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Good News For 'Dr. Death' Fans, A Docuseries Detailing The Real Events Is Coming
“Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story” features interviews with people who knew, loved and loathed doctor Christopher Duntsch.
The true story behind the new Peacock series “Dr. Death” will soon be told in an original docuseries.
“Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story” will stream on Peacock on July 29. The four-part series offers an intense dive into the real crimes that the dramatized series “Dr. Death” is based upon.
The fictionalized version stars Joshua Jackson as Dallas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch. In the show, fellow physicians — neurosurgeon Robert Henderson, played by Alec Baldwin and vascular surgeon Randall Kirby, played by Christian Slater — seek to end Duntsch's disastrous streak of surgical errors.
The real Duntsch became known as “Dr. Death” after a series of his patients were gravely injured in surgery. Two of Duntsch's surgical patients died. He was sentenced to life behind bars in 2017 after a jury found him guilty of injury to an elderly person. While he was originally indicted on six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon— the indictment listed “hands and surgical tools” as his deadly weapons, according to court documents — prosecutors chose to focus on victim Mary Efurd, since the injuries to her were felonious and carried the harshest penalties, according to a 2017 Washington Post report. The series is an adaptation of Wondery’s true crime podcast “Dr. Death". Oxygen dedicated a 2019 episode of “License to Kill” to the case, entitled “Deadly God Complex.”
While the case has received plenty of media attention, Peacock’s “Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story” will mark the first docuseries on the actual events. It promises to “offer audiences the chance to hear and see the whole story, told by the real people who survived it,” according to a press release marking the show’s announcement.
There will be interviews with the real-life Dr. Robert Henderson and Dr. Randall Kirby as well as conversations with people who knew “Dr. Death.” Jerry Summers, Duntsch’s best friend who was paralyzed following two surgeries and died this year, Duntsch's ex-girlfriend Wendy Young, as well as others who knew him in and out of the hospital will speak out.
