Dr. Death

by Wondery
87,176
True Crime #52

We’re at our most vulnerable when we go to our doctors. But what happens when we can’t trust them? Dr. Death is the award-winning series hosted by Laura Beil, now in its fourth season: Bad Magic.

Need more Dr. Death? With Wondery+, you can listen to all episodes, unlock exclusive content, get early access to upcoming episodes, and enjoy an always ad-free experience. Start your free trial in the Wondery App or visit wondery.com/links/dr-death/ now.

When a charismatic young doctor announces revolutionary treatments for cancer and HIV, patients from around the world turn to him for their last chance. As medical experts praise Serhat Gumrukcu’s genius, the company he co-founded rockets in value to over half a billion dollars. But when a team of researchers makes a startling discovery, they begin to suspect the brilliant doctor is hiding a secret.

Season 3: Paolo is a smart and handsome surgeon, renowned for his ability to perform surgeries that transform his patients’ lives. When television producer Benita covers him for a story, he’ll transform her life too, but not in the ways she expects. As Benita crosses professional lines to be with him, she learns how far Paolo will go to protect his secrets. And halfway around the world, four doctors at a prestigious medical institute make shocking discoveries of their own that call everything into question.

Season 2: If someone you love is diagnosed with cancer you want them to get the best treatment from the best doctors. In 2013, patients in Michigan thought Farid Fata was that doctor. Between his prestigious education, years of experience and pleasant bedside manner, Fata was everything you could want in a doctor. But he was not who he appeared to be. From Wondery, this is the story of hundreds of patients in Michigan, a doctor, and a poisonous secret.

Season 1: We’re at our most vulnerable when we go to our doctors. We trust the person at the other end of that scalpel. We trust the hospital. We trust the system. Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away. But soon his patients started to experience complications, and the system failed to protect them. Which begs the question: who - or what - is that system meant to protect? From Wondery, the network behind the hit podcast Dirty John, Dr. Death is a story about a charming surgeon, 33 patients and a spineless system.

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Recent Reviews
  • JayLou1208
    Mostly good
    Seasons 1 and 2 were really good and super interesting. Season 3 is laughable in the way it’s told from the viewpoint of a scorned woman who was too idiotic to see what she was involved with from the beginning. She was also apparently a “journalist” for NBC for 16 years, but was so easily manipulated into this ridiculous situation of elaborate and clearly false lies? She proved throughout that she has zero integrity and was extremely self serving. Season 3 diminishes the impact on the people who were affected by this doctor’s actions and instead focuses on this stupid story of vengeance and “justice” from the scorned lover. Season 3 adds nothing of overall substance to the series and in my opinion was a waste of resources and waste of an opportunity to shed real light on the misdeeds of this particular doctor. Instead we’re given some feel good redemption story of someone who barely matters in the overall context of what he did as a medical professional to be showcased on a show titled Dr. Death. Shame on you.
  • GL324
    So compelling!!
    Please do the Dr. Ben Brown case next!!
  • ReeRee68
    Bingeworthy!
    Wow!! Who would have thought such a scam could get so big. Kudos for being brave enough to expose yourself to reveal his truth. Every women wants a perfect love that rocks her world. I’m sorry yours was such a disaster. I’m not sure if it’s easier to believe or not believe he had true feelings for you. Wishing you well. Thanks for sharing.
  • PookaD
    Captivating, infuriating and heartbreaking.
    Diificult to get through some episodes but so enthralling I had to listen.
  • Dittyknitty
    Narrator
    This narrator is so boring that I can’t even pay attention to Season 4 and had to rewind each episode numerous times. She needs to read bedtime stories instead
  • Lisa2018 OK
    Bingeworthy
    Season four is as crazy as the other seasons. I cant stop listening! Each season I’ve binged
  • AmandaTheNailGirl
    Egh
    Season 1 & 2 were great season 3 ruined it all. This is a story wev all heard before except this version is mostly the scorned lover. It’s cringe worthy listening to this woman talk about how smart and strong she is when she’s going to the ends of the earth to get more and more proof that this guy is a con. Should have been more about his medical misconduct not his shady love life. Ugh don’t bother with season 3.
  • Disheveledsnskr
    Old pod, new paywall
    No. I will never, ever pay for a podcast, and I’ll never, ever recommend an old pod you stuck behind a new paywall.
  • RNODPL
    I’m not a huge true crime guy
    I will be up front, this ain’t my genre. It is well produced and researched. If this is something that you eat up, then this will be a 5/5 for you. As for me, it’s another true crime podcast in a sea of similar podcasts. The only difference is that this one comes in medical flavor.
  • Elan S K
    Locked out…unless you pay them
    Unless you’re subscribed you’ll never get access
  • Beige Beauty
    Missed the Mark
    Season 4 missed the mark.
  • MorganTate
    good podcast
    love listening to this
  • bunnyreebs
    Season Four Review
    I actually really enjoyed season 4. What a fascinating story and deeply troubling for ethics that so many people completely ignored the major red flags. Also the fact that he was an actual magician was darkly funny. My issue is that Wondery seems to not realize the deep irony of putting ads for betterhelp in a podcast about medical scams. That website is a joke and the fact that podcasts who tell stories about crime, murder and scams take their ad money is morally bankrupt.
  • USA Mknitter
    Season 4 - an Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos copycat?
    Thanks for this enlightening podcast. Sounds like another Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos copy cat. 😩 The same old but wise adage: “If it sounds to good to be true, then it’s not true.” Then, asking the next question, “Can AI really help in medicine?”
  • Ida BlackSheep
    Season 4 missed the mark
    Seasons 1-3 are great, season 4 however is terrible. It’s not really even about a doctor, it’s a financial scam that could have been covered in one 25 minute episode. Season 4 was boring, confusing and a waste of time.
  • Inquisitively
    Season 4 is a dud
    I enjoyed the 1st 3 seasons bit season 4 was painfully boring. This one was a miss.
  • Jen 13244
    The first season was amazing
    This podcast has progressively gone down hill with each season. The two seasons was an in-depth medical malpractice story. The third season was romance con with a touch of surface medical malpractice subplot. The fourth is all about a conman with a guest appearance my medical malpractice. I suspect a big reason why they aren’t focusing on the medical malpractice is because there isn’t as much public information and medical professionals willing to talk medicine about the doctors featured in later season. I doubt I’ll listen to season 5.
  • BRKRK84
    Season 4 missed the mark
    Loved the first 3 seasons but this one was uninteresting and confusing with too many characters and tangents. Won’t recommend it to my fellow listeners.
  • jisatx
    AWFUL
    Compared to the first 3 Dr Deaths, this 4th season was beyond disappointing. Hardly a “Dr” and a truly boring story that should have been one episode.
  • MariTheMonster96
    Great podcast for road trips
    Really enjoyed all 4 seasons. Laura you’re a great podcaster!
  • Lf68528
    This is about two episodes of material
    Stretched out with a bunch of ads. Could have been an email. No thanks
  • cosmoslinn
    Mr.life
    Looked
  • EtM80
    Kinda disappointed
    I was looking forward to this, because I loved the first 3 seasons. This one just kinda missed the mark. It seems like it has the potential to be a great story, but by the end I was confused & it was anticlimactic. I thought maybe it was just my ADHD & short term memory issues (since I had to wait between episodes). But I looked at other reviews and realized that I’m not the only one.
  • Teon77
    Season 4
    Nope. Horrible, really missed the mark
  • Kmf724
    Another great podcast!
    Excellent reporting, and very interesting podcast series. Can’t wait until the next one! And, of course, love Laura!
  • KJ2.0
    Bad Magic
    I’m finding this season particularly confusing. There are a lot of people/names involved and a lot of jumping around back and forth between different cities and victims. A new episode with start in a new city and a new victim and I don’t know what happened to the last guy in the last episode? Not even sure if I’ll finish the season.
  • Tangle70
    Looking forward to the next season
    Great podcast! Looking forward to listening to the next season!
  • ghrifhebs
    Season 4…
    Season one and two were incredibly well done. Season 4 missed the mark in so many ways. I didn’t know how to rate it because the first two seasons were perfection. Season 4 may not deserve 2 stars.
  • crime cara
    All good
    I’ve enjoyed all seasons of this podcast. Laura has a great voice and easy to listen to. The Drs investigated are horrible people and I’m glad they’re talked about.
  • bukkazi
    Eh
    Season 1 was amazing but everything else that followed has been rapidly diminishing in quality
  • Girl With The Bandaid Tattoo
    Can it get any worse than season 4?
    Actually, I don't think I'll stick around to find out. The first two seasons were fantastic, third season not bad, but this one is a HUGE disappointment. First off, the "doctor" is not actually even a doctor. He's a con man whose closest thing to being a Dr. Death is that he has conned a couple of sick people out of a ton of money, and only gave them mistletoe and B-17 in exchange, which did nothing for their illnesses. Furthermore, it just drags. There's so much detail that has absolutely no relevance to the story. it actually doesn't matter that the guy took the day off because he wanted to feel like everyone else, have a few hours to himself, just enjoy Manhattan, drinking coffee in a sidewalk café, leaning back with the sun on his face, blah, blah, blah... If you've only got a 90 minute story, tell it in 90 minutes and be done with it.
  • Lorraine Genco
    Disappointed
    The first 3 seasons were awesome. I couldn’t get past episode 2 of this new 4th season. When it’s about people being victimized because they refused to pay attention to the HUGE red flags…they are responsible for their own victimization and glaring lack of due diligence.
  • TfromtheSAV
    Season 4…
    No thanks!!!
  • aab8709
    S4 is the worst by far
    Really wanted to like this season but the episodes were short and full of ads. At one point almost 3 minutes of ads had played before the show started up again. Episode one was the most interesting, the rest were EH.
  • Nunya4584
    Season 3
    I loved seasons 1 and 2. My rating has to do with Season 3. I cannot tell you how much I DO NOT care about the woman in the third season. She’s upset about missing a wedding, meanwhile this surgeon killed people. The imbalanced focus on her story is actually offensive to the victims of this surgeon. Do better please.
  • Cara -123
    Season 4 stinks
    This story could have been told in one 1.5-2 hour podcast. Instead, they’re drawing it out to make it seem more interesting than it is. With commercials, each episode is about 15 mins long and completely disjointed from previous episodes. I have no interest in hearing more about the main character. He’s a scam artist, period. Not like previous Dr. Death seasons where they discuss real doctors and delve into the lives of the patients they have destroyed.
  • christineh216
    Not the best season
    I love the first couple of seasons and was excited for this one, but really struggled to get into it and found it wasn’t able to capture me as well as the first ones. Perhaps the next season will be better!
  • losteningqueen
    Too much too fast
    Interesting story, but hard to keep up with so many threads in such short time.
  • kdhebxhes
    Misleading
    Season 4 is an Interesting crime series, that does not involve a true physician. It is misleading. At best it is a story about greed, about human nature and how we respond to desperation. However, the Serhat was never a doctor.
  • littlemisshorrornerd
    Great show
    I do love this podcast & have listened to all of the seasons however S4 was way too short!
  • crewsn811
    Very interesting!
    My favorite of Wondery’s hosts. Very informative and delivered the information in a well written timeline. The story itself is fascinating and tragic. I hate waiting for the episodes to be released but the story is gripping!
  • Cosette1231
    Not as well covered as the previous episodes
    Nonetheless, best Podcast in the Podcast Universe. I wish the reporter would have gone deeper into the science this evil man was selling, and the crazy remedies he concocted.
  • dalililylama
    I wondery why..
    All wondery podcasts require subscriptions. If that’s the case just make the first episode subscription only. Bye wondery.
  • Pikostar
    I loved the previous seasons
    But this one, so far, seems extra biased. This Dr. seems very interesting actually. Unconventional, and the magic habits and “New Age” beliefs aren’t weird to me. Nor do they detract from his medical accomplishments.
  • Mae Har
    Laughing?
    Too much laughing in season 4
  • DylanOnTheMoon
    Drag…
    You lost me at drag, then the whole HIV thing made sense… better luck next season.
  • Deoo1997
    Season 3
    First and second season were amazing 3rd just felt more like it was about the other journalist rather than the doctor
  • -guardian-
    Title
    I like it but you have to pay. Free for me though because my mom payed for it. Lol
  • 082691
    Why does she talk like that?
    Jessica Rabbit wannabe makes my head hurt. I’ll wait for the television documentary.
  • Growoffsomesteam
    Fourth season?
    I absolutely loved and binged on seasons 1-3. I hope that season 5 comes back with a bang. Unfortunately, the 4th season feels incomplete and was not nearly as gripping.
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