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Dr. Death

387 statements
75 feature instances
8 referencing feature instances

Dr. Death	type	TVTItem
Dr. Death	label	Dr. Death
Dr. Death	page	DrDeath
Dr. Death	comment	Based on a 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name, Dr. Death is a 2021 eight-part true crime/medical drama hybrid Peacock mini-series, which stars Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and AnnaSophia Robb. 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.In 2011, Christopher Duntsch (Jackson), a confident young spinal neurosurgeon, sets up shop in Dallas-Fort Worth after training at the University of Tennessee. With glowing recommendations and an impressive list of research accolades, Duntsch wows employers, and seems to be destined for greatness. However, not everyone is impressed, as Duntsch's ego immediately irks many of his colleagues. But it soon becomes clear that Dallas has a much bigger problem than a megalomaniac physician: Duntsch's patients begin suffering devastating, nigh-unheard of complications on what should be routine surgeries, up to and including quadriplegia and death. Finally, 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.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.An accompanying documentary series, Dr. Death: the Undoctored Story, is also on Peacock and features interviews with the people portrayed in this show.A second season of the show was released in 2023. This season stars Ã‰dgar RamÃrez as Paolo Macchiarini, an Italian thoracic surgeon who was discovered to have performed illegal experiments on patients with synthetic tracheas of his own design that turned out to cause fatal rejection, and Mandy Moore as Benita Alexander, an NBC News producer who became romantically involved with Macchiarini only to discover his deceptions regarding his medical practices and their relationship.
Dr. Death	fetched	2024-01-27T12:01:05Z
Dr. Death	parsed	2024-01-27T12:01:06Z
Dr. Death	processingComment	Dropped link to BuddyCopShow: Not a Feature - ITEM
Dr. Death	processingComment	Dropped link to Greed: Not a Feature - ITEM
Dr. Death	processingComment	Dropped link to SnobsVsSlobs: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
Dr. Death	processingUnknown	SnobsVsSlobs
Dr. Death	isPartOf	DBTropes
Dr. Death / int_171b1206	type	Men Can't Keep House
Dr. Death / int_171b1206	comment	Men Can't Keep House: After Wendy leaves Duntsch, his once-luxurious suburban home becomes a pigsty, reflecting his mental decline. When she later stops by to pick up their son, she's disgusted by the squalor.
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Dr. Death / int_18baa751	type	Historical Villain Downgrade
Dr. Death / int_18baa751	comment	Historical Villain Downgrade: Duntsch's behavior, both personal and professional, is actually toned down for the series, As nasty as his treatment of Wendy is in the show, it was even worse in real life. The show omits the worst of it, such as a time when he beat her so badly while she was pregnant that she needed to go to the emergency room, or an incident after they'd separated when he drunkenly broke into her apartment and was found covered in blood and bruises while holding a knife and gun with a ransom note written in blood nearby. The screenwriters treat Duntsch's research pursuits as legitimate, and portray his interest in biology as his sole redeeming trait. In reality, Duntsch's colleagues at Discgenicsnote a biotech startup that Duntsch was involved in, that went belly-up during the financial crisis of 2008 have recalled him as a lazy drunkard whose only job was wining and dining prospective investors, and in an interview with Christian Slater, the real Randall Kirby said that he reviewed Duntsch's research and found to be either plagiarized or nonsensical.
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Dr. Death / int_19da8a03	type	Incurable Cough of Death
Dr. Death / int_19da8a03	comment	Incurable Cough of Death: As soon as one of Paolo's "cured" patients has this, they're doomed.
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Dr. Death / int_1e584efa	type	Cruel and Unusual Death
Dr. Death / int_1e584efa	comment	Cruel and Unusual Death: Two of Duntsch's patients die after he slices their vertebral arteries, leading one to bleed out and rendering another brain-dead.
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Dr. Death / int_1f799027	type	Obstructive Bureaucrat
Dr. Death / int_1f799027	comment	Obstructive Bureaucrat: Many. The Texas Medical Board refuses to act after hearing Kirby's and Henderson's testimony, and hospital executives who hired Duntsch try to cover their mistake with legal red tape.
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Dr. Death / int_21e5b9c7	type	Failed a Spot Check
Dr. Death / int_21e5b9c7	comment	Failed a Spot Check: Benita is kicking herself on how she got engaged to Paolo before really checking on him only to find his long trail of lies...such as the tiny detail he was married for almost thirty years before they met. There was also his claims of having been a thoracic surgeon at the University of Alabama only to find the university didn't have a thoracic department and being a "personal physician" for the Pope when the Vatican had never heard of him and that the Pope already had plenty of doctors.
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Dr. Death / int_230d64	type	Screw the Rules, I Have Money!
Dr. Death / int_230d64	comment	Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Duntsch believes this to a delusional degree; even when is reputation is shot and the law is closing in, he thinks that if he can get his medical license back, he'll be able to make enough money to get out of trouble.
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Dr. Death / int_234bd900	type	For Science!
Dr. Death / int_234bd900	comment	For Science!: Duntsch tries to rationalize his actions by saying that he needs the money that he'll make from surgery to fund his research. However, his lavish spending, and the fact that he never enters a lab once he's done with residency, might make one doubt his sincerity.
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Dr. Death / int_2364f0d0	type	Bail Equals Freedom
Dr. Death / int_2364f0d0	comment	Bail Equals Freedom: Duntsch thinks so, and the prosecution is worried that he might be right: getting out on bail could buy him enough time to set up shop somewhere else and keep maiming people.
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Dr. Death / int_2727c89a	type	Pride Before a Fall
Dr. Death / int_2727c89a	comment	Pride Before a Fall: Duntsch's entire arc.
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Dr. Death / int_2c27353f	type	Was It Really Worth It?
Dr. Death / int_2c27353f	comment	Was It Really Worth It?: The finale has separate scenes where Svensson, Gamelli and Lasbrey wonder why they should keep fighting when the system is protecting Paolo while Benita likewise asks how she can continue with both parties citing the trope verbatim.
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Dr. Death / int_33ec1e36	type	Army of Lawyers
Dr. Death / int_33ec1e36	comment	Army of Lawyers: Dr. Skadden, Duntsch's former mentor, literally surrounds himself with one when Michelle Shughart visits him in Memphis.
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Dr. Death / int_39de664a	type	Mad Doctor
Dr. Death / int_39de664a	comment	Mad Doctor: The show is called "Dr. Death," after all.
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Dr. Death / int_3a23ba9e	type	C.A.T. Trap
Dr. Death / int_3a23ba9e	comment	C.A.T. Trap: Jerry is already distraught after his surgery, but he really breaks down when he goes into an MRI machine.
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Dr. Death / int_3ae6199a	type	Psychopathic Manchild
Dr. Death / int_3ae6199a	comment	Psychopathic Manchild: Duntsch reacts with petulant anger whenever someone questions his skills and continues to insist that he's a world-class surgeon even as his patients suffer from painful and sometimes fatal side effects, throwing the blame at everyone from the nurses and anesthesiologists to the patients themselves. He also tends to harass nurses, PAs, and fellow physicians like a grade school bully and shows an extreme sense of entitlement in his relationships with others.
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Dr. Death / int_3ed23024	type	Surprisingly Realistic Outcome
Dr. Death / int_3ed23024	comment	Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Dr. Kirby's contempt for rules and regulations doesn't accomplish anything other than driving a wedge between himself and Dr. Henderson.
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Dr. Death / int_4063acfd	type	Woman Scorned
Dr. Death / int_4063acfd	comment	Woman Scorned: A reporter warns Benita that any attempt by her to expose Paolo is only going to come off as her jealous about being dumped. Rather than weakening her resolve, Benita is ready to go forward, convincing the man her version is the truth.
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Dr. Death / int_40bb59d0	type	Blatant Lies
Dr. Death / int_40bb59d0	comment	Blatant Lies: Paolo not only claimed to have been a longtime friend of Pope Francis but operated on the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and numerous other famous people. When representatives for these people deny his claims, Paolo merely says that he has to keep these operations secret because of the high profile people involved. Having already started realizing Paolo is full of crap, Benita is thrown that her gay designer friend totally believes Paolo's tale that the Pope is going to give the designer and his husband holy communion to attend the ceremony. Paolo had also claimed the wedding would be attended by the likes of the Obamas and the Putins, that Andrea Bocelli would sing the wedding song and Enoteca Pinchiorri would cater it. Earlier, Paolo wowed Benita by playing a lovely concerto on a piano. During a brief power failure, the piano suddenly starts playing the same tune by itself, with Benita realizing Paolo was never playing it in the first place.
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Dr. Death / int_40cc0c7e	type	Bittersweet Ending
Dr. Death / int_40cc0c7e	comment	Bittersweet Ending: Paolo gets off with a slap on the wrist to continue practicing medicine and likely threaten other patients. However, his reputation is in tatters and he will face lawsuits. Meanwhile, Benita, Gamelli, Svensson and Lasbrey are able to find new jobs and move on with their lives, knowing they did the right thing by exposing Paolo's true nature.
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Dr. Death / int_440d1d0b	type	Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!
Dr. Death / int_440d1d0b	comment	Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Even though it violates a few rules, a doctor gives Svensson evidence on Paolo's fraudulent data, knowing it's far more important to expose him than let confidentiality rules cost other patients their lives.
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Dr. Death / int_443b78cd	type	Tranquil Fury
Dr. Death / int_443b78cd	comment	Tranquil Fury: Dr. Henderson's testimony at Duntsch's trial is scalding, but Baldwin delivers each word in a calm, graceful manner.
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Dr. Death / int_45db8ec6	type	Cry Laughing
Dr. Death / int_45db8ec6	comment	Cry Laughing: Benita has this when she heads to Italy for the address of Paolo's home, where she was ready to send all her belongings, only to find it's an empty lot.
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Dr. Death / int_4781adbb	type	Jerk with a Heart of Gold
Dr. Death / int_4781adbb	comment	Dr. Kirby, true to form, delivers one every time he meets a person or an institution that in some way enabled Duntsch's madness.
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Dr. Death / int_504a1991	type	Body Horror
Dr. Death / int_504a1991	comment	Body Horror: The results of Macchiarini's surgeries with the plastic windpipes result invariably in horrible complications. They universally include necrosis of the flesh inside of their airways that made it difficult for any of them to breathe.
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Dr. Death / int_55591abc	type	Medicine Show
Dr. Death / int_55591abc	comment	Medicine Show: Duntsch creates a slick infomercial for himself, complete with a testimonial from one of his less-disastrous patients.
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Dr. Death / int_57702a08	type	Digital Deaging
Dr. Death / int_57702a08	comment	Digital De-Aging: Joshua Jackson is deaged to play Duntsch as a college student.
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Dr. Death / int_57d31ad5	type	Determined Doctor
Dr. Death / int_57d31ad5	comment	Determined Doctor: Kirby and Henderson are a new take on this trope: when they get tired of treating Duntsch's patients after he's already butchered them, they go to the law to protect the public from his "care."
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Dr. Death / int_590eb583	type	Domestic Abuse
Dr. Death / int_590eb583	comment	As nasty as his treatment of Wendy is in the show, it was even worse in real life. The show omits the worst of it, such as a time when he beat her so badly while she was pregnant that she needed to go to the emergency room, or an incident after they'd separated when he drunkenly broke into her apartment and was found covered in blood and bruises while holding a knife and gun with a ransom note written in blood nearby.
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Dr. Death / int_5c4d8a9e	type	The Intern
Dr. Death / int_5c4d8a9e	comment	The Intern: Much of the show focuses on Duntsch's training years.
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Dr. Death / int_60194b82	type	Spanner in the Works
Dr. Death / int_60194b82	comment	Spanner in the Works: Benita's investigation into Paolo in Italy is almost derailed when Lasbrey convinces Paolo's Russian patient to cancel a planned surgery so Paolo returns home earlier than expected.
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Dr. Death / int_62edb7a4	type	Wrong Line of Work
Dr. Death / int_62edb7a4	comment	Wrong Line of Work: Invoked as a former classmate says Duntsch was truly gifted in med school but his strength was as a researcher and was totally unsuited for surgical work. She openly says if Duntsch stuck to research, "he'd be living in a mansion in Germantown right now."
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Dr. Death / int_63c1170b	type	Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story
Dr. Death / int_63c1170b	comment	Paolo not only claimed to have been a longtime friend of Pope Francis but operated on the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and numerous other famous people. When representatives for these people deny his claims, Paolo merely says that he has to keep these operations secret because of the high profile people involved.
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Dr. Death / int_6566a884	type	My God, You Are Serious!
Dr. Death / int_6566a884	comment	My God, You Are Serious!: A common reaction to the realization that yes, Duntsch is dead serious about some of his surgical choices. Also Kim's reaction when she realizes not only is he still treating patients after crippling Jerry but he honestly doesn't see why he shouldn't.
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Dr. Death / int_6bd689ca	type	Meaningful Echo
Dr. Death / int_6bd689ca	comment	Meaningful Echo: "Maybe this is a good thing." First Betts says it to Duntsch in regards to his losing his football scholarship, then many years later, Duntsch's father says it to him in regards to him losing his medical license. Both football and medicine are things Duntsch has devoted years of his life to and tried again and again to be accomplished at with no success, but while being forced out of the first one isn't too significant, losing his license will inevitably save lives.
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Dr. Death / int_727a65e0	type	Gaslighting
Dr. Death / int_727a65e0	comment	Gaslighting: As befitting a sociopath con man, Paolo has this in spades. He manages to convince a patient that he saved her life by removing her lung which was completely unneeded.
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Dr. Death / int_76c88b44	type	Meatgrinder Surgery
Dr. Death / int_76c88b44	comment	Meat Grinder Surgery: Duntsch's surgeries are gruesome, his strategies and choices of equipment are bizarre, and every onlooker in his operating rooms is horrified watching him work. He mistakes part of a patient's neck muscle for a tumor, cuts the muscle out for a biopsy, aborts the surgery without having even attempted the cervical repair that he'd promised the patient, and then sews the patient back up... with a sponge still inside. The patient develops a life-threatening infection. Kirby, who is called in to salvage things, likens the surgery to an "attempted murder." He embeds surgical hardware, that was supposed to go into bone, in muscle. Henderson and Kirby point out that this mistake is just as unbelievable in a human body as it would be in a T-bone steak. Instead of cutting a disc with a scalpel, he tries to yank it out with a surgical pliers. Kirby compares this to cutting up a pizza with a pliers instead of a pizza slicer. Another disc surgery sees him amputating a nerve root, leaving the patient's left leg paralyzed. When Henderson performs a revision surgery on one of Duntsch's patients, he notes (with disbelief) the mess Duntsch made, including the dura mater (protective sheath around the spinal cord) dissected, offering no protection to the nerves. Ligaments cut and just hanging loose, bone fragments piercing nerves and otherwise messily smashed into the spinal canal "like putty".
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Dr. Death / int_7a163538	type	Brooklyn Rage
Dr. Death / int_7a163538	comment	Brooklyn Rage: The Chief of Surgery at 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.
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Dr. Death / int_7a1856ba	type	I Reject Your Reality
Dr. Death / int_7a1856ba	comment	I Reject Your Reality: Pretty much Duntsch's entire worldview. It starts from refusing to hear anyone against him to when he's arrested and claiming "I came here on my own" when the cops had to pick him up and then the detective has to spell it out for Duntsch he's under arrest and can't just leave for Denver. Oh and both Duntsch's father and his public defender are stunned silent that Duntsch is seriously talking about getting his medical license back as soon as the trial is done.
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Dr. Death / int_7d89315b	type	"The Reason You Suck" Speech
Dr. Death / int_7d89315b	comment	"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Many are delivered, mostly to Chris by virtually everyone in his life. But he isn't the only one to get these. Dr. Kirby, true to form, delivers one every time he meets a person or an institution that in some way enabled Duntsch's madness. Josh chews Dr. Henderson out at a fancy dinner for giving into the medical bureaucracy and abandoning the Duntsch case once things got difficult. It's just Henderson's imagination, but it persuades Henderson to stop working with the Texas Medical Board and get law enforcement involved.
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Dr. Death / int_7febc23b	type	Establishing Character Moment
Dr. Death / int_7febc23b	comment	Establishing Character Moment: Henderson and Kirby each get one that highlights their differences in personality and sets them up as Foil for each other. Both are introduced performing surgery and seem similarly knowledgeable and experienced, but Henderson conducts himself very staidly and seriously, whereas Kirby is joking around with his staff and seems almost casual about the whole thing.
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Dr. Death / int_81c23aae	type	Bloody Horror
Dr. Death / int_81c23aae	comment	Bloody Horror: When Duntsch's patients begin hemorrhaging, the camera focuses on the blood. During Duntsch's first botched surgery at Baylor, he nicks an artery, resulting in a spray of blood soaking himself and the assisting surgeon in the face.
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Dr. Death / int_8411ab92	type	Red Oni, Blue Oni
Dr. Death / int_8411ab92	comment	Red Oni, Blue Oni: Randall Kirby is hot-blooded and wants to use an emotional argument in his push to stop Duntsch. Robert Henderson is much more sedate and takes a more measured approach to the situation by collecting evidence and testimony so that a case can be built.
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Dr. Death / int_87bb6874	type	Villain with Good Publicity
Dr. Death / int_87bb6874	comment	Villain with Good Publicity: Invoked as Benita's coverage of Paolo had hospitals so convinced he was a "miracle worker" that they blackball the doctors trying to expose him. The worst is the doctors wondering how Paolo got past ethical approval needed for his procedures only to discover he never applied for it and no one bothered to check because they were so sure he was this genius pioneer.
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Dr. Death / int_89e78faf	type	Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization
Dr. Death / int_89e78faf	comment	Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: Duntsch is shown to be wearing scrubs with a large hole at the rear and Josh Baker says he's seen Duntsch wearing them on multiple occasions, indicating that Duntsch doesn't have the fastidious attention to detail and hygiene expected of a surgeon. Jerry wears a pocket square in his shirt pocket, showing that he's unfamiliar with business dress. Kirby almost always dresses more casually than one normally would in a given situation, showing his disdain for rules and procedures. Kim dresses for her job interview with Duntsch as if it were a first date at a dive bar, showing her gold-digging tendencies.
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Dr. Death / int_8d0785d5	type	Didn't Think This Through
Dr. Death / int_8d0785d5	comment	Didn't Think This Through: Invoked by Benita in what Paolo thought was going to happen when 300 people showed up in Italy for a celebrity-filled wedding that didn't exist while she had all her worldly possessions sent to an address that was an empty lot. "What was the plan?" It's indicated this shows how Paolo is so focused on the immediate outcomes that he never has any long-term goals besides his next big payday.
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Dr. Death / int_8d630561	type	Simultaneous Arcs
Dr. Death / int_8d630561	comment	Simultaneous Arcs: The first half of the season is divided between Benita meeting Paolo, falling for his lies only to discover he's a fraud while Svensson and Gamelli uncover Paolo's supposed research is all fraudulent. It then moves to how each side tries to expose the truth.
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Dr. Death / int_9919369d	type	Con Man
Dr. Death / int_9919369d	comment	Con Man: Supposed top surgeon Paolo turns out to be this. All his research is based on fraudulent data and he's been running a score of scams on the side while bragging of non-existent connections to the rich and powerful.
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Dr. Death / int_9a3b7208	type	The Needs of the Many
Dr. Death / int_9a3b7208	comment	The Needs of the Many: This is the excuse one doctor gives Gamelli as to why Karolinska is so adamant about protecting Paolo, because if it comes out they've been backing a fraud who killed patients, their reputation will be shattered and funding will dry up. Gamelli is appalled they're willing to cover a killer to help others.
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Dr. Death / int_9aaf8eca	type	Crippling Overspecialization
Dr. Death / int_9aaf8eca	comment	Crippling Overspecialization: Duntsch gets on Kirby's radar precisely because they have vastly differing specialties, orthopedics and vascular, respectively. Some spinal surgeries require access through the front of the body rather than the back. Orthopedic surgeons, however, lack the training to get to the spine through all the organs so they bring on vascular surgeons to clear the way, so to speak. Kirby came into assist Duntsch, thinking everything would be routine only to get an up-close look at Duntsch's horrifying behavior in the operating room.
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Dr. Death / int_9e1f8fde	type	Good Lawyers, Good Clients
Dr. Death / int_9e1f8fde	comment	Good Lawyers, Good Clients: Averted. Chris is an asshole, but his public defender is a decent person who's just stuck with a delusional lunatic of a client. She refuses to defend Chris's indefensible actions in court, and instead argues that he was poorly trained, never should've practiced in the first place, and that the tragedy came about thanks to flaws that were Inherent in the System. She (almost) convinces him that he won't get his medical license back and will worsen his situation if he keeps trying.
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Dr. Death / int_a1b141f4	type	My God, What Have I Done?
Dr. Death / int_a1b141f4	comment	My God, What Have I Done?: A major push for Benita in exposing Paolo is how she helped him become famous. Lasbrey gets this when a patient she encouraged to totally trust Paolo and his procedure dies. When the widow snaps, "When you remember this day, will you feel shame?" Lasbrey can only give a tearful nod in reply.
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Dr. Death / int_a51fecb4	type	Did You Actually Believe...?
Dr. Death / int_a51fecb4	comment	Did You Actually Believe...?: A reporter chastises Benita on how she could truly think the Pope was going to officiate the wedding for two divorced non-Catholics packed with major celebrities. Benita defends it on how Paolo could convince you of just about anything. At their tribunal hearing, Gamelli says their only mistake was limiting their report to the patients Paolo treated in Sweden rather than all the others abroad. Seeing the confused looks of the presiding doctors, Gamelli dryly asks "you thought there were only three?" After Benita publishes her story on Paolo, she can only laugh off some of the comments of "how dumb was she" as she has to admit they have a point.
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Dr. Death / int_a70223	type	Karma Houdini
Dr. Death / int_a70223	comment	Karma Houdini: After being given evidence of all of Paolo's lies and crimes, the worst he gets from the Swedish courts? A suspended sentence for causing bodily harm, allowing him to continue to practice.note In June of 2023, after production was completed, the courts increased the sentence to two years and six months imprisonment.
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Dr. Death / int_a7382a73	type	Imagine Spot
Dr. Death / int_a7382a73	comment	Imagine Spot: In "An Occurrence at Randall Kirby's", Henderson imagines how he might confront Duntsch and knock him out before deciding on a more prudent course of action.
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Dr. Death / int_ad786c6b	type	Hookers and Blow
Dr. Death / int_ad786c6b	comment	Hookers and Blow: At least Strippers and Blow. Jerry loves this, and he gets Duntsch to join him in Memphis. It's how Duntsch meets Wendy.
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Dr. Death / int_b1dde8fd	type	Loophole Abuse
Dr. Death / int_b1dde8fd	comment	Loophole Abuse: The doctors think they have Paolo because of how he never got ethical approval for his procedures. Paolo just uses the loophole that his patients were in life-threatening conditions and he had no time to wait for red tape.
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Dr. Death / int_b2c20efd	type	Abandon the Disabled
Dr. Death / int_b2c20efd	comment	Abandon the Disabled: Ordinarily, when a surgery goes awry, the surgeon is expected to personally break the news to the patient. Duntsch abandons his patients as soon as they're out of the OR. He does this in an especially cruel way to Jerry, after leaving him a quadriplegic.
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Dr. Death / int_b53077b3	type	Take That!
Dr. Death / int_b53077b3	comment	Take That!: There are some jabs against how the Texas state government and lobbyists watered down malpractice laws to the point that lawyers won't even take civil cases because payout caps are so low. Former Governor Rick Perry is also called out for being in the sway of big business and not knowing much about government.
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Dr. Death / int_c3648b87	type	Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
Dr. Death / int_c3648b87	comment	Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Kirby's eccentricity makes for entertaining TV, but it frustrates Henderson and Shughart a lot.
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Dr. Death / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
Dr. Death / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: "An Occurrence at Randall Kirby's" features a title sequence inspired by the one used by Dallas.
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Dr. Death / int_c83f40d8	type	Bystander Syndrome
Dr. Death / int_c83f40d8	comment	Bystander Syndrome: 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 oust him, but this just leaves him free to set up shop elsewhere and keep butchering patients.
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Dr. Death / int_c868a42a	type	Freudian Excuse
Dr. Death / int_c868a42a	comment	Freudian Excuse: Averted. The show is full of vignettes from Duntsch's youth, but it never suggests that anything in particular made Duntsch into what he became.
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Dr. Death / int_d34cbda2	type	Implausible Deniability
Dr. Death / int_d34cbda2	comment	Implausible Deniability: Episode 7 opens with Duntsch trying to blame everyone else for his mistakes to the point he claims the anesthesiolgist was responsible for a patient who died of blood loss.
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Dr. Death / int_d7c3ba61	type	Race Lift
Dr. Death / int_d7c3ba61	comment	Race Lift: Mostly notably Josh, but also a number of Duntsch's patients. The names are changed and the races are reshuffled. One of the most memorable moments during Duntsch's trial is when one patient, a black man who is a recovering addict, remarks that he could tell that Duntsch was "high as a kite" in the clinic. These exact words were said during the real trial, but the real patient in question, Barry Morguloff, is white.
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Dr. Death / int_d8573ef9	type	Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!
Dr. Death / int_d8573ef9	comment	Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Dr. Skadden, who trains neurosurgeons at the University of Tennessee, takes such a liking to Duntsch that he lets him skip crucial parts of surgical training to focus on his research, and looks the other way when Duntsch's drug and alcohol problems start getting noticed.
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Dr. Death / int_d8979db6	type	Dr. Feelgood
Dr. Death / int_d8979db6	comment	Dr. Feelgood: As a resident, Duntsch runs a side hustle writing prescriptions for ADHD meds.
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Dr. Death / int_dcdde3b	type	Inherent in the System
Dr. Death / int_dcdde3b	comment	Inherent in the System: Downplayed. Duntsch was doubtlessly enabled by Texas's medical-legal systemnote malpractice law in Texas has been neutered by low caps on tort payouts, to the point that civil attorneys won't bother taking cases, 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.
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Dr. Death / int_de7b7cbf	type	Drugs Are Bad
Dr. Death / int_de7b7cbf	comment	Drugs Are Bad: Duntsch's drug habit starts out innocently enough—he actually conceives a novel idea for treating spinal degeneration while he's on LSD—but unfortunately he also gets high in the operating room. By the time he's practicing independently, his drug use is presented in an entirely negative light.
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Dr. Death / int_e35b1a96	type	Everything Is Big in Texas
Dr. Death / int_e35b1a96	comment	Everything is Big in Texas: Again and again, from shoutout to Dallas, to Kirby's character, to the way in which "Big Baylor" Medical Center markets itself.
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Dr. Death / int_e4965307	type	Composite Character
Dr. Death / int_e4965307	comment	Composite Character: The show's portrayal of Randall Kirby is a combination of the real Kirby and R. Mark Hoyle, another vascular surgeon who worked with Dunstch's in the operating room and later testified against him. Hoyle still has a role in the series, but it's reduced to one scene in the OR, with Kirby assuming Hoyle's entire role in the courtroom. Robert Henderson in the series is a combination of the real Henderson, who tirelessly campaigned to end Dunstch's medical career, and Dr. Martin Lazar, who provided expert testimony during the trial to explain how Dunstch botched his surgical procedures. Josh Baker represents multiple medical professionalsnote largely Kyle Kissinger, a OR nurse who observed Dunstch's dirty and torn scrubs and alerted Dallas Medical Center's Chief of Surgery when Dunstch tried to order a craniotomy who saw Duntsch's work and tried to put a stop to him. Kayla Gibson was distilled from various people who knew with Duntsch during medical school and residencynote the person who reported Duntsch's cocaine use to the University of Tennessee was a nurse who happened to be at the same party as Duntsch, but was never romantically involved with him. Her relationship with Duntsch exists to foreshadow Duntsch's abuse of Wendy and Kim.
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Dr. Death / int_ec0ce986	type	Spotting the Thread
Dr. Death / int_ec0ce986	comment	Spotting the Thread: Benita's eyes are opened to Paolo's lies when he claims he'd talked his "good friend" Pope Francis into performing their wedding. But Benita discovered from a friend that Francis would be in South America all that summer. She then started calling up the hotels supposedly set for their wedding/honeymoon (which was to be just a few weeks off) to find none of them had any record of any events set up.
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Dr. Death / int_f1919d5b	type	Being Evil Sucks
Dr. Death / int_f1919d5b	comment	Being Evil Sucks: In the end, Duntsch destroys everything he's 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.
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Dr. Death / int_f6b2bfb7	type	Gold Digger
Dr. Death / int_f6b2bfb7	comment	Kim dresses for her job interview with Duntsch as if it were a first date at a dive bar, showing her gold-digging tendencies.
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Dr. Death / int_fcd9b657	type	Gallows Humor
Dr. Death / int_fcd9b657	comment	Gallows Humor: After reading one of Duntsch's poems, Kirby snarks that he may actually be a worse poet than a surgeon.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Dr. Death	hasFeature	Acquainted with Emergency Services / int_8aea537f
Dr. Death	hasFeature	Answer Cut / int_8aea537f
Dr. Death	hasFeature	Did You Actually Believe...? / int_8aea537f
Dr. Death	hasFeature	Meatgrinder Surgery / int_8aea537f
Dr. Death	hasFeature	Mother Russia Makes You Strong / int_8aea537f
Dr. Death	hasFeature	Second-Face Smoke / int_8aea537f
Dr. Death	hasFeature	The Snack Is More Interesting / int_8aea537f
Dr. Death	hasFeature	Would Harm a Senior / int_8aea537f

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