According to Summers, he first met Duntsch in junior high school in Tennessee when they both played football together and remembered him being a "real smart" and "hard-working guy." As an undergraduate in college, Duntsch even lived with Summers and Summers' grandmother. That was the thing that people around me were really reacting to. 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. I know youve done this for a long time, but what are some of the things you have to be careful about in reporting a story like this? Does that make sense? So we were bouncing around quite a lot. 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. He was intelligent. 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. It's a complicated plank that he tried to walk. Death' Review: Joshua Jackson Is Terrific in Terrifying Peacock Series That's as Sharp as a Scalpel. The Peacock limited series Dr. Death is in many ways much more a horror story than a drama, but the villain at its center is all too real. 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. Duntsch's criminal defense attorney claims her client made honest mistakes while performing risky surgeries. and a Ph.D. from a top-tier medical school, a decade of experience, and a central role in a pioneering stem-cell treatment. Duntsch, hes an outlier for sure, but he exposed a lot of larger truths about the healthcare system. Yeah, hopefully even just asking that question today almost feels a little bit dated. 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. Right? 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. Duntschs career started off bright. Joshua Jackson as Christopher Duntsch in 'Dr. Hes cutting arteries. The star of the new Peacock drama revealed how he got inside the head of the notorious Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Right? Everything You Need To Know About Dr. The doctor denies doing anything wrong. Dr. Christopher Duntsch had the hallmarks of an impressive neurosurgeon, at least in theory. So what it meant for the particulars of our show is that we had three excellent directors. 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. Heres what to know about Duntsch, what he did and how he was eventually stopped. 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. Life After "Death": Lethal Surgeon Sentenced to PrisonWATCH NEXT: Former patient of Dr. Duntsch discusses botched surgery (1 of 5) https://youtu.be/9JwAnjnDs. surgeries in Dallas and Plano in 2012 and 2013, killing or maiming up to 15 patients. But from the inside, he sees himself as the victim of circumstance. 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 sad fact is that I would go faster do better and catch more respect and honor by f***ing every one in the brain, emotionally and mentally controlling them in a manner that borders on abuse, taking no prisoners, and sending everyone in my way, and especially that f***s with me to hell for the simple fact that they thought they could much less tried, 1 week and then everything unraveled. She came in to have two vertebrae fused, but when she woke up she experienced severe pain and couldnt stand. or were you like, "No, we should push it further, we should make this really clear?". I have to say, it was nice to do something different. Many in the crowd wore the custom eye masks wed been given, to add to the audio immersion effect. 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. No, for me, I love that stuff. 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. Per the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Duntsch will be eligible for parole on July 20, 2045, when he is 74 years old. The docuseries is a real-life companion piece to Peacock's scripted crime drama, Dr. Death, which premiered this summer. 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. Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. A CT scan would later reveal that Efurds nerve root had been amputated, there were several screw holes nowhere near where they were supposed to be, and one screw had been lodged in another nerve root. By 2013, he had bounced around between hospitals, tarnished his reputation and had his medical license revoked. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action Little Mermaid with a new generation's Ariel. And what happened after shows how Duntsch was able to continue working as a surgeon in Texas, despite the trail of broken trust, chronic pain and death he left behind. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. The former doctor will not be eligible for parole until 2045 when he will be 74 years old. He is absolutely a narcissistic sociopath. I didnt really expect that one to create quite such a reaction. 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.. The charismatic neurosurgeon was actually a successful researcher before he starting killing people in the operating room. In the Canadian system, you go for care first, and then you pay a couple of times a year into the system. And the medical board was the only ones that could really stop him, but they didnt know. So really for us, we're in a place where we're actually conscious of it, but the industry still has time to go. But on the other hand, they knew you had to have certain sounds to make the experience really real for people, and really immersive. However, things soon went south. Im really appreciative to the producers for even entertaining the discussions with me as much as they did, because lets be honest, I dont know anything about making a podcast. Coupled with the slow pace of the investigation the Texas Medical Board conducted, Duntsch was basically allowed to wreak havoc wherever he went until he was brought to a final stop. Its not just about what happened, but how did this occur? [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. But at the end of 2012, Kirby was called to help yet another patient whod had her vocal cords and an artery cut during a neck surgerya surgery he discovered had been done by Duntsch at another clinic. 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. 'When They See Us': Joshua Jackson, Blair Underwood & Christopher Jackson on the Netflix Limited Series, 'Dr. I have to confess, I had not listened to Dirty John before they called me. Duntschs substance abuse was brought to the attention of the University of Tennessee following an anonymous complaint that he was doing drugs before work. But perhaps more terrifying, the show depicts the chilling real-life story of Dallas-area neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who stands accused of killing or maiming more than 30 patients in the 2010s. 'Grey's Anatomy' Cast: Where Are They Now? So we shot the episodes in three different bricks. And I need to think of it, not as a patient, but as a customer, which is a very difficult thing because you're in an extremely vulnerable place anytime you're interacting with the medical system. So, theyre not as bad. We're moving in the right direction. Death' Gets Life in Prison for Botched Surgery, How Other Doctors Tried and Failed to Stop Texas' 'Dr. Crucially, as is recounted in careful detail in the podcast, in part because of the voluntary exit, Baylor-Plano was not required to report Duntschs actions to the National Practitioner Data Bank, a resource medical professionals and hospital administrators use to track which doctors have been fired, suspended, had their licenses revoked or have had to make malpractice payments. Kane also recalled a cocaine- and LSD-fueled night of partying between her, her ex-boyfriend, and Duntsch where, after the end of their all-night party, she saw Duntsch put on his lab coat and go to work. Well, it was a team effort. Because Im on there clearly, but when you can tell it through the tape, its so much better. Did you feel a need to go talk to Christopher Duntsch in prison? She was transferred to another hospital and died. Death, The New Terrifying Podcast About A Criminally Inept Spine Surgeon, The Best Coachella 2023 Performances Were Reflections Of Pure Joy, My (Non-Anonymous) Ballot For The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, HBOs White House Plumbers Delivers An Absurd Historical Snapshot And A Knockout Performance From Justin Theroux, The Rundown: Ted Lasso Has Created A Delightful Little I Think You Should Leave Conundrum, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. And I didnt need to go into all the gory details. The Christopher Duntsch Surgery That Was So Bad One Doctor Called It 'Attempted Murder'. I had never seen him like that. 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. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY What is Dr. Death's origin story? Thanks to the system, though, Duntsch was able to keep working and hurting people until two of his fellow doctors, Randall Kirby and Robert Henderson (played respectively by Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin), were able to expose him and put him behind bars. Dr Death received a life sentenceafter being convicted of maiming one of his patients. The legal system will protect themselves. 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. They couldve just said, Youre the print person, leave this to us. But I would err on the side of less is more. We're certainly not there yet. Each very different. Texas Neurosurgeon 'Dr. Ellis Unit in Huntsville and will be. From 2011 to 2013, dozens of patients in the Dallas area woke up after their surgeries with horrible pain, numbness and, paralysis. 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. I mean Duntsch could very easily just have been the black hat bad guy. D MagazineChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. And never when i not standing there. He's doing it on purpose. Later, following another accusation that he was abusing drugs before doing surgeries, Duntsch was relegated to mostly minor surgical procedures at the hospital. How much of his crazy emails and phone messages did you have to throw out in order to focus on the main story? And that's only four years ago. Death' Before 33 Operations Went Wrong, The True Story Behind Hulu's 'Boston Strangler', The Best True Crime Documentaries to Stream Now, Get a First Look at Joshua Jackson, Christian Slater in 'Dr. Its hard for me to pinpoint any one thing, because it was so many things. But unfortunately, despite the fact I am winning it is not happening fast enough. and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee Health Center. It was a rambling note that touched on Duntsch's frustrations with his business and personal relationships. The next question is how he was able to continue performing surgeries even as he butchered patient after patient. In a one-on-one interview with Collider, showrunner Patrick Macmanus explained how he approached telling the story of Duntsch's rise and fall while being fully aware that explaining his motivations would never be truly possible, how important it was to examine both Duntsch the man as well as the reasons why he was able to keep working as long as he did, and how having figures like Kirby and Henderson eased the way in adapting the podcast. I couldnt go beyond that. Philip Mayfield, one of Christopher Duntsch's patients, who was paralyzed after his surgery. Well, if you want to just put in there that after the first episode its a lot less gruesome. What was totally new was that Im a print journalist. 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. However, it wouldnt be long until Duntschs seemingly perfect career began to unravel. 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. 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. Like a lot of these podcasts, they do start out as a mystery, or they have a big plot twist in the middle. Did you talk a lot about how gory to make the surgeries? Dr. Death, read about how reckless surgeon Robert Liston killed his patient and two bystanders. The day that Brown suffered her stroke, Duntsch operated again. 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. Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story starts streaming on Peacock Thursday, July 29. So while I was writing in August and September of 2018, I had asked to reach out. She also said that he kept a pile of cocaine on his dresser in his home office. We went into a mode of trying to figure out how to fill those shoes. At first I thought it was simply my world and that it was too much for you. In February 2012, he went under the knife for an elective spinal fusion surgery. He was then brought on board at the Dallas Medical Center where he continued his carnage. In July 2015, a grand jury indicted Dr. Death on five counts of aggravated assault and one count of harming an elderly person, his patient Mary Efurd, according to Rolling Stone. Jennifer Morrison, I've actually known for a very long time. 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. 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. So the Canadian system is very different than the American system. Were there times when you would look at drafts and be like, "Maybe we should pull back on the administrative stuff?" I mean, truly a revolutionary act. 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. He was putting stuff in the wrong place. 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. And in fact, when they called me, I was kind of like, You know Im a print reporter, right? But they were great, they were willing to kind of show me what I needed to know in terms of audio and interviewing for audio, and making an audio podcast. He chose Dallas after learning that Young had family near the city and she offered to go with him. I realized what he really had to offer. She has a degree in political economy from Tulane University. Do you want to add anything? Dr. Death is not a show that you should consider watching right before your next trip to the doctor's office. Yeah. 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. Dr. Death was fired before the end of his first week for the damage hed inflicted on Brown and Efurd. You know, I like to believe that the doctors that I interact with have my best interest at heart. As long as I could do the reporting and the writing, they were willing to show me the rest, and it worked out great. JACKSON: Well, actually, I think it's even one step scarier than that. In terms of the production, were you shooting at all chronologically or was itwere you kind of bouncing between time periods? Before working with him, Dr. Hoyle said that he didnt know how to feel about his fellow surgeon. Particularly for Duntsch, because it goes over such a long period of time.
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