By Billy Corriher July 22, 2021
“Dr. Death,” a new drama on NBC’s Peacock that was inspired by a true story, offers a disturbing look at the life of an incompetent Texas neurosurgeon named Dr. Christopher Duntsch, played by Joshua Jackson, and the patients he maimed. Based on the first season of a popular Wondery podcast by the same name hosted by Laura Beil, it serves as an indictment of a rigged legal system that fails to protect the vulnerable.
The audience sees the surgeon at work as horrified nurses look on and whisper about whether to stop him. While it doesn’t fixate too long on gory medical details, the show pulls no punches in showing the devastating aftermath for Duntsch’s victims.
“Dr. Death” focuses on two surgeons and a prosecutor who try to understand how Duntsch got away with killing and maiming his patients for years, and the characters point out several systemic failures. ..
For years, families of injured or deceased patients have pushed for repeal of Texas’ draconian tort reform laws, to no avail. Some of these repeal supporters had even backed tort reform in the past, such as the DiLeos of Houston, whose 16-year-old son Jonathan died after botched brain surgery. Despite extensive evidence of poor care in the medical record, the family’s malpractice lawsuit was thrown out.
“The injustice done to my son is unbearable,” said Cassy DiLeo, Jonathan’s mother.
