History Series / DrDeath

[[caption-width-right:350:Bad Medicine]]

-->-- '''Dr. Robert Henderson''

!! Tropes found in this series include:

* BystanderSyndrome: Dozens of people see firsthand what Duntsch is capable of, but nobody does anything to decisively ''stop'' the madness. Doctors refuse to work with him, his nurses quit, and hospitals fire him, but this just leaves him free to set up shop elsewhere and keep butchering patients.

* GeniusBonus: Duntsch blames one patient's death on an allergic reaction to fentanyl. Savvy viewers will know just how ludicrous this excuse is: [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3440895/ as of 2012, when the show takes place, there had been ''three'' documented cases of fentanyl-induced allergies]], and even ''had'' this happened to the patient, she would have suffered anaphylaxis, not blood loss.

** Kirby and Henderson repeated us food metaphors to explain how bad Duntsch's technique was. Kirby compares one of Duntsch's operative choices--to prise a disc out instead of cutting with a scalpel--to cutting up a pizza with a pliers instead of a pizza slicer.

* MeatGrinderSurgery: Duntsch's surgeries are gruesome, his strategies and choices of equipment are bizarre, and virtually every onlooker in his operating rooms horrified to watch him work.

* BrooklynRage: The Chief of Surgery and Dallas Medical Center is from the Bronx and loudly and profanely berates Dunstch, who only has temporary privileges at the hospital, for trying to throw his weight around.

* AbandonTheDisabled: Duntsch effectively does this to his patients, by ignoring them once they start suffering the consequences of his botched work. He does it in an especially cruel way to [[spoiler: Jerry, after leaving him a quadriplegic]].

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

* ForScience: Duntsch tries to rationalize his actions by saying that he needs his surgical revenue to fund his research. However, his lavish spending, and the fact that he seems to never enter a lab once he's done with his residency, make one wonder how sincere he is.

** He mistakes part of a patient's neck muscle for a cancerous tumor, cuts the muscle out for a biopsy, aborts the surgery, and sews the patient back up... with a sponge still inside, leading the patient to become infected. Kirby, who is called in to repair the damage, likens the surgery to an "attempted murder."

* WorstAid: Duntsch's surgeries resemble this.

* {{Gaslightin}}: Duntsch uses his charm to convince a patient that her operation went wonderfully, and even gets her to record a testimonial for him. He actually left a ''sponge'' in her incision, but he convinces her that it was a suture, and she at least is functional after the operation; by Duntsch's standards, this was a pretty good outcome.

* InherentInTheSystem: Downplayed. Duntsch was doubtlessly enabled by Texas's medical-legal system[note]malpractice law in Texas has been neutered by low caps on payouts, to the point that civil attorneys won't bother taking cases[/note], by hospitals that tried to avoid scandal by letting him resign, and by a residency that let him focus on research while neglecting proper surgical training. However, as Henderson points out, Duntsch's surgeries were so catastrophic that he should have recognized his own inadequacy and stopped operating.

The show tells its story nonlinearly, jumping between Duntsch's time playing football at the University of Colorado, his training years, his disastrous tenure operating in Dallas, Kirby's and Henderson's investigation, and finally, Duntsch's trial. All throughout, the show invites the viewer to wonder just ''why'' Duntsch did what he did, but never suggests one explanation as the "right" one: instead, it lets viewers decide for themselves what they think Duntsch's pathology most likely was

->"''He's either the most incompetent surgeon I've ever crossed paths with ... or he's a sociopath, and he's doing all this on purpose.''"

-->-- '''Geoffrey Dromgoole, [=MI6=]'''

Christopher Duntsch (Jackson) is a confident young spinal neurosurgeon, who moves to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex after completing his training at the University of Tennessee. He comes strongly recommended by his residency supervisor, and boasts an impressive list of research accolades. However, not everyone is impressed by the new hotshot, as Duntsch's egotism immediately bothers many of his colleagues. It soon becomes clear that Dallas has a much bigger problem than a megalomaniac physician, as Duntsch's patients begin suffering devastating, nigh-unheard of complications on routine surgeries, up to and including quadriplegia and death. As the disasters pile up, Drs. Randall Kirby (Slater) and Robert Henderson (Baldwin)--two surgeons who have seen enough of Duntsch's carnage--join forces with the ambitious young Assistant District Attorney Michelle Shughart (Robb), hoping to stop him before he kills or cripples another patient.

* BeingEvilSucks: In the end, Duntsch destroys everything he ever worked for. His girlfriend and his mistress both leave him after seeing how vile he is, he loses custody of his son, his friendships are all destroyed, his reputation is in ruins, his once-promising research is abandoned, and finally, he ends up serving a life sentence.

* BystanderSyndrome: Dozens of people see firsthand what Duntsch is capable of, but nobody does anything beyond refusing to work with Duntsch again. He just keeps finding new nurses, joining other hospitals' staffs, and maiming patients.

* MadDoctor: Whatever Duntsch's problem is, he isn't what you'd call sane.

Duntsch (Jackson) moves to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex after completing his neurosurgical training at the University of Tennessee Hospital, with strong recommendations from his residency supervisor, and an impressive CV of research. However, not everyone is impressed by the new hotshot, as Duntsch's egotism immediately bothers many of his colleagues. It soon becomes clear that Dallas has a much bigger problem than a megalomaniac physician, as Duntsch's patients begin suffering devastating, nigh-unheard of complications on routine surgeries, up to and including quadriplegia and death. As the disasters pile up, Drs. Randall Kirby (Slater) and Robert Henderson (Baldwin)--two surgeons who either tried to assist Duntsch during his operations, or were called in to repair some of his damage--join forces with the ambitious young Assistant District Attorney Michelle Shughart (Robb), hoping to stop him before he kills or cripples another patient.

The show tells its story nonlinearly, with ''many'' shifts in perspective and chronology. The writers jump between Duntsch's time playing football at the University of Colorado, his training years, his disastrous tenure operating in Dallas, Kirby's and Henderson's investigation, and Duntsch's trial. All throughout, the show invites the viewer to wonder just ''why'' Duntsch did what he did, but never suggests one explanation as the "right" one, instead letting viewers decide for themselves what they think Duntsch's pathology most likely was

Based on a 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name, ''Dr. Death'' is a 2021 eight-part true crime/medical drama hybrid Creator/{{Peacock}} [[MiniSeries mini-series]], which stars Creator/JoshJackson, Creator/AlecBaldwin, Creator/ChristianSlater, and Creator/AnnaSophiaRobb. It tells the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a former neurosurgeon who, in 2017, made history as the first surgeon to go to prison for his poor outcomes.

Duntsch (Jackson) moves to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex after completing his neurosurgical training at the University of Tennessee Hospital, with strong recommendations from his residency supervisor, and an impressive CV of research. However, not everyone is impressed by the new hotshot, as Duntsch's egotism immediately bothers many of his colleagues. It soon becomes clear that Dallas has a much bigger problem than a megalomaniac physician, as Duntsch's patients begin suffering devastating, nigh-unheard of complications on routine surgeries, up to and including quadriplegia and death. As the disasters pile up, Drs. Randall Kirby and Robert Henderson--two surgeons who either tried to assist Duntsch during his operations, or were called in to repair some of his damage--join forces, hoping to stop him before he kills or cripples another patient.

The show is told in a nonlinear fashion with frequent shifts in perspective and chronology, jumping between Duntsch's time playing football at the University of Colorado, his training years, his disastrous tenure operating in Dallas, and Kirby's and Henderson's legal fight to get Duntsch out of hospitals ... and behind bars.

!! Tropes found in this series include:

Based on a 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name, ''Dr. Death'' is a 2021 eight-part true crime/medical drama hybrid Creator/{{Peacock}} [[MiniSeries mini-series]], which stars Creator/JoshJackson, Creator/AlecBaldwin, and Creator/ChristianSlater.

It tells the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a former neurosurgeon who, in 2017, made history as the first surgeon to go to prison for poor outcomes. Duntsch's career in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex lasted less than three years, in which time he killed two patients and maimed or crippled more than 30 others, giving his surgeries a near 100% complication rate.