christopher duntsch interview

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'm going to answer it in a couple of different ways. 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. I mean, truly a revolutionary act. My wife laughs at me all the time about it. Jodi Smith. 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. There isn't a question that there is a larger theme at work in the show, which was ultimately something that drew me to the show, which is that Christopher Duntsch doesn't just wear a black hat. Do you think we get an answer at the end of the show? Duntsch declined a reporter's request for a jailhouse interview Tuesday. The good news is, is we had thousands of pages of research, thousands of pages of court documents, tons of hours of interviews. 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. Following training, Duntsch settled in the Dallas area in 2011, joining the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute in Plano as a practicing physician. I mean, the guy who you think is guilty from the first episode really is guilty. Of those 38, 31 were leftparalyzed or seriously injured and two of them died from surgical complications. In late 2010, Dr. Christopher Duntsch came to Dallas to start a neurosurgery practice. And so, thats really what I zeroed in on, the whole systemic failure that allowed this to happen. 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. She was a National Magazine Award finalist in 2016 and in 2018 won the Victor Cohen Prize for medical science reporting. Well, the whole email thats coming up in episode three Its hard to pick out because it just goes on and on. 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. So many of these serialized investigative podcasts, they tend to grow out of some kind of mystery. But even inside it, there was some times where sequences would line up as chronological, but the timeline was a lot to keep your head around. Dr. Death is a podcast produced by Wondery that focuses on egregious cases of medical malpractice.The podcast is hosted and reported by Laura Beil and premiered September 4, 2018. So while I was writing in August and September of 2018, I had asked to reach out. RELATED: 'When They See Us': Joshua Jackson, Blair Underwood & Christopher Jackson on the Netflix Limited Series. It. But those graphic descriptions are only in the first episode, because you had to know. The docuseries is a real-life companion piece to Peacock's scripted crime drama, Dr. Death, which premiered this summer. Sure, yeah. So, he would have the title of neurosurgeon, but he wouldnt actually have to do surgery. He chose Dallas after learning that Young had family near the city and she offered to go with him. MACMANUS: I think that it was our intent to present the facts as we saw them in our research, and again, allow audiences to draw from them as they will. 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. 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. I have to say, it was nice to do something different. Some people woke up paralyzed; others emerged from anesthesia to permanent pain from nerve damage. 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. Dr. Death, read about how reckless surgeon Robert Liston killed his patient and two bystanders. However, things soon went south. Then it seemed that it was nothing more than boring to youso then I thought it was my vodka bottle and neurostimulants, but I watched you closely and besides concern for my healthy you were chill and rolled with me on that., What I am being is what I am, one of kind, a mother f****** stone cold killer that can buy or own or steal or ruin or build whatever he wants.". Joshua Jackson as Christopher Duntsch in 'Dr. 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. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Dr. Death in surgery. 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. 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). 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. I believe that he's a product of nurture. And then the rest were injuries. All three of them are fantastic each in their own right. Because Im on there clearly, but when you can tell it through the tape, its so much better. We definitely amped up the sound effects. Right? "This defendant single-handedly. 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? That was the thing that people around me were really reacting to. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Kyler Alvord leads PEOPLE's politics coverage as a news editor for the brand. You have to be very careful with that. (He was later let go from the company over money issues). . And that was a revolutionary act. 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. Well, it was familiar content-wise because Im a medical reporter, so Ive never covered anything else. Hed had a whole string of bad surgeries before it even came to the attention of the medical board. And that was just one case from Baylor-Plano. Read the crime and public safety news your neighbors are talking about. [3] Duntsch agreed by voicemail to an interview for this story on Wednesday, but did not return subsequent calls for comment. Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story starts streaming on Peacock Thursday, July 29. 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. You had people in walkers. So we shot the episodes in three different bricks. 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. [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. 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. But there was so much that came together. Philip Mayfield, one of Christopher Duntsch's patients, who was paralyzed after his surgery. I mean Duntsch could very easily just have been the black hat bad guy. Its not just the story of Christopher Duntsch, its a story about the American healthcare system. We're certainly not there yet. So, the other big mystery as you already pointed out was like, how did the medical system allow this to happen? I do believe he was born as a narcissistic sociopath. 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. And theyre great at Wondery, and theyre really good at doing what they do. He decided hed be a neurosurgeon and was not going to let anything, including lack of skill or training, stop him in his quest. "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.". (A mock-up of the billboard Wondery paid to put in front of the hospital where its subject used to work). Well, thank you for your time. In the doc, Jerry, who died in February from an infection connected to the botched surgery Christopher performed on him in 2011, gave an interview about their friendship and the operation that eventually led to his death. But everyone around him, not wittingly or willingly, ended up sort of encouraging all of his worst attributes. So what do you think, is he just crazy? Like, I could hear the people around me reacting. Tackling some of the same stories that in years past might have gotten one sensational episode on Dateline NBC, the more expansive, more bingeable podcast format seems to allow them to become both more memorable and more consequential. Death.'. But the actuality is, is that these hospitals will protect themselves. I have to confess, I had not listened to Dirty John before they called me. 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The first one is the most graphic. Right? But the truth was far more complex. So, we've taken steps and that's good, but I think it's a totally valid thing to ask because we're not there yet. According to D Magazine, Duntsch did so well in medical school that he was allowed to join the prestigiousAlpha Omega Medical Honor Society. And that's only four years ago. Would they have been just as willing to take on a pediatrician who had some baggage? So, to be able to have someone who a true believer in the system in Henderson play up against somebody who is, for lack of a better or more tropy word, a maverick within the system, in Dr. Kirby, and to have a character like Kirby who infuses humor into everything that he does, the real life character, I think, we underplayed his humor quite frankly, was a blessing or a gift as you say to us as writers. He is serving his sentence at the O.B. And so, they wouldnt report him, so there wasnt a paper trail. The value of the institutions was placed above the value of the patients. And so, as it goes along, theres sort of less and less about what he did to each person. We went out of our way to let your imagination do the work. You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. According to D Magazine, a doctor at the hospital where Duntsch worked said that Duntsch had been sent to an impaired physician program after he refused to take a drug test. I do medicine and science. I spoke to her by phone this week about the series itself, and about the challenges of working in a new medium. Christopher Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison in February 2017 for his heinous acts. In order to tell the story they hired Laura Beil as the lead reporter. I can't think of a more enormous responsibility than trying to find an actor to play that role. 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. What storytelling tools did you discover from working in a podcast format that you didnt have before, or maybe didnt think about before? He had a very small but vitally important role. The nightmare at the center of Dr. Death, a new Peacock drama inspired by the 2018 true crime podcast of the same name from Wondery, involves a surgeon who seems intent on using his scalpel to destroy the lives of his patientsand a medical system content to let him skate by. And because while we, as patients were told, well, the patient comes first. 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. Left: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. 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. She is also a produced playwright, a host of podcasts, and a repository of "X-Files" trivia. Following his blunders, Duntsch resigned from Baylor Plano in April 2012 before they could fire him. He stayed in New York while everyone else went home. Christopher Duntschs late friend and victim, Jerry Summers, claimed Dr. Death gave him his first hit of acid.. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles. We're moving in the right direction. And also, to let the tape tell as much of the story as possible. The former American neurosurgeon was convicted for gross malpractice of maiming . Dr. Death is a new true-crime series on Peacock about the story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch. 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. 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. 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. 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. Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater in 'Dr. Then check out the horrifying story of Simon Bramhall, a surgeon who admitted to burning his initials into patients livers. 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. In 2018, he filed for an appeal which was rejected by the court. So my follow-up question to that is how has the show changed your relationship to going to the doctor? Like a lot of these podcasts, they do start out as a mystery, or they have a big plot twist in the middle. And I, as an actor, want to have the ability to work for the whole smorgasbord of humanity as my directors, as my costars, as my writers, because it makes the stories that we're telling more compelling, not less. 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. And thats really true for any medical story, I think. 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. 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. No. Right? Yeah, hopefully even just asking that question today almost feels a little bit dated. 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. Dr. Christopher Duntsch had the hallmarks of an impressive neurosurgeon, at least in theory. Naysha Lopez hilariously previews 'fashion' and 'some ugly stuff' on, Kandy Muse will be 'the main character' of. 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. I wanted to make it easy for myself. The True Story Of Christopher Duntsch, The Killer Surgeon Known As Dr. Joshua Jackson on Playing 'Dr. Scheduling just got in the way there. And we did have full access to doctors as well as Laura Beil, who did the original Dr. Death podcast. His surgeries actually get even worse. But I think, it is good. And the medical board was the only ones that could really stop him, but they didnt know. 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. He was a character simultaneously familiar but totally unique, a brilliant schemer who was also, even in his late 50s, kind of an idiot slacker like Fatal Attraction meets a Judd Apatow movie. Prior to his death earlier this year, Jerry discussed his relationship with Christopher in a new interview for Peacocks Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story. 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. By the time the Texas Medical Board revoked his license in June 2013, Duntsch had left two patients dead. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. Chief among them is the mystery of whether Duntsch was homicidal or simply criminally inept. 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. However, it wouldnt be long until Duntschs seemingly perfect career began to unravel. "You were a major in a military organization, and that is the only reason you can have a slight inkling of the manner in which I want you to treat me and respect me". Caroline is a writer and Florida-transplant currently living in New York City. We need to actually reform them. The day that Brown suffered her stroke, Duntsch operated again. Now, a podcast called Dr. Death is breaking down the deranged surgeons criminal acts and shows how drug abuse and blinding overconfidence led to big trouble for the patients who found themselvesunderneath the spiraling doctors knife. What can I find out about this guy? To become a neurosurgeon, one typically has to complete over 1000 surgeries in residency, but somehow, reporter Laura Beil discovered that Duntsch only completed 100. Plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty. How much of a gift was it to have characters like the ones Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater play, to basically serve as protagonists? Around 2006 and 2007, Duntsch began to become unhinged. 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 . He graduated from a top-tier medical school, was running research labs, and completed a residency program for neurosurgery. The first season of Dr. Death, which launched in 2018 and ran for seven episodes, examined the life and horrific crimes of Christopher Duntsch. But the meta statement of "my gosh, a show can be shot by three women, who knew" we were 75 years past the place of thinking "can three men shoot a show all by 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? But from the inside, he sees himself as the victim of circumstance. She also said that he kept a pile of cocaine on his dresser in his home office. You listen in horror to what feel like slow-motion car wrecks, captured in Wonderys signature immersive soundscape, as Duntsch drills screws meant to anchor bone into soft tissue and inexplicably snips nerve bundles that control important motor functions, causing irreparable harm. Patrick Macmanus also explains why the show's supporting characters were such a gift. Philip Mayfield, one of Christopher Duntschs patients, who was paralyzed after his surgery. Was there anything you had to teach yourself in order to better tell this story? For you, coming at it with the job of trying to dramatize this story, what was key to approaching that? 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 nearly 40 patients he operated on between 2011 and 2013. I didnt want listeners to grow tired of peoples pain. He toldLocal Memphisin 2014 that he woke up from the surgery paralyzed, which ultimately left him a quadriplegic. And I had none of those things. Christophers baby mama Wendy Young described him and Jerry as the party boys, and Jerry described just how true that was. 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. The last hospital to employ Duntsch was the now-shuttered University General, where he botched another surgery after he mistook a patients neck muscle for a tumor. But neurosurgeons are big money makers. 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. As long as I could do the reporting and the writing, they were willing to show me the rest, and it worked out great. Duntsch, who declined KXAN's multiple requests for an interview, was sentenced to life in prison on Feb. 20, 2017. Of the 37 patients Duntsch operated on in Dallas over about two years, 33 were hurt or harmed in the process. One woman remembered Duntsch taking LSD and cocaine throughout one night, before leaving the next morning for his hospital shift.

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