As Halloween rolls around the corner, there are few better podcasts than “Dr. Death” to bring in the spooky mood.
“Dr. Death” is a six-episode podcast that tells the true story of a Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon who worked in various hospitals in Dallas, Texas, and how his malpractice left patients with life-altering complications, paralyzed and even caused death.
The story begins by describing Duntsch as a young adult and his ambition to be the best at everything he did. This drive was reflected in his college years as he walked on to the Colorado State Rams football team.
A teammate discussed in the interview how Duntsch would repeatedly practice drills until he knew how to properly do them. Ultimately, his unwavering efforts to be successful in all his endeavors led him to pursue medical school.
He eventually got in and graduated medical school at the University of Tennessee. With his freshly received medical license, Duntsch got hired to operate at Baylor Regional Medical Center. This is when the chaos of Duntsch’s career started.
As listeners hear each episode of the podcast, they begin to learn of the atrocities performed by Duntsch which led him to receive the nickname “Dr. Death.” As each episode progresses, the stories of people who encountered Duntsch become increasingly eerie and will leave listeners with an unsettling feeling as they learn more about Duntsch’s character.
In the podcast it mentions patients should feel safe when they put themselves in the vulnerable position of getting surgery. However, as patients of Dr. Duntsch quickly realized, Duntsch was ill-equipped to perform major surgeries.
While the podcast began by telling the stories of Duntsch’s mistreatment of patients, it quickly shifted to expose the practices that happen behind the scenes of the medical community that allowed for Dr. Duntsch to continue practicing even after ruining people’s lives.
“While Dr. Death focuses on the story of one deranged individual, it also exposes the wider institutional problems of a system that has continuously failed its patients,” the podcast’s website said.
The host of the podcast is Laura Beil, a medical journalist who has experience in the health and medical field for more than 20 years. Her style is captivating and does a fantastic job of presenting the stories of Duntsch’s victims as well as fellow doctors who were working to stop Duntsch from continuing his wrong surgical practices.
After each episode, I found myself empathizing with each person who was hurt by Dr. Duntsch. For anyone who is interested in true crime and wants to hear a story of a deranged surgeon and the medical community that continued to let him practice, “Dr. Death” is definitely a podcast to listen to.
“It’s chilling. So, this podcast is not for the faint of heart — or maybe it is, because despite the fact that hearing about surgery makes me feel lightheaded, I can’t stop listening to it,” Nancy Einhart said in a review for the Popsugar website.