Naman Shrestha
Helmed by Jonathan Louis Lewis, Lifetime’s ‘Sinister Surgeon‘ acquaints us with a young and ambitious doctor named Katelyn who hopes to leave her mark on the Beverly Hills-based hospital she becomes a part of. Another aspect of the job that she is excited about is the fact that she is finally getting to work with a top cosmetic surgeon named Dr. Peterson. Soon, she learns about the mysterious murders of the hospital’s patients and tries to get to the bottom of the cases. Her dream job turns into a living nightmare when she suspects the surgeon to be involved in the string of murders. Led by the compelling and powerful performances from Anthony Montgomery and Samantha Neyland Trumbo, the mystery thriller movie taps into some dark yet realistic subject matters related to the medical industry.
Sinister Surgeon Lines Up With Reality While Also Straying Away From It
‘Surgical Surgeon’ embodies certain aspects of reality through its fictional narrative, crafted by the collaborative effort of Mary O’Neil and James Quinn. The duo seemingly combined their knowledge of murders committed by doctors and weaved a screenplay around the concept, attempting to raise awareness about the same. In real life, there have been a tragically large number of cases where doctors have killed their patients by using lethal drugs or other ways. For instance, Harold Frederick Shipman, considered to be one of the most prolific serial killers, killed 15 patients under his care. Given his reputation and experience in the industry, he managed to evade justice for over two decades.
A much more recent case of a German doctor bears significant parallels to the themes of ‘Sinister Surgeon.’ In August 2024, the unnamed doctor, who was an integral part of a nursing service’s palliative care team, was arrested for killing four elderly patients and was later suspected of being involved in a total of ten murders. In one instance, he allegedly murdered a 25-year-old woman in her apartment in September 2021 by administering a lethal combination of drugs. In another instance, he took the life of a 57-year-old woman in her Berlin home in June 2024 by using the same technique.
Doctors are generally associated with healing patients and giving them a better life. The Lifetime production tends to challenge that generalization by introducing a doctor who acts as a messenger of death for his patients. Moreover, the medical tools and knowledge that the doctor should use to treat people end up becoming murder weapons, further emphasizing the point. Despite all the parallels that can be drawn between the thrilling tale and reality, it doesn’t change the fact that the script is a result of the creative imagination of two talented writers.
Katelyn and Dr. Peterson Are Not Rooted in Reality
Through the characters of Dr. Peterson and Katelyn, ‘Sinister Surgeon’ highlights the good and bad that exists in the healthcare industry and the world in general. Although the two characters don’t seem to have any basis in reality, they might have certain parallels to the characters of Charles Cullen and Nurse Amy Loughren from ‘The Good Nurse.’ Based on the eponymous 2013 true-crime book written by Charles Graeber, the Tobias Lindholm directorial is a crime thriller that follows Nurse Amy, who discovers that Charlie has been responsible for the murder of several patients in the span of over fifteen years.
Charles, portrayed by Eddie Redmayne, is similar to Dr. Peterson in the sense that both seem to have an innate desire to take away the lives of their patients, be it in different ways. On the other hand, Katelyn mirrors some character traits of Nurse Amy, played by Jessica Chastain, as they both put their own lives at risk in order to get to the bottom of the murders. Thus, it would be safe to say that Katelyn and Dr. Peterson might not have a direct counterpart in real life, but their characters represent the two sides of the coin in many ways.
Read More: Sinister Surgeon: Filming Locations and Cast Details
