‘Dr Death’ Stars Share Why They Think Christopher Duntsch Botched So Many Spinal Surgeries

(Warning: This post contains spoilers through the finale of Peacock’s “Dr. Death.”)

Hubris? Improper training? Malicious intent? Ignorance? Negligence? There are a lot of explanations proposed for why the real-life subject of Peacock’s “Dr. Death” limited series, neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Joshua Jackson), maimed and killed so many patients who came in for complex but routine procedures. In the show’s finale, it falls to assistant district attorney Michelle Shughart (AnnaSophia Robb) to convince a jury that it wasn’t primarily Duntsch’s poor training, but his own nature that made him harm these people — just as the real Shughart did when she got Duntsch sentenced to life in prison in 2017 on an elder abuse charge against one of his patients.