{"id":549,"date":"2019-11-18T21:17:24","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T05:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/?p=549"},"modified":"2020-10-10T17:19:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T00:19:34","slug":"dr-death-spineless-free-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/2019\/11\/18\/dr-death-spineless-free-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Death – “Spineless” & “Free Fall”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two dead patients and four others maimed, Christopher\nDuntsch\u2019s actions as an amateur neurosurgeon depict the fatal flaw behind our\nUnited States healthcare system, and the influence of greed. Episodes four and\nfive of Dr. Death <\/em>continue to follow narrator Laura Beil, as she directs\nlisteners through the aftermath of Duntsch\u2019s crimes. The episode \u201cSpineless,\u201d\nand \u201cFree Fall,\u201d have further opened my eyes to the greater issue at hand \u2013 the\nmisconduct and secrecy behind hospital organizations, and their desires to hide\nthe truth. When the nation\u2019s healthcare system continues to act upon injustice,\nit leaves room for multiple Dr. Death\u2019s to roam the country \u2013 Christopher\nDuntsch was merely a single pawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cSpineless\u201d\nbegins with an interview between Beil, and BJ Ellison, a previous office\nmanager for Duntsch. Ellison was an adversary of Duntsch\u2019s, being well-aware of\nhis corrupt, unethical behaviors. Pleading other hospitals to \u201cnot let him near\nany patient,\u201d her reaction to his continued privileges are the same as the\nlisteners \u2013 how? To me, I felt as though this episode was one of the first\ntimes in which listeners are able to remain on the same page as the characters \u2013\nall physicians and former associates of Duntsch are as shocked as we are to\nhear that his medical privileges lasted beyond his crimes. Baylor Plano Medical\nCenter plays a critical role in listener\u2019s frustrations, being one of the\nprimary hospitals in which Duntsch had hurt others. Frustration in her voice,\nBeil describes the hospital\u2019s wrongdoings with great angst, failing to report\nDuntsch to both the Texas Medial Board and National Practitioner Databank. If\nBaylor had reported Duntsch\u2019s actions to these powers, suspension would\u2019ve\noccurred within days. Attempting to further dive into the mistakes of Baylor,\nBeil emphasizes various questions she had for Baylor in the form of attempted\nphone calls \u2013 none of which were ever connected. Action was only ever taken when\nanother hospital, one that hadn\u2019t even hired Duntsch yet, had contacted the Texas\nMedical Board. This notification resulted in a long, slow process, estimated to\nhave taken months to conduct. \u201cSpineless\u201d greatly identified the greed and\ncorruption behind hospitals around the country \u2013 most don\u2019t report bad doctors\nout of the fear of financial repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cFree\nFall\u201d \u2013 an episode that highlights Duntsch\u2019s downward spiral to madness. This\nepisode mostly follows Dr. Henderson and Kirby from previous episodes, as they furthered\ntheir attempts at reporting Duntsch. Taking matters into his own hands, Kirby\ncontacts the Texas Medical Board himself, writing an email in which Duntsch is described\nas a sociopath, \u201cthe most careless, clueless, and dangerous spine surgeon he\nhas ever seen.\u201d Listeners finally heard triumph \u2013 Duntsch\u2019s medical license was\nfinally suspended in the year 2014. This success, however, didn\u2019t prove to be\nan ultimate solution. Professionals, former patients, everyone wanted to ensure\nthat there was no possibility of Duntsch to ever obtain a license ever again.\nNot even the police were able to recognize that this man was a murderer,\nbelieving that a suspended license would be the solution to all problems.\nHaving become a spectacle in the public eye \u2013 news outlets, social media\nplatforms, the Texas Medical Board had permanently stripped Duntsch of a\nmedical license. This removal, however, was only the beginning for Duntsch\u2019s descent\ninto madness \u2013 he became involved in different crimes and accidents, was caught\nshoplifting, and even began replying to comments on social media pages,\nattempting to redeem himself. Concluding this episode with an interrogation,\nlisteners hear Duntsch\u2019s voice for the first time; there\u2019s a sense of grief\nlistening to his claims of perfect procedure \u2013 the sounds of a defeated man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In my\nopinion, these two episodes were some of the most interesting to hear; the\naftermath of Duntsch\u2019s actions coming into full view, I recognized a sense of\njustice hearing of the various reprimands. Beil provided great detail into the\nmechanisms and logistics behind the powers of the Texas Medical board, and gave\ninsight into the means in which such dangerous surgeons are to actually be\nreported. Not only that, but these episodes broadened my perspective on the\nworld of healthcare, the fears and corruption that lie beyond it. Continuing to\nutilize an interview format, in addition to various television clips and sound\nbites, the audience is able to interact with these episodes as well. A specific\nexample that comes to mind are the interviews performed between Beil and BJ \u2013\nlisteners are asking the same questions as Beil regarding Duntsch\u2019s actions,\nand BJ\u2019s responses purely resemble what people are thinking. Additionally, Beil\u2019s\nuse of sound and music continue to portray various moods and tones throughout\nthe podcast. A quick phone call, or even an interrogation, sound quality adapts\nto various scenarios in order to make these situations appear realistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Lastly,\ndespite this podcast being something of great interest to me, I feel as though\nthere is one subject in which Beil could have bettered. Dr. Death <\/em>introduces\na multitude of characters, bringing new ones into each episode whilst returning\nto various characters as well. With this many characters surrounding the\npivotal Christopher Duntsch, it\u2019s become increasingly difficult to remember who\neach character is. There are often times in which Beil merely throws various\nnames out, and I must stop and recollect in order to remember one single name. The\npodcast may revolve around Duntsch, however these additional characters deserve\ngreater recognition in the roles they play in his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word Count: 897<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two dead patients and four others maimed, Christopher Duntsch\u2019s actions as an amateur neurosurgeon depict the fatal flaw behind our United States healthcare system, and the influence of greed. Episodes four and five of Dr….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-engl200c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":550,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions\/550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mattpoland.net\/sherlockpod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}