- Look, I had my pick of hospitals,
and not just in Texas... Around the country.
Around the world, if we're being honest.
I'm talking about top spinal centers.
But the reason I chose
is because I believe in
building something from the ground up
and really entrenching the culture
into the DNA of the hospital, make sure that every doctor
that walks through those doors after me
knows how to do things the proper way,
'cause I'm gonna change how we do surgery here in Texas,
bring it into the 21st century.
- Rolling out the red carpet for this guy,
offering him heaven and Earth.
Doesn't make any sense.
So what's the plan to deal with this human hot air balloon?
- It's incubating.
- Well, we're off to a rollicking start.
I ever tell you the broken arm story I heard in Landstuhl?
- No, and I don't want to hear it now.
- It was right after Operation Phantom Fury.
The Marines got this guy, Abdul something-or-other.
He and his men had been leading these guerrilla attacks
in Afghanistan, took out a bunch of Humvees.
He's interrogated, doesn't say a word.
They must have had him five, six days.
They get these orders to release him.
Everybody knows he's the bastard
who's been attacking 'em, but now they gotta let him go.
So you know what they did?
They broke both arms in four different places,
wrapped him up, sent him on his way.
Never heard from him again.
- So you're saying that we should
break Duntsch's arms?
- Abso-fuckin'-lutely.
- Before it was his hands, and now it's his arms?
- I'll settle for his fingers.
My God.
- Feel free to share your nuggets of brilliance.
- There's Sasani. We should go and talk to him.
- Discuss our way to justice?
Sexy plan, per usual.
- I'm more than happy to do this on my own.
- Lead the way.
- A city with a thriving medical community.
But in looking around, UG wanted to find a niche,
areas where we could specialize,
provide quality health care for those who don't have millions...
- Congratulations, bud.
You wanted a neurosurgeon, you hired a Neanderthal.
- This is Dr. Randall Kirby. We were in med school together.
Been a kidder all his life.
- Ever the kidder. - Now may we talk in private?
- Well, we want to stick around,
sing like canaries so everybody can hear.
La-la-la-la-la!
- Please come with me.
Dr. Kirby, would you grab me a cocktail, a margarita,
spicy, with one of those little umbrellas in it?
So I take it you heard about Duntsch.
I've only heard good things.
I've got X-rays of his handiwork
in the trunk of my car.
I could pass them out as party favors here.
- Thought you were supposed to be the nice one.
- That's funny.
- He received a clean letter from Baylor.
There was no negative reports from Dallas Medical,
nothing in the National Practitioner's Data Bank.
- You've got to fire him. - On what grounds?
- Whatever grounds you come up with.
Isn't Baylor-Plano.
We don't have investors lined up at the door.
Hate to be crass, but the average neurosurgeon
is worth $2.4 million in revenue.
Our entire mission is to provide affordable health care
to low-income patients who've been turned away
by every other hospital in the city.
- Duntsch is not the only game in town.
- I just hired him.
If I fire him without incident, I'll be facing a lawsuit.
- So morality equals, what, dollars and cents?
- If you've got some kind of personal vendetta against him,
that's your matter, not mine.
And you'd better be prepared to be called
the surgeon that turns against his colleagues.
Now, I would have expected that kind of behavior from Kirby,
but not from someone of your stature.
I'm so sorry.
- So...
So was he fired or was he allowed to resign?
- That's confidential, Dr. Henderson.
- Your hospital did not report him
to the Texas Medical Board.
You did not report him to the Data Bank.
- He had temporary privileges.
- So you weren't required to.
You called me to perform the revision surgery on Mrs. Beyer.
- Yes, I did.
- So you saw firsthand what he did to her,
what he did to Dorothy Burke.
And after all that,
Dallas Medical let him walk away.
- They were untoward outcomes,
and we did what we thought was best.
- Except for the patients.
- Every neurosurgeon makes mistakes, Dr. Henderson.
Have you had complications in your career?
Someday the untoward outcome could be your own.
And you wouldn't want a rogue doctor
breaking up your welcome party.
- I'll have a shot
of whatever's closest to your hand.
I think I figured it out.
You wanted him under an exclusive contract
with your hospital.
Someone like Duntsch, from a program like Semmes-Murphey,
he's the perfect target.
Not only is he marketable,
but Baylor makes a profit off of every procedure he performs.
So if the hospital makes significantly more money
from the ones it owns as opposed to the doctors
who only have privileges, then it is about
the goddamn bottom line in the end, am I right?
- Got a minute? - Yes, sir. Please. Sit.
- You told me you were going to stop him.
- What are you doing here?
- They're throwing a party for him.
- Well, I know you're frustrated, and so am I,
but I've got it under control.
- Under control? How, exactly?
- There's a process. - What process?
Mrs. Beyer could have died. Dorothy Burke did, she died.
And how about that hole in Elaine Johnson's esophagus?
- Hey, whatever it is you think you're gonna accomplish today,
I guarantee you it's not gonna work.
I've used every tool in this system
available to me to stop him.
I contacted the Medical Board.
I filed a report. I talked with Skadden.
- And you've accomplished nothing, Robert.
All of the mechanisms that are in place
to deal with these problems have failed.
Your system has failed.
I've always respected you.
I thought you were a man of high moral standing,
but you're just another spoke in the wheel.
- Do I know you?
- We never met.
You look so familiar.
Just one of those faces, I guess.
- I know you.
- Well, I am the man of the hour.
Mind passing me a towel? I'm out over here.
Dr. Christopher Duntsch.
- Robert Henderson.
Robert Henderson.
You're the one who turned me in to the Texas Medical Board.
- I am.
You came for me, and I'm still here.
Why is that?
- Well, I can't figure out if you're just incompetent
or you're doing all this on purpose,
and that makes you insane.
- Did you know that people used to say that Nikola Tesla
was possessed by demons?
Regular folk had to come up with a negative label
'cause they just couldn't comprehend his genius.
- I've gone over all of your cases,
and I don't see any signs of genius at all.
- That's because you're staring into the sun.
My surgeries were perfect.
Every one.
Now,
circulating nurses, X-ray techs,
administrators, they can all be so distracting.
We've all had complications, right?
Even you, Robert.
Woodland Arp comes to mind, doesn't he?
It's all so human, isn't it?
You look at someone like me,
someone younger, smarter,
more capable,
just filling up all the spaces,
sucking up all the oxygen.
And then there's you.
Tired, old, weak.
- I'm gonna revoke your medical license.
- Well, shit. You can try.
Maybe you'll even succeed.
But if you take my license in Texas,
there's still 49 other states.
Hell, there's an entire world out there.
And everybody's looking for a good surgeon
with good credentials.
But if you come for me,
you better be ready for what I'm gonna do to you.
I will take your money.
I will take your career.
I will take what little reputation you've ever had.
You want to hit me?
Go ahead, Robert.
I'm right here.
That's what I thought.
You don't...
Hey!
If you need a plunger, there's one under the sink.
- We're not going to Duntsch's welcome party.
- Come on, you gotta be shitting me.
What the hell happened in here?
- It's not gonna work.
We've exhausted every possibility.
- So what do you wanna do?
You wanna roll over on your back,
put your little paws up in the air?
- Afternoon. - Good afternoon, Doctor.
- Everyone in here today get a chance to meet Dr. Duntsch?
- Welcome, Dr. Duntsch.
- I just wanna say how thankful I am
to have each and every one of you on my team.
- Today, we're gonna do a TLIF at the L4-L5 level.
It's gonna be challenging for me to do a surgery
from over here, Dr. Duntsch.
Perhaps you'd allow me to squeeze in right there,
since you're assisting.
Scalpel.
I'm gonna need a scalpel, Dr. Duntsch.
- I thought that you were going to be observing my surgeries.
- Why is that?
- Because that's what you told me in my interview.
Well, apologies for your misunderstanding.
Bovie.
I didn't...
Misunderstand anything.
- If it's all the same to you,
we should have this conversation at a later,
more appropriate time, Dr. Duntsch.
Retractor.
- How long until I'm doing my own surgeries?
- Well, I guess we're having this conversation right now.
Dr. Sompura is one of my finest surgeons.
He assisted me for three years,
plus an additional two years under my supervision
prior to his performing solo procedures.
- Five years? I graduated top of my class.
I'm quite aware of your qualifications.
You've reminded me several times.
That's why you were hired.
This is where you hone your education to skills.
I need to concentrate.
So if you're not prepared to assist,
please step outside.
I can finish on my own. Suction, please.
- You don't need to worry about it.
He just wants you to get your sea legs under you.
It makes sense.
Come on down here and let's eat.
You're the one who is so desperately hungry.
- Yeah, I'm almost done. - What do you want?
The chow mein or the fried rice?
- Looks good. Um, Kung Pao.
- We need to get the fish tank started.
I was thinking something exotic.
You should be writing this stuff down.
- I'm eating.
- We need art for the walls as well.
Expensive art.
From that... damn.
What's the name of that fancy gallery?
- Um, the mall guy? Kinkade?
- No. no. The mall guy.
Sotheby's.
We need at least two or three pieces of art from Sotheby's.
And I want you to coordinate with Jerry about the floors
'cause I don't want any of that cheap-ass vinyl shit.
I want it wall-to-wall marble.
I want the patients to feel like they're walking on glass.
- Is that okay for people with bad backs?
- Because I want the patients wowing when they come in.
You know, like they just walked into Graceland.
- You sure you wanna do all this right away?
It's gonna get expensive quick.
- Wendy, when a patient is choosing between me
and Dr. O'Connor with a boring office,
who do you think they're gonna choose, okay?
Which one are they going to remember?
Trust me, it's gonna pay for itself.
And I don't need to get my sea legs.
- What?
- I know how to operate.
- I get it. - So fuck Bishara.
Fuck Bishara.
You ever thought of nursing school?
- No.
- I thought that was every stripper's dream,
to pay for nursing school.
- I don't do that anymore.
- I'm not saying it in a bad way.
I just think you have potential.
I think you're amazing.
You're smart, smarter than half the nurses
I've ever worked with.
What?
Okay, then if not nursing, then what?
What is it that you want to do?
- Honestly?
I just want to be a mom.
Making school lunches,
giving them those cute, little fruit cups for their snack
or...
I don't know, maybe even homeschool them.
I know it's old-fashioned,
but my Aunt Josephine, the one that lives in Ferris,
she did it, and all of her kids are in college now, so...
I just...
- What?
- I guess I just thought you had
so much more potential, you know?
You know, I think you're amazing.
You're basically the pinnacle of human evolution.
Two X chromosomes. Plus, you're smart.
- You keep telling me I'm smart
like you're trying to convince yourself that I am.
- I'm trying to be supportive.
- It feels manipulative. - Manipulative?
- You didn't say anything about me becoming a nurse
when we were in Memphis.
And now all of a sudden we're here...
- I'm just trying to help you out.
- You got this fancy new clinic...
- You're blowing this way out of proportion.
- And you're trying to force me to go to nursing school.
Don't point your fork at me!
Are you embarrassed by me, Chris?
- Of course not. I'm just making a suggestion.
I'm just trying to help you out.
Wendy, come on. Just...
- No. It's fine. - Okay. Hey.
You know what? You're right. I'm sorry.
Forget I said anything. I just...
I'm wrong. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
What's next? "What's my greatest weakness?"
- That was gonna be my third question.
When I was looking for space for my clinic,
I saw this vacant, eight-story building over on Frankford.
It wasn't much, needs a lot of work,
but I want to turn it
into a multibillion-dollar neurosurgical center.
Everything state-of-the-art and all in-house.
Diagnostics, surgery, PT, nutrition, the works.
- In five years?
Meteoric rise, wouldn't you say?
- I thought that was a conservative estimate.
- Fortunately for MISI, Dr. Skadden didn't lock you up.
- Dr. Skadden is an amazing doctor
and a great friend and mentor.
And for sure,
the easy path for me would have been to stay in Memphis.
But I wanted to challenge myself, expand my horizons.
Plus, I was getting recruited from New York, San Diego,
even UCLA.
- How do you like working with Dr. Bishara?
- He has a very particular way of doing things.
- I know he's partial to keeping the training wheels
on all his surgeons.
- It would be nice to be doing my own surgeries.
- Sure.
Otherwise, what's the point of paying you all that money?
MISI is a fine institution.
And please don't take this the wrong way,
but I think for someone of your pedigree,
it's a step backwards.
You've studied under some of the best surgeons in the world.
Your work at DiscGenics seems groundbreaking.
- You've been in contact with DiscGenics.
- We reached out.
They said you stepped away from your day-to-day obligations,
but you're still a board member.
Lucky for us, you did.
You should join the Baylor family.
We're better suited for you than MISI.
Well, MISI recruited me.
I guess that call from Baylor must have got lost in the mail.
- That was our mistake. I admit it.
But the timing couldn't be more perfect for you.
We're in the process of new accreditation.
The plan is to offer an even wider array
of surgical services.
We're expanding our network of hospitals around Texas
and need to recruit top surgeons to handle the influx.
So from my perspective, you're central to our plans,
and we can be to yours.
- I'm under contract.
- If your hesitation is about the 600,000 advance
MISI gave you, I wouldn't worry about it.
- Well, I don't exactly have
that kind of money just laying around.
- We have a relationship with Frost Bank.
They can set you up with a loan to help pay it off
and cover the expenses
associated with opening a clinic.
- I'm still not seeing the fine print.
- I'm gonna lift the velvet rope for you, okay?
You're gonna be successful here.
Whatever you need, just make it known to me.
We have marketing consultants to help build your brand,
expand your business.
Obviously, we can't point patients your way,
but we help you draw them in.
If everything goes as I imagine it will,
one day, you'll be chief of neurological surgery.
I can't be married to just one institution.
I have to be free to pursue my own interests.
- Seems to me you're looking for a springboard
to launch your career.
What better place to do that than Big Baylor?
One day, your name's gonna be up there
for all the world to see.
I assume you're a sports fan?
- America's Snoretime. - Come on, Jerry.
This was very generous.
- You said she had a picture of Cuban in her office?
Think she can score
tickets to the Mavs in the fall?
- Beer's me. - Salty Jack is the lady.
- Dom for me.
To Baylor.
You're taking the job, Chrissy.
You're definitely taking the job.
- I don't know yet, Jer. - Come on, horsey.
This is the biggest no-brainer since brains were invented.
Dude, you're Baylor's number-one draft pick,
and you even have the arm candy to prove it.
- Are you flirting with me, Jerry?
- You're out of my league, but it's okay.
One day, I'll find my Wendy.
- When you find the right girl,
all the strip clubs in Dallas are gonna go out of business.
Truth.
But seriously, dude, do you have any idea
how much Baylor's gonna make off of you?
Those billboards, all that shit generates business.
They don't put any punk-ass doctor up on there,
only the superstars.
Wendy, can I get an amen?
- I don't get it. - Get what?
- The billboard, this box, the everything.
It just seems fast, is all.
- Not fast enough for my boy-genius.
He's got that Brad Pitt thing going on.
Well, pump the brakes.
Your boy's a lot of things, but he's not Brad Pitt.
- Ooh. Ouch, a hater. - I'm just asking.
- Wendy, when life gives you lemonade,
don't make fucking lemons.
The more surgeries Chris does, the more elite he becomes,
the more money they generate.
- I don't even have the clinic up and running yet.
And I still have to hire a PA. Still need my Bonnie.
- Dr. Bishara sent over a list of recommendations.
I'll start setting up interviews in the morning.
- Jerry on the spot. - Okay.
So I was gonna wait
until we had the articles of incorporation,
but screw it.
- Did you make this? - Yeah.
- I love it.
- Really? - It's so good, Jerry.
Thanks.
- You know, that reminds me,
I haven't hired a marketing director yet.
You know, someone to promote the clinic.
- I'll put a list together. - No. You know what?
I think I found the guy. - Word.
Give me his contact info. I'll reach out.
Okay, so his name...
is Jerry Summers.
- You fucking with me?
My God. Are you serious?
- You just got a promotion! - Holy shit, dude!
My God. I won't let you down. I swear.
I'll make cards, I'll make flyers, everything.
I've even got this dope-ass idea for a killer website,
got a guy who can build it.
- That's what I like to hear. - So...
Baylor?
What's it gonna be, Chrissy? You gonna nut up or what?
- Here's to Jerry Summers, Executive Marketing Director,
and here's to Baylor-Plano, bitches!
- Whoo! - Yeah!
Hey. - Hey.
- We're supposed to have lunch with Dr. Isaacs today.
But one of my procedures got rescheduled,
so can you call him and tell him I'm gonna be late?
And Medtronics was gonna deliver all their screws.
I might not be back in time; if I'm not,
can you just sign for it and have them leave all there?
Great.
What's up? What's wrong?
What is it, Wendy? What?
- Are you serious?
How?
- A stork fucked me.
- Are you sure?
- I took a test. Twice. - Well...
They give false positives. That could be a bad batch.
- Okay.
You're not happy?
Of course I am. It's just big news.
Honestly, I'm a little hungover today.
And I can't be late, but I am over the moon with joy.
When I get back, we can celebrate.
- You have a doctorate. Mind if I call you doctor?
Kim will do.
You last worked for Dr. George Clondike,
but only for a couple months. Why?
- Know him? - No. I'm new in town.
- He's an ortho-oncologist and an ass,
and that's the nicest thing I can say about him.
What happened?
I'm not even trying to get into all that,
but it was a shit-show.
Pardon my French.
So I quit and went straight to Padre for some R&R.
And Dr. Bishara called and told me
you were looking for a physician's assistant.
- Yes, he speaks very highly of you.
- I just do my job very well.
- You also worked for a neurosurgeon before.
How was that experience? - We got divorced.
- You married your neurosurgeon?
Interesting.
- They're not that interesting.
- You just haven't met the right one yet.
So what happened?
- What happened with what? - You said you got divorced.
- Are you asking why I'm not working with him
or why I got divorced?
- Why you got divorced.
- Sounds like an unprofessional question
for a professional interview.
- You're the one that brought it up.
- It got stale.
I needed excitement in my life.
Buy one, get one at Target.
So what do you know about me?
- You graduated top of your class
from University of Tennessee
where you received a PhD and MD.
While in the program, you also became the majority shareholder
and Chief Science Officer at DiscGenics.
The research you've done on stem cells
is gonna change the face of spinal surgery as we know it.
At least according to you.
Yeah, I don't sleep much.
My philosophy on the current state of neurosurgery
is that it's primitive.
It is, of course,
every surgeon's goal never to operate.
But so long as humans have bodies,
spinal surgeries are gonna be necessary.
I want to modernize it.
What's the point of removing a diseased disc
if you can use a stem cell to regenerate it?
- You're either really smart or really crazy,
but if you pull it off,
that's one hell of an achievement.
- So how is that for interesting?
- I'll give you my answer if I get the job.
You see, that's why I need a PA who can keep up with me.
'Cause I'm like the "USS Enterprise"
moving at warp speed eight,
and I need a Number One
who can help me navigate the ship.
- I don't know what any of that means,
but I'll give you this one for free.
Your clinic is being run by a bunch of dummies.
And who is this guy?
- Jerry Summers,
Executive Director of Marketing.
- So what do you do, like, hand out flyers or something?
- Well, yeah.
But I'm also his website guy. I'm building it.
Not my personal self, but I hired a guy.
- So you're the website guy, but not the website guy.
- I'm the guy that...
- Jerry helps out around the office.
- Okay, so you got this...
fake website marketing guy,
and I'm sorry... but not sorry...
Your front desk girl is rude
and doesn't have basic office etiquette.
- Her name is Wendy Young, and she's a pretty good...
- She's a temp.
She was with us in Memphis
and wanted to move to Dallas to be closer to her husband.
But don't worry, she's pregnant.
She's not gonna be here very long.
- You need at least two people working the desk.
One to do phones and scheduling,
the other to handle all the intake stuff.
I know a couple of girls that'll be perfect.
And, dude, those construction guys
are not gonna be done before you open.
I get it.
You're a whip.
You're the type of person who's gonna come in here
and make this place work.
I'm more like a hammer.
But I get what you're saying.
My references are on the second page.
You can call any of them
and they'll tell you the same thing.
- You know, I'm more of a gut guy.
I used to play football back in college, all-American.
Coach was always telling us, the one thing in the world
that will never lie to you, your instincts.
That's kind of how I operate.
- So what's your instinct telling you?
- She's a stone-cold bitch. - I like her.
- Doesn't bother you she was married to her neurosurgeon?
She gives off that money-digger vibe.
- Gold digger. - Money digger.
No one digs for gold anymore.
When were you gonna tell me about the baby?
- You know, just didn't come up.
- Well, that's great news.
You, Wendy, baby.
I'm happy for you all.
Why did you say all that shit about Wendy?
- What shit?
- She's just a temp, she's married to some guy in Memphis?
"Hello, Dr. Morgan.
"Welcome to our state-of-the-art facility.
"For your information,
"our secretary used to be a stripper.
Would you still be interested in the position?"
- She's about to be your baby mama.
Who cares if she was a stripper?
Some of the best people I know are strippers.
Everybody you know is a stripper.
Besides,
Kim said she had two other candidates for the positions.
- Chris, you know me.
I've always been supportive.
Don't fuck it up with Wendy.
- What is that supposed to mean?
- I mean, it was just me and my mom,
you know, my whole life. No dad.
And now I see it, this woman... - Jerry.
- She's coming in all hot to trot.
- Jerry, I'm not leaving Wendy, okay?
And I'm not leaving the baby, okay?
Kim is ambitious, she's confident,
she has an impressive résumé,
and I need the best people working for me.
Kim's my physician's assistant.
Okay.
Not now, not now.
- When are we gonna talk? - Babe, not now. No! Not now.
- No, I don't give a shit. We're having a baby.
And you haven't said a word about it.
Fine.
If you wanna talk, let's talk.
- You don't want to have this baby?
We've only been together a couple months, Wendy.
Sorry if I'm not lighting cigars.
- So that's it?
"Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am"?
- No.
Look, I don't expect you to fully grasp this,
but everything that I'm doing
will help you live past your wildest dreams.
I have a plan.
All I need is for you to go to nursing school.
- You fucking kidding me?
I'm not an accessory in Chris's world.
Wendy, give me a break.
You had no problem playing the role of doctor's girlfriend,
but now when it's not working for you,
all of a sudden it's an issue?
- Nothing with you has ever worked for me.
- It's always been on your terms. - Bullshit.
That is fucking bullshit, Wendy.
I wanted to go to UCLA; that was my first choice,
but you're the one that said you wouldn't move
unless we came to Dallas because of your aunt in Ferris.
So don't pretend like it's been me
just dragging you along for this whole ride.
- You're blaming me? - Jesus!
Can you not play the victim? Just try it. See what happens.
You're the one who wanted a boyfriend
who could buy your shoes and your perfume and your makeup
and pay your rent and whatever the fuck else.
And you know what? Congratulations, you got it.
You won in life. You got what you wanted.
But life is a double-edged fucking sword.
This is what it's like to date a god.
Keep up.
- You might be able to hustle these stuffy,
buttoned-up assholes, but not me.
I know you're a fraud,
always acting like you know everything, but you don't.
You can't even keep a job.
- What the fuck does that mean?
- They dumped your ass out of DiscGenics.
- I'm on the board! - "On the board"
means they're too embarrassed by you to fire you!
- I made $1/2 million just by stepping foot in this city!
And everything that you have is because of me!
I picked you up out of the fucking gutter,
and I can throw you right back there if I want.
You'll end up some sagging hussy
working the pole for chump change.
And you know what?
If I'm being perfectly honest,
the best thing you could probably do
is abort that fucking baby,
because you are not the type of person who can raise it.
And I'm saying that with love
because I am trying to help you win in life!
- Fuck you! - Fuck you!
Fuck you!
- Hey, open this... open the... - Fuck you!
- Fuck! - Tex-Mex, y'all. Hey!
- Open this door! - Fuck you, Chris! Fuck you!
- Ungrateful bitch! - Hey! What the fuck?
- Open up! Open up! - Get out!
- Hey, shut the fuck up! Both of you.
- Get out! - Open the fuck up!
Get out of my goddamn hotel room!
- Get him out of here! - You need to calm down.
- Get him out! - Fuck.
- All right. - Get off of me!
- Cool it, bro. Cool it, bro. - Get off of me!
- All right. What the hell happened?
Hey, we have to talk about this, okay?
Fuck.
Hopefully, in the future, you stay away
from whatever unsavory character did this to you.
I did it to myself.
- You don't care to share, fine by me.
Let's not kick this new phase of our relationship off...
- With an untruth.
- New phase?
- Articles of incorporation
for the Texas Neurosurgical Institute.
You're officially official, Dr. Duntsch.
Clinic's up and running, got a gnarly man scar.
- So much to make whoopee about.
Classy.
- Most people are so close-minded...
so narrowly focused on their tiny, little cocooned worlds
that they don't even understand the greatness
that I am offering them.
But that's okay,
because if I have to stand in front of them a thousand times
to explain my genius to them to make them understand...
then it's all worth it.
And it starts at Baylor.
I am going to make them understand.
And this isn't the unstoppable force paradox,
because there's only me.
I embody everything.
- And what am I looking at here?
- A screw imbedded in soft tissue.
- He missed the spine entirely.
- If what you're telling me is to be believed,
then it seems to me that this is a case of incompetence.
I can train a couple of circus monkeys
to do a better job.
- How do you like your steak, Mr. Yarborough?
- Do I feel an analogy coming on?
- Texan born and bred.
- When you slice into that perfect rare to bloody steak,
it's soft, like you're cutting through a stick of butter.
Now, if somebody stuck a piece of wood into that steak,
when your knife made contact,
you'd be able to tell the difference, correct?
- Of course.
- Well, the contrast between the wood and the steak
is the same as the spine and the muscles surrounding it.
And Duntsch couldn't tell the difference?
- Which is a damn near impossibility unless he was
actively trying to insert the screw in the wrong place,
which would answer your questions
about showing criminal intent.
- To bring criminal charges,
a certain threshold has to be met.
I'm not sure we're there.
What's evident, though, is it appears
you have a compelling medical malpractice complaint,
which should be taken up in civil court.
- But pushing this off to the civil court, I mean,
if that isn't passing the buck, I don't know what is.
- We're dancing in a field of gray.
This office deals with drug dealers and murderers.
The law is explicit. Don't sell drugs, don't kill.
It's an undeviating line any jury can follow.
What you're presenting me is eight years of medical school
that we'd have to shove down the jury's throats
in a handful of days.
They'd have to be so versed to the point
that they could differentiate
between sound medical practice and criminal negligence.
- I don't think it would be that hard for them
to understand the scope of what he's done.
We're not asking the jury to perform surgery.
- Well, tell that to juror number seven,
who doesn't wanna be there
'cause she's losing valuable days at work,
and her kids' Christmas wish list is going up in smoke.
- Duntsch has two deaths that we know of,
and the state of Texas has executed people for less.
- I'm not negating what has transpired.
But you're asking us to start up a very steep mountain.
Well, you know, the degree of difficulty
shouldn't dictate how you do your goddamn job,
otherwise we should all be selling hot dogs at a ballgame.
I had a patient once.
Woodland Arp, very successful lumbar spine fusion,
recovered nicely for six months.
Then he started having recurring back pain in the area
where the device was implanted.
And by then, the fusion was intact,
so Mr. Arp decided to have the hardware removed
to alleviate the discomfort.
Straightforward, neat procedure.
35 minutes, skin to skin, got the hardware out.
I rounded on him later on; he was on his feet,
walking around, no pre-op pain.
He was ecstatic.
The next morning, they found him dead on the bathroom floor.
Pulmonary embolism.
I did nothing wrong.
I did everything by the book, and not a week goes by
that I don't think about him.
Now, whether he's doing it on purpose or not,
Duntsch knows that he is not a competent surgeon.
That's intent.
And what's gonna happen if people find out
that you had an opportunity to stop him...
but you didn't take it?
- George, take the lead on this.
We'll conduct a thorough investigation
and see where the evidence leads us.
- Ready to rock?
- Fuck yeah.
- Next stop, Baylor-fucking-Plano Hospital.