Duntsch moved on fairly quickly, to the Dallas Medical Center, where officials allowed him to begin operating while they conducted his reference checkswhich ended in disaster. Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. He might have been fired from the Institute but was still a surgeon at Baylor Plano. Dr. Death: Patrick Macmanus on Understanding Christopher Duntsch Like a lot of these podcasts, they do start out as a mystery, or they have a big plot twist in the middle. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater team up to take down a dangerous surgeon in, Joshua Jackson replaces Jamie Dornan in Peacock's, Dr. Death review: Joshua Jackson is chilling. Death' Review: Joshua Jackson Is Terrific in Terrifying Peacock Series That's as Sharp as a Scalpel. Well, thank you for your time. 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. Duntschs substance abuse was brought to the attention of the University of Tennessee following an anonymous complaint that he was doing drugs before work. Right? [3] Planes dont crash because one big thing goes wrong. In order to tell the story they hired Laura Beil as the lead reporter. I can tell you that I do believe that he was a product of nature, nurture and the system that enabled him to be able to do what he did. 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. I didnt take them as funny, I took them as really creepy though. I had an urge to do that very early in the process. In America, health is a service. Some are on the tape, some are not, just for space reasons. And that was a revolutionary act. Laura Beil Interview: Dr. Death Reporter On Christopher Duntsch - UPROXX When I listened to the podcast, when I got into the conversation with Patrick Macmanus, when he gave me all the research material, I so wanted to make him evil. Christophers late childhood best friend added: Chris was very intrigued with a lot of the stuff going on in my life. Death' First Trailer, The Best TV Shows on Amazon Prime Video to Stream Now. The one where EW follows up with the cast. Death' Review: Joshua Jackson Is Terrific in Terrifying Peacock Series That's as Sharp as a Scalpel, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Characters Ranked by Likeability, 10 Sitcoms With Content That Hasn't Aged Well, 'Baby J' Doesn't Show Us the Real John Mulaney and That's a Good Thing. But there was so much that came together. How much of a factor is a for-profit medical system in helping this to happen? Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Theres a different crew at Dallas Medical Center now, but you have to think that the reason his hiring was fast-tracked was because, you know, he was a neurosurgeon and he told the administrator, Yeah, and Ive got a bunch of patients who are ready for surgery. And so, thats really what I zeroed in on, the whole systemic failure that allowed this to happen. surgeries in Dallas and Plano in 2012 and 2013, killing or maiming up to 15 patients. The former neurosurgeon is currently serving a life sentence for the maiming of Mary Efurd, one of. We went out of our way to let your imagination do the work. But the actuality is, is that these hospitals will protect themselves. I wanted to make it easy for myself. Did you feel a need to go talk to Christopher Duntsch in prison? Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. I wanted to talk to his father, and his father indicated that he did want to, but his appellate attorney wouldnt allow that for reasons that I dont understand. And, that is something that I've talked about dating back three years ago I don't want to undermine whatever modicum of talent that I brought to the table, I definitely don't want to undermine our writers because if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have the show that we have, but it was, in many ways, a ready baked-in story, right? 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. Were there some that you were trying to avoid sounding like. I didnt want listeners to grow tired of peoples pain. I think that it would do a disservice to the story to try to find the pretty pink bow to tie on the story, to let people know how this creature could possibly be. It doesn't place the patient or the victim at the front, it protects the institution first and then somewhere down the line comes the patient. So I think that's a totally valid question and I'm happy to be a part of now several shows that have been part of moving in that direction, but the feet needed to be held to the fire so that we don't slide back. Dr. Death executive producer explains how Christopher Duntsch could I am somebody who adores the genre of horror. Right? In 2018, he filed for an appeal which was rejected by the court. So the outcomes are totally evil, and it is unconscionable that this man was allowed to continue to create this much chaos and pain in people's lives. You just reminded me, that was another danger that we were really grappling with. All Rights Reserved. The charismatic neurosurgeon was actually a successful researcher before he starting killing people in the operating room. After this, life for Duntsch fell apart. Creator/Executive Producer Patrick Macmanus (Homecoming, Happy) knew he had a ready-made hit in Dr. Death when he first learned the story of Christopher Duntsch, the Texas neurosurgeon who permanently maimed and killed patients during routine procedures. I was gifted the opportunity to tell it. 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 Duntsch's story takes place. Kyler Alvord leads PEOPLE's politics coverage as a news editor for the brand. Their efforts to stop him, as documented both in the podcast and show, take a long time, as Duntsch moves between hospitals and continues injuring patients. Duntsch was not reported to either the data bank or the Texas Medical Board, preventing him from being tracked as he continued his career elsewhere in the state. It profiles a spine surgeon named Christopher Duntsch, who operated on 38 people, 33 of whom were left either dead or with some form of permanent paralysis. But those graphic descriptions are only in the first episode, because you had to know. I believe that it was an outgrowth of the fact that by the time these administrations caught up with what he was doing, they had already moved him on. You have these compelling heroes in Henderson and Kirby that are unlike, in my opinion, unlike other quote-unquote "heroes" in the true crime space, because these are two who are taking down one of their own. She came in to have two vertebrae fused, but when she woke up she experienced severe pain and couldnt stand. So my follow-up question to that is how has the show changed your relationship to going to the doctor? I think his upbringing fanned the flames of that sociopathy and that narcissism. Victim of Real-Life 'Dr. Death' Believes There Are Others Like Him Out 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. And so there was no world where they were going to let him speak to me. "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.". For months, they stopped getting reports about messed up operations and thought theyd found success. When we are alone, my love for you will let you do so because that is your nature. Christopher Duntsch was allowed to keep on moving because he himself represented value in the specialty that he was in, in frankly, the face that he presented, he was valuable to these institutions. Magazines, Digital Now, INSDE EDTION tracks the surgeon down to get some answers. 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. They dont want to go participate in any extraneous activities, and he was totally fine going to work.. Later, following another accusation that he was abusing drugs before doing surgeries, Duntsch was relegated to mostly minor surgical procedures at the hospital. While he did make it on to a couple of college teamsone in Mississippi and one in Coloradoformer teammates said he had trouble keeping up in practice but would plead with coaches to let him keep trying. Over the course of two years, Christopher Duntsch operated on 38 patients in the Dallas area. 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. After several more months of botched surgeries, Duntsch finally lost his surgical privileges altogether in June 2013 after two physicians complained to the Texas Medical Board. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. I was really lucky that the first people to ever call me up and say, Do you want to make a podcast? were really good at it. And the American system, I often find myself having to remind myself that in the American system that the money comes first before the care. And so, they wouldnt report him, so there wasnt a paper trail. There was one. Death' Gets Life in Prison for Botched Surgery, How Other Doctors Tried and Failed to Stop Texas' 'Dr. What storytelling tools did you discover from working in a podcast format that you didnt have before, or maybe didnt think about before? The Real Story Behind the Dr. Death Podcast - Christopher Duntsch KEEP READING: 'Dr. A former coworker, Dr. Randall Kirby (played by Christian Slater in the Peacock series), said he watched Duntsch botch a relatively simple procedure by refusing to use a scalpel to remove a disk, instead using a different instrument that ended up causing more damage. From 2011 to 2013, dozens of patients in the Dallas area woke up after their surgeries with horrible pain, numbness and, paralysis. Fact Check: Was Dr. Oz Responsible for Cruelly Experimenting on Dogs? He stayed in New York while everyone else went home. He's a psychopath. Duntsch declined a reporter's request for a jailhouse interview Tuesday. 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. These are doctors who didn't sign up to become heroes, right? But there would be certain things that I would hear and like and not like. I'm going to answer it in a couple of different ways. Had he explored his research and stayed in that lane and never gone to operate, we'd be talking about him in an entirely different fashion today. No. Actually, one thing you asked about, the pitfalls. But on the other hand, they knew you had to have certain sounds to make the experience really real for people, and really immersive. Out July 15, Dr. Death introduces viewers to Christopher Duntsch, a real-life Texas-based surgeon who in 2017 was sentenced to life in prison after maiming and even killing almost all of the. The trial of Dr. Christopher Duntsch in Texas was one of those most surprising revelations in the past few years. So, tell me about the genesis of Dr. Death, and how it grew out of Dirty John. I do believe he was born as a narcissistic sociopath. 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. Kirby, who called the operation an attempted murder, and Henderson, both annoyed by the slow pace of the states investigation, ramped up their efforts to strip Duntsch of his practicing rights. By 2013, he had bounced around between hospitals, tarnished his reputation and had his medical license revoked. RELATED: 'When They See Us': Joshua Jackson, Blair Underwood & Christopher Jackson on the Netflix Limited Series. Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater join the cast as two doctors who try to stop Duntsch from causing further harm. While the state of modern journalism can often seem pretty dire, investigative, serialized podcast series stand out as one of todays few bright spots, one of the last places you can still find people willing to pay for good reporting. Dr. Death in surgery. The doctor denies doing anything wrong. Like, I could hear the people around me reacting. Left: WFAA-TV, Right: D MagazineLeft: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. Well, let me think for a second. And so, in the end, I did have to trust them, and I do. So, ask the producers. So what it meant for the particulars of our show is that we had three excellent directors. 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. 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? 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. And so, I think if you translate that to his desire to always want to be on top and to always want to be the most prestigious, I would guess that, that had probably more to do with it than the money. His very first operation at the hospital would once again turn deadly. From the very start, before there were any writers and before I'd even written the pilot episode, I had said to the studio that if you are asking me to answer the question of why Christopher Duntsch is the way that he is, I will never give you that answer.
Nicktoons Schedule 2013,
Rochester Brunch House Dress Code,
Articles C