#christopher duntsch

[ozzyonedge]

Happy 46th Birthday Joshua Jackson!

Born June 11th 1978

[ricisidro]

Dr. Death season 1 on #PrimeVideo is based on a true story.

It focuses on the rise and downfall of #ChristopherDuntsch, the disgraced neurosurgeon, who injured or killed 33 surgical patients between 2011 and 2013, leading to his nickname "Dr. Death." He was sentenced to life in prison by a Dallas jury in 2017.

#crime #drama #thriller

https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a37035948/christopher-duntsch-dr-death-now-true-story/

[lifewithaview]

Alec Baldwin and Hubert Point-Du Jour in Dr. Death (2021) Diplos

S1E1

Two doctors investigate the maiming and death of patients at the hands of a Dallas neurosurgeon.

*Based on the actual circumstances shown in this series and the years that slid by with horrific things happening to Duntsch's patients, various special "Lessons Learned from the Dr. Death circumstances" webinars and workshops have been created for hospital administration personnel, physicians, RNs, hospital technicians, medical/physician oversight Boards, etc. For example see the Lessons Learned from Dr. Death webinar by Hardenbergh Group

[marxandangels]

I just went down a rabbit hole reading about Christopher Duntsch (Dr. Death) and it is insane to me that people think he didn’t do it intentionally. Like he permanently maimed THIRTY-THREE people. There’s no fucking way that’s just being high and having a big ego. That’s intentional. The stories are all horrifying but the one that really seals the deal for me that he did it intentionally is that he put a screw in the wrong place in a spinal surgery and stripped the screw so it couldn’t be removed. That’s intentional!!!!! Like not only am I gonna fuck your spine up, I’m gonna make it so no one can ever fix it

[coraxes]

actually a guy going from playing christopher "dr death" duntsch to a tv show main character physician is really funny

[dankusner]

MCKINNEY Court flips on $11M verdict

Alleged FBI informant had been ordered to pay doctor who claimed story hurt him

Dallas’ Fifth Court of Appeals overturned a 2021 jury decision against alleged McKinney FBI informant Jonathan Rute.

He was previously ordered to help pay nearly $11 million to Plano spine doctor Stephen Courtney after a jury ruled that Rute supplied WFAA-TV (Channel 8) with information that helped it produce stories that compared Courtney to infamous Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, also known as “Dr. Death.”

With the latest ruling, Rute and his attorney, Ty Clevenger, say they are hoping to take Courtney and his attorneys back to court over malicious prosecution claims.

The pair say they will be seeking monetary damages of more than $5 million against Courtney in an upcoming suit against the doctor.

��We reverse and vacate the trial court’s March 1, 2021, and November 30, 2021 orders as to [Kelly] Liebbe; reverse the final judgment and render judgment that Dr. Courtney and his professional association take nothing on their claims against Liebbe and Rute for conversion, tortious interference with contract, and violations of the Texas Uniform Trade Secrets Act and reverse the final judgment and render judgment that Dr. Courtney take nothing on his conspiracy claim against Rute,” the July 5 verdict said.

Rute and Courtney did not respond to a phone call requesting an interview with The Dallas Morning News .

However, Rute’s attorney, Ty Clevenger, said the appeals court ruling has liberated Rute and will allow him to file litigation against Courtney and his attorneys.

“It’s a huge relief for John, because he’s got security claims. He’s a defense contractor, an engineer. He lost a job, was turned down and rejected because of his lawsuit that was hanging over him,” he said.

“It now frees him up to go after the people who put him in this positions, which he intends to do.”

In May and July 2017, WFAA aired two stories about Courtney that compared him to “Dr. Death.”

The stories included interviews with Courtney’s former patients who claimed he had prioritized profits over safety by using cervical plates, screws and other tools that could be inserted into the body during surgery.

At the time, Courtney claimed the WFAA stories had cost his business an estimated $10 million in damages between May 2017 to the end of 2020 when patients stopped scheduling and canceled appointments with him.

He said he lost 208 procedures in that time.

In September 2021, a 12-person jury awarded Courtney $10,897,774 for damages.

Cameron Carmody, Courtney’s ex-business partner turned bitter rival, had secretly been compiling data from 1,571 medical files without authorization from Courtney.

The Collin County jury later decided that Carmody, Rute and two others were on the hook for damages caused against Courtney’s business.

However, Rute never started paying back his court-ordered 30% of the near $11 million he and others owed Courtney, according to Clevenger.

In addition to monetary damages, Clevenger said he hopes the ruling will prompt the FBI to file an investigation into the judge who oversaw the 2022 case, John Roach.

Roach did not respond to a phone call interview request from The News .

“My frustration is with the trial judge. My client was a confidential informant, and, at one point, the FBI was investigating Dr. Courtney,” he said.

“The very first time Jonathan appeared in front of Judge Roach, he was extremely hostile and condescending. He needs a challenge because he is not fit to serve as a judge.”

[johnbrownnn]

“What did you do, Paolo? What did you do to them?” The first look at season two (below) of Peacock’s anthology series Dr. Death shows Mandy Moore confronting Edgar Ramírez, hinting at the sinister secrets that lie beneath the charming celebrity surgeon named Paolo Macchiarini, who rose to fame after performing the world’s first synthetic organ transplant. The follow-up season to true-crime thriller Dr. Death, which starred Joshua Jackson as neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch, is also based on the hit Wondery podcast (season three) of the same name and this time around tells the true story of “Miracle Man” Paolo Macchiarini, who is described for the series as “a charming surgeon renowned for his innovative operations.” Moore, in her next and darker TV turn following the end of her matriarch role on the beloved NBC family saga This Is Us, plays investigative journalist Benita Alexander, who approaches Paolo for a story. According to the synopsis, “the line between personal and professional begins to blur, changing her life foreve. As she learns how far Paolo will go to protect his secrets, a group of doctors halfway across the world make shocking discoveries of their own that call everything about Paolo into question.” [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK9y_6UgLPk[/embed] The eight-episode season, which launches in full Dec. 21, was written by showrunner and executive producer Ashley Michel Hoban. Luke Kirby, Ashley Madekwe and Gustaf Hammarsten round out the cast. Executive producers for the UCP-produced series include Patrick Macmanus, Todd Black (Escape Artists), Jason Blumenthal (Escape Artists), Steve Tisch (Escape Artists), Taylor Latham (Escape Artists), Aaron Hart (Wondery), Hernan Lopez (Wondery) and Marshall Lewy (Wondery), Linda Gase and director Jennifer Morrison, who helmed the first four episodes. Laura Belsey directs the final four. Peacock will also be releasing a companion documentary, Dr. Death: Cutthroat Conman, about the shocking rise and fall of Paolo Macchiarini on the same day the season releases. The documentary is from Maxine Productions and Universal Television Alternative Studio.  Edgar Ramírez as Dr. Paolo Macchiarini Courtesy of Scott McDermott/PEACOCK Mandy Moore as Benita Courtesy of Scott McDermott/PEACOCK In a note about the series, showrunner Hoban said the anthology series format provides freedom to explore variations on a theme. “Dr. Death is a show about systemic failures, and this season, these issues reach a global scale. Amid complex narratives, we’ve been fortunate to delve deeply into a story that, while entirely unique, remains surprisingly familiar, as it taps into a truly universal part of the human condition: illness. Even putting aside any recent global pandemics, we all know what it’s like to feel sick. It renders us vulnerable, small, in desperate need of help. A doctor we can trust.” She continues, “This pursuit of trust and truth is what ties our two stories together this season. Two stories that, on the surface, may not seem to have much else in common: Doctors in Sweden on the verge of a breakthrough. A journalist in New York falling in love. However, both revolve around individuals made to feel small. They’re about people standing up to something bigger, for something bigger, and how their seemingly small choices ripple out into the world to give power and voice to those who have been made to feel powerless and silenced. These are stories that you don’t think could happen to you, until you watch this season of Dr. Death.” Ramírez as Dr. Paolo Macchiarini and Moore as Benita Courtesy of Peacock Source link

[the-homicidediaries]

Dr. Death (Christopher Duntsch)

Hello lovely people!

How are you all doing today? I'm doing okay, can't really complain too much.

I have about an hour to kill, so I wanted to try to write another quick essay. (Which will inevitably not be a "quick essay" and I will in fact work on this for hours until it's utterly perfect because of my mental illnesses.) Also, I have wanted to bring light to this godawful man for the longest time, but to be honest, I thought everyone else already knew about him. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I absolutely fell down a rabbit hole. I listened to the podcast, watched the documentary, watched the documentaries from the victims themselves, and watched the Peacock Original Dr. Death as well. Just wanted to emphasize my mental illness some more. Dr. Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who operated and maimed several of his patients and killed two of them. His nickname is Dr. Death. He's the first surgeon to be convicted to life in prison due to gross malpractice.

(Also I don't wanna spoil anything, but he is no longer practicing and I don't really know what to call him, so I'll be calling him Christopher, Chris, Dr. Death, and Dr. Duntsch, okay?)

I do want to talk about him a little today. Well, specifically, the worst case he had, in my opinion, because I cannot cover all of his cases in this essay, haha. It would be at least 5,000 pages long. This is the worst case, again in MY opinion, because it was so personal. I mean, when I first heard this on the podcast, I don't know if I have ever been that shocked in my life.

(I would like to say first and foremost, as someone who a) works in the medical field and b) has had life-threatening shit happen to them, please please PLEASE advocate for yourself as a patient. If something feels off or wrong or not like your "normal" self, call your PCP, a family member, or the ambulance and get checked out. I'm not a medical professional, but I have had to make several ER visits and practically beg doctors to listen to me because no one thought anything was wrong with me and I could have died.)

Christopher Dunstch was born April 3, 1971 (an Aries man, ugh), in Montana to Donald and Susan Duntsch. From what all I read and have listened to, he seemed to have a pretty normal life. (And when I say that, I mean no signs of abuse, no abnormal behavior like hurting animals, small children, or other people, and no arson; nothing indicative of things to come.) I really wish I could get into a lot of the things about Christopher Duntsch that I wanted to because there is definitely a pattern, but I will say he attended the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and completed his residency participating in fewer than 100 surgeries. (Typically, a neurosurgeon will participate in over 1,000 surgeries before their residency is considered complete.) I will also say, he was at one point accused of preforming surgeries while under the influence of cocaine during his fourth year of residency (he definitely was) and was sent to a facility for impaired physicians but was eventually allowed to return to complete his residency. Just things like that. Things that should matter but for some reason didn't matter when it came to Christopher Dunstch.

Now I want to talk about Christopher's best friend, Jerry Summers. Admittedly, I couldn't find out much about Jerry's family, but he and Christopher met their junior year of high school when they both played football and when Christopher was an undergraduate in college, he lived with Jerry and Jerry's grandmother for a while. Jerry absolutely idolized Christopher. (It's really sad because even during Jerry's interviews, he would still speak so highly of his childhood friend.) The two would dabble in drugs and frequent the strip clubs regularly. Christopher's baby's mother nicknamed them "The Party Boys". During one of his interviews, Jerry said, "I had never taken a hit of acid before. Christopher Dunstch gave me my first hit of acid." Jerry has also gone on record saying he feels the two would be considered cokeheads. The two became very close and when Christopher accepted his first neurosurgery position in Dallas, he invited Jerry to come live with him to help him establish his practice. (Hi, me again. I always feel like there are two versions of me when I'm writing something; there's the version telling the story and then the person giving the inner dialogue, but I digress. I really got the feeling that Jerry was maybe a lonely person because of how hard he clung on to Christopher. I really don't know if he had friends, but he genuinely thought Christopher was the bee knee's and would cure cancer one day. And it's also really important for me to note that Chris was/is a very intelligent person, so I don't blame Jerry at all for falling into this trap.) As I am sure you have guessed, Jerry did help Christopher build up his practice physically and financially. Jerry would do odd jobs to help pay for Christopher's practice.

(Inner dialogue here again, ummmm when I say this might be one of the most messed up things I've ever heard of.. it's ROUGH. It's not gory or torture related like some of the other things I've written about, but it is extremely sickening, for me anyway. Okay, here goes.)

Jerry was in a pretty severe car accident and as a result had several bulging discs and chronic neck pain. In 2011, trusting his best friend in the whole world's expertise, Jerry decided to go under the knife at Baylor Regional Medical Center where Christopher had surgical privileges. Jerry said it seemed like a routine surgery and if Dr. Duntsch could perform it correctly on someone, it would at least be his best friend.

I watched a video of this surgery, and it looks horrifying LOL. Like, ugh omg. I would be so scared. Basically, and I am explaining this as simply as I possibly can, a neurosurgeon will make an incision on the patient's neck, dissect through muscle while avoiding the esophagus and other arteries, it looks SCARY, then he/she will locate the hernia and use this tool that kind of looks like tongs to separate the bones to remove the herniated disc, then the surgeon will scrape the bones to remove the soft tissue, place a bone graft, and use screws to help fuse the two pieces back together. (Mama or Dr. Edwards, if you read this, please tell me if this is explained correctly, haha!)

Soooooo. Christopher really botched this surgery. These are some of the most brutal things I've heard. Dr. Dunstch cut Jerry's blood vessels so deep that Jerry had lost two liters of blood, ten times the normal amount of blood loss during this type of surgery. Because Jerry had lost so much blood, Dr. Duntsch used a material called Gel Foam and he had used so much of it, it was constricting Jerry's spine. Dr. Duntsch had also removed so much bone that Jerry's head wasn't securely attached to his body. He was medically decapitated. When Jerry woke up, he said it felt like a ton of bricks was sitting on him and he couldn't move any of his extremities. Dr. Duntsch never performed any kind of exam, radiology exam, or test to see what went wrong. He did perform surgery on Jerry again at midnight to help alleviate some of the swelling near his spinal cord, and there was another surgeon who came in and did all he could to help Jerry, but there was no turning back. He was now a quadriplegic. And his best friend had essentially dropped off the face of the planet. He never once asked how Jerry was after the surgery, he never once apologized to Jerry after the surgery, and as far as I'm concerned, he's made no attempts to correct this with Jerry's family. Jerry really couldn't handle being left paralyzed, so he started screaming how he and Chris did cocaine the night before the procedure. He later recanted, but some people believe he was telling the truth. Jerry had a rough time with being a quadriplegic. He had a girlfriend named Jennifer at the time, and he became very angry and abusive towards her. He would run his chair into her or back her into a corner and keep running her over. Everyone suffered because of this botched surgery.

Jerry died February of 2021 from an infection caused by his surgery.

My sources: Jerry Summers: Who Was Christopher Duntsch's Friend? How Did Jerry Summers Die? (thecinemaholic.com) Christopher Duntsch - Wikipedia 'Dr. Death': Who Is Jerry Summers and What Happened to Him? (newsweek.com)

Below is a picture of Dr. Christopher Duntsch and Jerry Summers.

[grison-in-space]

seriously. the trick about training your determination not to quit is that sometimes you keep trying the same thing well past the point where anyone sane would have tried a different thing.

often this is a mistake because you can damage yourself doing this. you can also make things much worse that way.

do you know who else was really, really, really determined to never give up? dr. christopher duntsch, who was dead set on becoming a neurosurgeon. he worked so hard. he wasn't good at it, but he perservered. he gave up everything in his life in pursuit of his goal.

he did go on to be a neurosurgeon! he maimed 33 people, and some of them died! maybe he should not have been allowed to achieve that goal, even though he was really determined not to quit!

sometimes our goals are bad ideas actually. sometimes quitting and trying something different is actually the better option. it's okay to change tactics and try something new. it's okay. you can just leave. you can just do a different thing!

The answer to your problems is self-discipline

[likeafantasy]

DR. DEATH — Diplos | 1.01 He's either the most incompetent surgeon I've ever crossed paths with and never should have been let out of medical school, or he's a sociopath. And he's doing all of this on purpose.

[scenesandscreens]

Dr. Death (2021)

Directed by Maggie Kiley, Jennifer Morrison & So Yong Kim, Cinematography by Kat Westergaard & Zachary Galler

[look-at-that-right-there]

Why didn't anyone talk about how Christopher Duntsch was wearing this shirt while being interrogated by the police.

[dovebuffy92]

https://www.fanbolt.com/114709/dr-death-miniseries-review-why-not-how-crime-drama/

Dr. Death, created by Patrick Macmanus, is a brilliant crime drama based on the true-crime podcast of the same name about the dangerous former neurosurgeon Christopher Dunstch.

Duntsch lost his Texas medical license after maiming several patient’s spines during surgeries and killing two of them. The real Doctor Death was sentenced to life imprisonment for injury to an older adult in 2017. One of Duntsch’s spinal surgeries paralyzed seventy-something-year-old Mary Efurd. Joshua Jackson brings the charming psychopathic surgeon Christopher Dunstch to life.

Jackson’s portrayal of Duntsch as a charmer is enhanced by the actor’s natural likability, which helps the audience understand why patients trusted the surgeon and overlooked obvious red flags. In the miniseries premiere ” Diplos,” Duntsch smiles at the E.S.L. teacher Rose Keller and her husband as they drive up to his practice in Dallas, Texas. Dunstch appears to be a caring doctor. Jackson brings easy-going humor to Duntsch. Duntsch lightens up the room, which is why his patients trust him to perform complicated procedures.

Dr. Death effectively uses the technique of repeating scenes from different characters’ points of view to reveal Duntsch’s mindset before and during surgeries. Within each episode, we delve into different periods of his life. Sometimes there are scenes of Duntsch in medical school. Then a cut to a scene of fellow surgeons Dr. Randall Kirby (Christian Slater) and Dr. Robert Henderson (Alec Baldwin) acting like detectives trying to figure out how this incompetent surgeon even earned a medical license. But, of course, the audience knows about Duntsch’s criminal charges from the start, so the story is about learning why this happened rather than solving a murder mystery.

A prime example of these “repeating scenes” is in the first episode when O.R. circulating nurse Josh Baker (Hubert Point-Du Jour) preps Rose for her surgery at Dallas Medical Center. Duntsch strolls into the hospital room. He acts charming toward Rose but ignores Josh. The O.R. nurse notices a hole in the back of Duntsch’s scrubs, revealing he is not wearing underwear. When the nurse informs Duntsch of the rip, the surgeon kicks him out of the room. Both Duntsch’s unkempt appearance and aggressive behavior toward the nurse predict the reckless controlling neurosurgeon he turns out to be. Dunstch reveals his shallow affect by how he effortlessly switches from grinning to snarling.

Later in Episode Seven, “Feet of Clay,” the “ripped scrubs” scene is shown from Doctor Death’s point of view. Duntsch has just been kicked out of Baylor but received surgical privileges from the less prestigious Dallas Medical Center. Baylor learned that he is a drug addict and makes rookie mistakes during surgery, causing irreparable harm to patients.

In “Fleet of Clay’, Duntsch blankly marches through the hall of Dallas Medical Center to upbeat rock instrumentals. As he walks through the hall, we hear lines of dialogue from the premiere episode. The juxtaposition makes us realize how oblivious Duntsch is to the outside world. Duntsch unkept appearance suggests that he has been partying all night. He enters Rose’s room as she says she is leaving herself in ” God’s and Dr. Dunstch’s hands.” Dunstch’s whole face brightens. The surgeon has been transformed himself into a different person.

Duntsch is performing as the well-rested brilliant, “considerate doctor.” The scene goes back and forth with medium shots of Duntsch and Rose in her hospital bed. These focused medium shots show the surgeon’s whole focus is on Rose because she is his “cash cow. ” Surgeries equal money and status to him. Josh comes behind Duntsch to tell him about the hole in his scrubs. Josh is out of focus in the frame. The nurse is just a pest in the surgeon’s way to glory. After being rudely excused, Josh leaves the frame. Then there is a medium close-up of Duntsch’s face as he promises Rose she will be doing cartwheels after the surgery. There is a crazy glint in his eyes. Duntsch has no concern for patients like Rose’s well-being, only that they fund his party lifestyle.

Vascular surgeon Dr. Randall Kirby’s arrogant nature helps the viewer differentiate between psychopathy and a surgeon’s self-important mentality. During the criminal trial, prosecutor Michelle Shughart (AnnaSophia Robb) asks Dr. Kirby to introduce himself to the jury. Dr. Kirby won’t stop talking about his achievements, starting with his undergraduate degree. After mentioning his fellowships at Baylor, Michelle can’t get a word in as he lists his credits. Everybody in the courtroom looks frustrated after he speaks about himself for five straight minutes straight. Kirby is presented as the archetypical pompous surgeon.

While operating room politics stopped Dr. Kirby from rescuing Joe Padua from a horrific surgery in the miniseries, he’s the one who pushed for an investigation into Duntsch. He researched Duntsch’s background after the neurosurgeon almost killed his “pool guy” (Padua). Kirby talked calm, collected neurosurgeon Dr. Henderson into helping him looking into all of Duntsch’s surgeries to see how they could stop him from practicing medicine.

There would have been no criminal trial without Kirby and Henderson harassing the Dallas DA office into charging Duntsch with a severe criminal offense. Even after the Texas Medical Board stripped Duntsch of his surgical license, the psychopathic surgeon would have kept operating on people’s spines somewhere else in the world if he wasn’t stopped. Dr. Kirby may be an overdramatic surgeon, but he honestly cares about his patient’s well-being.

I wouldn’t recommend Dr. Death to anybody about to go into surgery, but the miniseries is a must-watch for true-crime fans!

[cherrygeek]

SERIESFEST: PEACOCK'S "DR. DEATH" GETS SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION

SERIESFEST: PEACOCK’S “DR. DEATH” GETS SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION

Day 6 of SeriesFest featured a screening of the premiere episode of Peacock’s Dr. Death, followed by a virtual panel discussion with the series’ cast and creative team. Stars Christian Slater, Joshua Jackson, and AnnaSophia Robb were joined by Executive Producer/Showrunner Patrick Macmanus and Director Maggie Kiley to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the 8-part limited series which drops…

[tom-at-the-farm]

I don't even know what's going on outside right now, some hot-house, rain forest-ass nonsense. I managed to go to the woods for about 45 minutes this morning and at some point was on the ground taking a picture of the loveliest tiny lilac bolete and then I got up and went dizzy and blind from orthostatic hypotension and was like, pouring sweat and for a minute I was like, "This is it lads, lay me gently in the hot dark earth." It was literally 100 percent humidity according to Accuweather, which doesn't even sound like a real measurement.

Anyway, this is a needless preamble into how instead, I was spending my break binging the Dr. Death series. That is the NBC adaptation of the Christopher Duntsch story, which I've been obsessed with since it first broke. It's really unfortunate that every doctor who commits murder is dubbed Dr. Death, because there are so many of them and they need more distinction. Like Christopher Duntsch is Dr. Psycho Groupie Cocaine Crazy.

Anyway it's pretty accurate to the newspaper coverage of him and is just a great (though brutal) watch. Although the prosthetics they put on Joshua Jackson's face in the end to signify his fat phase were silly and distracting. But like, he just butchered so many people (Duntsch, not Jackson...for now). And no journalistic coverage and no scripted show have yet to provide a satisfying answer to the question of "what the fuck were you thinking." Like there's the cultural context that allows an incompetent sociopathic white man to initially succeed and get away with it because a neurosurgeon is worth millions to a hospital and medicine is a thriving industry in America, but like, I get that. We all get that. It's a terrifying thing that we all get, and which still doesn't explain to me what had to be going through this guy's head when he performed his Nth surgery knowing that he can't do surgeries. He literally was like "I could fix him uwu" *paralyzes a patient for life*

[doctordeath]

5 Deadly Doctors