After youve spent a night using cocaine, most people become paranoid and want to stay in the house, the woman said in the deposition, according to D Magazine. Duntsch, who declined KXAN's multiple requests for an interview, was sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 20, 2017. The pair were childhood friends and eventually became roommates. I have three lawsuits. 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. And that was just one case from Baylor-Plano. He stayed in New York while everyone else went home. 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? 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. I thought he was either really, really good, or hes just really, really arrogant and thought he was good, Hoyle said. It was for sure, a team effort, and it was a good team. I didnt really expect that one to create quite such a reaction. 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. 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. 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'. At first I thought it was simply my world and that it was too much for you. She came in to have two vertebrae fused, but when she woke up she experienced severe pain and couldnt stand. Yeah. Duntsch's criminal defense attorney claims her client made honest mistakes while performing risky surgeries. But from the people that I talked to, it wasnt so much the money, it was more that neurosurgeons are really prestigious, and theyre like one of the top people Like, if you go back and listen to what [Duntschs college friend and football teammate] Chris Dozois says, and how [Duntsch] was not great at being a linebacker, but he wanted to be the best one. One of the patients who suffered disastrous consequences was Jerry Summers, the boyfriend of Megan Kane and a friend of Christopher Duntsch. 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. Right? In terms of the production, were you shooting at all chronologically or was itwere you kind of bouncing between time periods? 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 know you talked to a lot of his college friends, how far back into Duntschs childhood did you want to go? 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. 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. And so, as it goes along, theres sort of less and less about what he did to each person. By signing up you agree to ourTerms of ServiceandPrivacy Policy. 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. 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. I will say I'm a hundred percent hypochondriac. 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? Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. Yeah, hopefully even just asking that question today almost feels a little bit dated. Lets just say that this was a back and forth discussion for a lot of it. The value of the institutions was placed above the value of the patients. His father was a missionary and physical therapist and his mother was a school teacher. And then for his early background, I relied on the testimony that his parents and his family gave at his trial, where they talked about his history. 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. Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater join the cast as two doctors who try to stop Duntsch from causing further harm. That is a wonderful question. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Some people woke up paralyzed; others emerged from anesthesia to permanent pain from nerve damage. 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. Duntsch was eventually stopped, thanks in no small part to the two doctors who worked to expose him (played by Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin). Well, thank you for your time. The medical boards will protect themselves. Dr. Death, a story Wonderys producers heard about through Dirty Johns tips email, feels perhaps less like a show on Oxygen, though its arguably more relevant. I didnt want listeners to grow tired of peoples pain. I didnt take them as funny, I took them as really creepy though. The episodes will include interviews from Duntsch's ex-girlfriend, who mothered his two children; his best friend, who he paralyzed during an operation; several of Duntsch's former colleagues, including a surgeon who physically tried to stop him during a surgery gone awry; and other victims and lawyers close to the case. Hed had a whole string of bad surgeries before it even came to the attention of the medical board. Write to Mahita Gajanan at mahita.gajanan@time.com. 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.". Well, thats what takes six episodes to tell. Right? In February 2012, he went under the knife for an elective spinal fusion surgery. Im the only clean minimally invasive guy in the whole state.. MACMANUS: You know, it's interesting that you asked that question because it was something that we talked about quite a bit, even before we had the writers' room I'm talking three years ago, I think I got the podcast exactly three years ago next week and my answer was that I genuinely don't believe we will ever be able to answer who Christopher Duntsch was and why he was, and it was not my intention, nor was it our writer's intention, once we got to the writers' room, to answer that question in full. KEEP READING: 'Dr. From the people that I talked to First of all, only Duntsch knows that, and I cant read his mind. 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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. Right? And created all sorts of discussion and blowback inside the industry. That was the thing that people around me were really reacting to. The docuseries is a real-life companion piece to Peacock's scripted crime drama, Dr. Death, which premiered this summer. 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. 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. But depositions from Duntschs peers who knew him around that time period, between 2006 and 2008, point to cracks in the facade. Well, let me think for a second. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. This position also granted him operating privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center (Baylor-Plano). And by not stopping a narcissistic sociopath, you're encouraging a narcissistic sociopath. So while I was writing in August and September of 2018, I had asked to reach out. 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. Collider: So one of the aspects of this show that makes it so compelling is the fact that we want to understand why this person is who he is. He's a psychopath. Patrick Macmanus also explains why the show's supporting characters were such a gift. I was gifted the opportunity to tell it. That would be my guess. He is currently appealing this sentence. Death. And also, I knew that I was dealing with a story that probably half the listeners from the first episode were going to Google and find out the end. "Never ever f***ing argue with me and banter or what the f*** ever in front of anyone. In July, he performed an operation on a woman who lost a tremendous amount of blood and lost consciousness upon waking up after surgery. But in reality, you don't see a whole lot until the finale. How much do you think that affected Duntschs decision to become a neurosurgeon in the first place? She is also a produced playwright, a host of podcasts, and a repository of "X-Files" trivia. I dont know, but that would be my guess. He chose Dallas after learning that Young had family near the city and she offered to go with him. What do you think are some of the contributing factors? The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. So really for us, we're in a place where we're actually conscious of it, but the industry still has time to go. 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. 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. Does that make sense? Particularly for Duntsch, because it goes over such a long period of time. Stars of 'Tiger King' : Where Are They Now? 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. I have to say, it was nice to do something different. Well, it was familiar content-wise because Im a medical reporter, so Ive never covered anything else. Two patients died from his actions and many more suffered permanent injuries, including his best friend, who left Duntsch's operating room paralyzed. 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 . And from that, it became apparent that the story is really about our healthcare system. Many in the crowd wore the custom eye masks wed been given, to add to the audio immersion effect. And that disconnect from reality, I found really compelling. Right? After a fall in her kitchen, Martin experienced chronic back pain and sought out surgery to alleviate it. They were trying to process the horror that was Christopher Duntsch as they were going along, because they couldn't answer the question that we began with: "Why does he do what he did?" However, it wouldnt be long until Duntschs seemingly perfect career began to unravel. Prior to his death earlier this year, Jerry discussed his relationship with Christopher in a new interview for Peacocks Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story. In order to tell the story they hired Laura Beil as the lead reporter. 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. The good news is, is we had thousands of pages of research, thousands of pages of court documents, tons of hours of interviews. The real Dr. Henderson and Dr. Kirby could never answer that question, to this day. All Rights Reserved. Young was soon pregnantbut Duntsch had already developed a . 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. 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. Texas Neurosurgeon 'Dr. If people come away from the show saying, "We don't know who Christopher Duntsch was," that was the intent, right? (He was later let go from the company over money issues). So many podcast series, from Serial to S-Town to the incomparable In The Dark, set out to solve a mystery. The former American neurosurgeon was convicted for gross malpractice of maiming . I believe that he's a product of nurture. D MagazineChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. The systems were telling us where their actual values lay. That it needs to be noted that like, well, you can only give these ladies so many slots. JOSHUA JACKSON: Well, the first key and probably the most difficult hurdle for me to get over was to not judge him. And then there were comments that he made himself on the Dallas Observer article [about him]. The system was attracted to his very real charms. 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.
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