Watch the trailer for Dr . Passmore met with Dr. Duntsch and was impressed by his confidence; he would fix him. He said, "Randy, you were right. Duntsch had removed part of his femoral nerve. He hoped to play football, but his multiple transfers revoked his eligibility. In addition, a ligament in his leg was severed, and a screw was stripped and lodged into a nerve bundle. His resume looked brilliant on paper," journalistMatt Goodman said of Christopher Duntsch's ability to continue to gain employment at Texas hospitals despite a deadly track record. In 2011, Christopher Duntsch met Wendy Young at the Beauty Shop bar in Memphis. Glidewell was reportedly still suffering the ill effects of Duntsch's operation years later and has undergone more than 50 procedures to correct the damage. To stop the bleeding, he packed the space with so much anticoagulant foam that it constricted Summers' spine. Before working with him, Dr. Hoyle said that he didnt know how to feel about his fellow surgeon. He decided to turn to neurosurgery, which can be a lucrative field. Once, he stopped by to pick up some paperwork. Cheney recalled wondering why a neurosurgeon with such outstanding credentials would be operating at a lower-tiered hospital on the way to his surgery. "Based on a hit podcast and inspired by the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a young and charismatic star in the Texas medical community," Peacock explains about the series. [9], In March 2014, three former patients of Duntsch's Mary Efurd, Kenneth Fennel, and Lee Passmore filed separate federal lawsuits against Baylor Plano, alleging the hospital allowed Duntsch to perform surgeries despite knowing that he was a dangerous physician. Duntsch continued operating despite clear signs that Martin was losing massive amounts of blood. Duntsch approached Pam Trusty about being on camera during a follow-up visit where she was still in pain. Mr. His girlfriend, Wendy Young, had a second son in September 2014. He moved in with his parents in Colorado and filed for bankruptcy, claiming around one million dollars in debt. That's why it really shined down to me," Kissinger said in an interview. South Hampton Community Hospital in Dallas (now University General Hospital). Duntsch boasted to his assistant and mistress, Kimberly Morgan, that he was " ready to leave the love and kindness and goodness and patience that I mix with everything else that I am and become a cold-blooded killer." The case status is Disposed - Other Disposed. Boop said that Duntsch spent his final year as an attending physician and could not operate independently. The sponge triggered a severe blood-borne infection that caused Glidewell to become septic. The director of neurosurgery at UT Southwestern, Carlos Bagley, testifying for the defense, said that "the only way this happens is that the entire system fails the patients." It was Duntsch, babbling about his family being in danger. Then, on July 24, 2012, he operated on Floella Brown. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971. After the operation, Brown woke up and seemed fine, but early the following day; she lost consciousness. Jodi Smith. He is not eligible for parole until 2045; he will be 74 years old by then. He is currently appealing this sentence. D MagazineChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. "Dr. Duntsch is one great man." Over this period, Duntsch performed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition, paralyzed, or deceased. "After building a flourishing neurosurgery practice, everything suddenly changes when patients entering Dr. Duntsch's operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries start leaving permanently disabled or dead. [12], Initially, Duntsch focused heavily on the PhD half of his degree. [38], Duntsch is housed at the O. Barry Morguloff, the owner of a pool service company, was left with bone fragments in his spinal canal after Duntsch tried to pull a damaged, Jerry Summers, a longtime friend of Duntsch's, came to Plano to have, Kellie Martin was undergoing a routine back operation when Duntsch cut through her spinal cord and severed an artery. Peacock's Dr. Death is a chilling dramatization of the real-life story of former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. [36][11][9] For the same reason, prosecutors opted to try Duntsch for Efurd's maiming first. Glidewell was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus and partial paralysis on his left side. [11] Several of his friends recalled him going to work after a night of doing drugs, with one of them saying he would never allow Duntsch to operate on him. by Saul Elbein. The two soon began dating and moving in together within three months. After this look at Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. [38] Shughart countered that the 2011 email, sent after his first surgeries went wrong, proved that Duntsch knew his actions were intentional. However, red flags surfaced early on, as nurses wondered if Duntsch was under the influence of drugs while on duty. [7], Henderson later recalled wondering if Duntsch was an impostor; he could not believe that a real surgeon would botch Efurd's surgery so badly. Lee Passmore's screams poured out from the ICU and down the hallway. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. In October 2011, she registered articles of incorporation to form Duntsch's practice, the Texas Neurosurgical Institute. [19] Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. [38][39] On December 10, 2018, the Texas Court of Appeals affirmed Duntsch's conviction by a 21 split decision. Randall Kirby wrote a detailed complaint to the Texas Medical Board, calling Duntsch a "sociopath" who was "a clear and present danger to the citizens of Texas." Baylor officials took Summers' accusation seriously and ordered Duntsch to take a drug test. The indictments were made four months before the statute of limitations ran out. In September 2012, Jeff Cheney went to Duntsch to relieve the pain that had moved from his shoulder down to his arm. It was completely unnecessary, didn't relieve her pain, and only set her up for another needed surgery. Kane also recalled a cocaine- and LSD-fueled night of partying between her, her ex-boyfriend, and Duntsch where, after the end of their all-night party, she saw Duntsch put on his lab coat and go to work. The Judge overseeing this case is GINSBERG, CARL. He called Duntsch's fellowship supervisor in Memphis and the supervisor of Duntsch's residency; it was then that he learned about the incident that led him to be referred to the impaired physician program. The series follows two other surgeons, along with . 1-Christopher Duntsch and then girlfriend, Wendy Young. Duntsch stuffed a surgical sponge in Glidewell's throat to stanch the bleeding. The appalling actions of the rogue surgeon and their repercussions on his unsuspecting patients were . Famously known by the Family name Christopher Daniel Duntsch, is a great neurosurgeon and convicted criminal for malpractice.He was born on April 3, 1971, in Montana. During this time, he ran two successful labs and raised millions of dollars in grant funding. He didn't contact a lawyer, although he struggled with the decision. Christopher Duntsch, 44, faces up to life in prison if convicted. In March 2014, three former patients of Duntsch's Mary Efurd, Kenneth Fennel, and Lee Passmore filed separate federal lawsuits against Baylor Plano, alleging the hospital allowed Duntsch to perform surgeries despite knowing that he was a dangerous physician. A neurosurgeon in Dallas, Texas, who once described himself as a "stone cold killer" was sentenced to life in prison on February 20 for maiming a woman named Mary . The databank was established in 1990 and tracks malpractice payouts and adverse actions against doctors, such as being fired, banned from Medicare, handed a lengthy suspension, or having their license suspended or revoked. In a long running series of complaints, a Texas doctor has been found guilty of a felony in one medical malpractice case. But he yearned to play linebacker for a Division 1 team and set his sights on the Colorado State Rams. However, he ignored them and proceeded with his scheduled surgery on Efurd. [4], Upon applying for work, he looked extremely qualified on paper: he had spent a total of fifteen years in training (medical school, residency and fellowship), and his curriculum vitae was twelve single-spaced pages. The former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch was finally brought to justice after injuring and maiming over 30 of his patients during surgery and allegedly causing the deaths of two more. He was held in the Dallas County jail for almost two years until the case went to trial in 2017. In November 2011, he was hooked on the prescription opiates that numbed the pain in his lower back. A deranged surgeon runs amok, maiming and killing multiple patients, unhindered by a medical community sworn to police itself. In March, the following spring, police were called to a bank in Northeast Dallas after a man with blood on his hands and face was seen beating on the doors. After undergoing physical rehabilitation, Mayfield was able to walk with a cane but continued to experience paralysis on the right side of his body and in his left arm. He also reported shooting pains throughout his body. Duntsch continued to medicate Morguloff with prescription pain killers and ignored the change in his condition. But, she never reported Duntsch up the ladder or told anyone about the horrors she witnessed in the operating room. To become a neurosurgeon, one typically has to complete over 1000 surgeries in residency, but somehow, reporter Laura Beil discovered that Duntsch only completed 100. He had a bedroom upstairs in their Plano house. His first and only surgery with MISI was on a Thursday in September 2011 at Baylor Plano. Duntsch told Mayfield's wife it went well, but she instantly knew something was wrong as she walked into his room. ", "Doctor Guilty of Felony Medical Malpractice", "Disciplinary actions against doctors have plunged during the pandemic, but that doesn't mean they are behaving", "An Update on Dr. Death Victim Philip Mayfield", "Jeff Glidewell Today: Where Is Dr. Death's Last Patient Now? "Christopher Duntsch, Texas Medical Board license number N8183, is an impaired physician, a sociopath, and must be stopped from practicing medicine." Robin Glidewell also sent a letter . How could Dr. Christopher Duntsch practice medicine for as long as he did without being stopped? Dr. Christopher Duntsch became the subject of a Peacock original series for all the wrong reasons. He's serving a life sentence for gross malpractice that resulted in two direct fatalities and the maiming of more than 30 neurosurgery patients, as told by Laura Beil, the journalist who hosts the Dr. Death podcast, on which the eponymous show is based. They have two sons. While Kirby was repairing Troy, he uncovered that Duntsch had pinned her esophagus under a plate near her spine and poked holes in her trachea. Christopher Duntsch is a former neurosurgeon known by his nickname Dr. Death or Dr. D. The Montana native got his nickname for his malpractice while working at hospitals in Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. When Duntsch finally returned on Monday, he was fired. On May 24, 2011, Christopher Duntsch signed a physician services agreement with Rimlawi and Won's Minimally Invasive Spine Institute (MISI) in Dallas. [14] He persuaded Young to come with him; Young agreed, since she had grown up in the Dallas area. In his deposition, Summers admitted he made up the pre-surgery cocaine binge because he felt Duntsch had abandoned him, as both his doctor and his friend. Duntsch also appears in no yearbooks during the time in which he says he earned his Ph.D. While they were in the lab working, Duntsch went to work raising money for a company he called DiscGenics. He remained there for several months before being allowed to return to the residency. So as Duntsch operated on Efurd, he quarreled with Kissinger and his supervisors, insisting on a craniotomy for Brown. 5 of Dallas County (opinion)", "Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Conviction of 'Dr. Dallas Magazine states that Duntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. Had Duntsch been fired, Baylor Plano would have been required to report him to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which is intended to flag problematic physicians. However, he sewed up Glidewell with the sponge still in place despite others in the operating room warning him about it. "[38], The director of neurosurgery at UT Southwestern, Carlos Bagley, testifying for the defense, said that "the only way this happens is that the entire system fails the patients. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football.[7]. Left: WFAA-TV, Right: D MagazineLeft: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. Jerry Summers, who grew up with Christopher Duntsch in Tennessee, was left a quadriplegic after agreeing to let "Dr. Death" operate on his neck. For 33 patients of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, it was a reality. However, part of the problem was proving that Duntsch's actions were willful as defined by Texas law. A disc in his lower spine had blown out, and the pieces had to be picked out of the space above. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Donald Duntsch was a gridiron football standout in Montana, and . On top of this, he misspelled both Kukekov and Ignatova's names. Next week marks the five-year anniversary of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch being sentenced to life in prison. The day that Brown suffered her stroke, Duntsch operated again. No diagnostic imaging studies were ordered, and no reasonable explanation was offered for his condition. For instance, he came to work wearing the same tattered scrubs for three days in a row. Christopher Duntsch is currently imprisoned at the O.B. Before going to medical school, Duntsch wanted to be a pro-football player. [4] [19], Despite both of his surgeries at Dallas Medical Center going catastrophically awry, hospital officials did not report him to the NPDB. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. He earned his M.D. Under heavy lobbying from Kirby and Henderson, the Texas Medical Board suspended Duntsch's license on June 26, 2013. He was sent to a program for impaired physicians when he returned but was allowed to finish his residency. Assistant district attorney Michelle Shughart, who led the prosecution of Duntsch, later recalled that Henderson and Kirby reached out to her demanding to testify against Duntsch; according to Shughart, doctors rarely testify against each other. However, the surgery had to be moved to November 14 because Duntsch had failed to order the appropriate surgical hardware and equipment. Duntsch's next stop was at Dallas Medical Center. However, on January 6, 2012, a week after the surgery, Dr. Duntsch performed another operation on Passmore. When he arrived, Nurse Kyle Kissinger spotted a hole in Duntsch's scrubs. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The hospital initiated another peer review, but Duntsch resigned rather than face certain termination. He later recalled that he read about Martin's death on the day before the surgery, but Duntsch cursed him out when he called to ask about it. She was moved to the ICU and died due to blood loss. My experience with this doctor has been great. The Peacock originalDr Deathis based on atrue story. She suffered a stroke as a result. He might have been fired from the Institute but was still a surgeon at Baylor Plano. The criminal conviction of Christopher Duntsch, MD, PhD, holds important lessons for risk managers. Duntsch operated and flew out to Las Vegas without securing a call physician. Christopher Duntsch. The series is set to premiere on July 12 and will feature a star-studded cast. Duntsch also removed so much bone and muscle tissue from Summers' neck that his head was no longer secure on his body. No one can pay to remove ratings. [10][7], Duntsch completed his residency having participated in fewer than 100 surgeries. Lazar was scathingly critical of Duntsch's work. [30], Henderson and Kirby feared that Duntsch could move elsewhere and still theoretically get a medical license. It had come from Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. A Texas jury found Christopher Duntsch guilty Feb. 14 of maiming patients who had turned to him for surgery to resolve debilitating injuries. By this time, Jerry Summers, his childhood friend, had moved from Tennessee to live with Duntsch. She was dancing at a strip club in Memphis, and Duntsch's issues with his business, DiscGenics, grew more severe. Unfortunately, it's all too real. In 2005, partway through the six-year program, he became the director of the tissue bank. [18] Despite this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. He was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus, and partial paralysis on his left side. Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Policy | Compact with Texans | Website Linking Policy; Please contact Pre-Licensure, Registration and Consumer Services at . Plans start at $4.99/month. He said even a person with the most basic sense of human anatomy would know they were operating in the wrong area. On April 9, 2013, Phillip Mayfield was scheduled to have a simple 45-minute operation to alleviate his back pain. Dr. Henderson thought the operation on Mary Efurd was so botched that Christopher Duntsch had to be an imposter. As the trial team put it, the "scary pattern" of Duntsch's actions became apparent to the others in the office, leading the DA to give the green light to take the case to a grand jury. I thought he was either really, really good, or hes just really, really arrogant and thought he was good, Hoyle said. Christopher was raised along with his three younger siblings in a wealthy suburb in Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, when Fennell woke up from surgery, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. Trusty would later find out there was no award and it had just been a paid advertisement. The hospital hired him and granted him temporary surgical privileges until his reference checks were completed. Duntsch told his friends and family that Passmore would be fine in a day or two and to not worry about it. Prosecutors put a high priority on that charge, as it provided the widest sentencing range, with Duntsch facing up to life in prison if convicted. Duntsch was in a long-term relationship with Wendy Renee Young, after the pair met at a bar in Memphis when she was 27 and he was 40. Board chairman Irwin Zeitzler later said that complications in neurosurgery were more common than most think. Duntsch had come highly recommended to Fennell and wooed him with boasts that he'd soon be head of Baylor Medical Center's entire neurosurgery department. Peacock's new grisly drama tells the real-life story of Dallas-area neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who killed or maimed more than 30 patients in the 2010s. It involves the case of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a spinal neurosurgeon who left a trail of dead and permanently disabled . Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of . During his surgery, Duntsch didnt installed the necessary hardware to Muses spine and instead had left it floating between the spine and muscle tissue. Of those 38, 31 were leftparalyzed or seriously injured and two of them died from surgical complications. His older son had been born back when he was at Baylor Plano. Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch first met in 2011 at a Beauty Shop bar in Memphis. The last charge was for the maiming and paralyzing of Efurd. He was a genius. Christopher Duntsch ended up at Millsaps College in Mississippi to play football and was offered financial aid. Over the course of 18-months, the nefarious ex-surgeon performed a spree of botched . He felt that anyone with a basic knowledge of human anatomy would know that he was operating in the wrong area of Efurd's back. Following his blunders, Duntsch resigned from Baylor Plano in April 2012 before they could fire him. If Baylor Plano or Dallas Medical had reported him to the Texas Medical Board or the National Practitioner Databank, hiring personnel would have been notified something was wrong. Part of the problem was being able to prove that Duntsch's actions were willful as defined by Texas law. [2][4][19][7], Duntsch moved to Dallas Medical Center in Farmers Branch, where he was granted temporary privileges until hospital officials could obtain his records from Baylor Plano. He realized he'd seen that hole for three straight days Duntsch hadn't changed his scrubs all week. Jerry Summers, who grew up with Christopher Duntsch in Tennessee, was left a quadriplegic after agreeing to let "Dr. Death" operate on his neck. In my opinion, we had a serial killer in our medical community, Dr. Randall Kirbysays of Christopher Duntsch in "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story.". Getty Dr. Duntsch, aka "Dr. Death", operated on his last patient in 2013, before he was arrested. This time on 53-year-old Mary Efurd. It's hard to find a lawyer willing to jump through these hoops no matter how negligent the doctor was, because Texas limits non-economic damages in most cases to $250,000 per doctor. [8] Duntsch returned home to attend Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). Dr. Death in surgery. February 22, 2017. The Peacock limited series, based on the Wondery podcast, covers the true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Joshua Jackson ), whose surgical career ruined the lives of numerous people . He was smart. You'd like to think . [16] Kirby also recalled that Duntsch's skills in the operating room left much to be desired; as Kirby put it, "he could not wield a scalpel".[4]. The operation should have taken less than ninety minutes; it ultimately lasted four and a half hours. Christopher Duntsch, the onetime Dallas neurosurgeon whose butcher-like techniques killed two patients and permanently injured more, feels made to exist at the center of a work of fiction; perhaps, 3-Jeff Glidewell, another victim of Duntsch's. 4-Michelle Shugart, the woman who brought this all to fruition . In effect, plaintiffs have to prove a tough case without access to the necessary hospital records. Morgan says they spent a lot of time in clubs. Duntsch, who had been listed as the founder, president & chief science officer, was being sued by the former chief operating officer and was dismissed from his roles and seat on the board. Kirby claimed that it looked as if Duntsch had tried to decapitate Glidewell and contended that such a botched surgery has not happened in the United States of America before. Duntsch was fired after he performed a surgery and immediately left for Las Vegas, leaving no one to look after his patient. Henderson then cleaned out bone fragments and discovered that one of Efurd's nerve roots was gone entirely. Film & TV 'Dr. Death' Condemns Christopher Duntsch, but the Real Culprit Is Texas's Broken Health-Care System I helped break the story on the convicted surgeon, but Peacock's dramatized . Christopher Duntsch, once a supremely confident neurosurgeon with a solid rsum and a wealth of potential, fled town in disgrace last year under a scalding cascade . So, Summers used the only thing he had left, his voice, to scream and yell, even telling the nurses that he and Duntsch had done an eight ball of cocaine the night before his surgery. Now, one of the several complaints against the . In 2006, Duntsch teamed up with two Russian stem cell scientists: Valery Kukekov and Tatyana Ignatova. Dr. Fulton never worked with Duntsch again. [19][16] Kirby claimed that it looked as if Duntsch had tried to decapitate Glidewell and contended that such a botched surgery "has not happened in the United States of America" before. Advertisement. Finally, Dr. Kirby received a call from Hassan Chahadeh. From 2011 to 2013, dozens of patients in the Dallas area woke up after their surgeries with horrible pain, numbness and, paralysis. [31][16] The inquiry went nowhere until 2015, when the statute of limitations on any potential charges was due to run out. Journalists must draw attention to the failures in the U.S. medical and legal systems that allowed Christopher Duntsch, the subject of journalist Laura Beil's well-regarded "Dr. Death" podcast series, to injure dozens of patients, members of an expert panel said at the "10 years after 'Dr. Death': Are patients any safer from bad doctors?" panel at Health Journalism 2022 in Austin. July 14, 2021. During surgery, Duntsch operated on the wrong part of Fennell's back. [9][16], As part of their investigation, prosecutors obtained a December 2011 email in which Duntsch boasted that he was " ready to leave the love and kindness and goodness and patience that I mix with everything else that I am and become a cold-blooded killer. Death'? Soon after starting Efurd's surgery, Duntsch turned to Kissinger and told him he would be performing a craniotomy on Floella Brown. [33][34] The indictments were made four months before the statute of limitations were to run out. Jerry Summers Was 'Dr. Death's' Best Friend. The surgical disasters of neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch led to his jailing in 2017, setting a legal precedent. Dr. Christopher Duntsch appeared to havean impressive resume, but left a trail ofpain and devastation for those who trusted him with their health. The lead investigator on the case later revealed that she wanted Duntsch's license suspended while the ten-month probe was underway, but board attorneys were not willing to go along. It was. Martin would become Duntschs first casualty when she bled out in intensive care unit after her relatively common procedure. Having exhausted his football eligibility, Duntsch decided to switch to a career in medicine. Even if a plaintiff wins the maximum award, after you pay your lawyer and your experts and go through, potentially, years of trial, not much is left. Christopher Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison in February 2017 for his heinous acts. In July 2015, a grand jury indicted Dr. Death on five counts of aggravated assault and one count of harming an elderly person, his patient Mary Efurd, according to Rolling Stone. Marshall Muse was scheduled to have a disc removed in his back. Jeff Cheney later learned that part of his spinal cord had been cut during the operation. DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch has been sentenced to life in prison for a series of botched spinal surgeries, reports CBS . Though he appealed his conviction in 2018, it was denied. She also said they snorted cocaine from a small pile he kept on a dresser in his home office. He refused to acknowledge anything was wrong, hindering the, This page was last edited on 14 February 2023, at 04:48. At the time, Duntsch was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years before the Texas Medical Board revoked his license. [9] He was suspected of being under the influence of cocaine while operating during his fourth year of residency training, and was sent to a program for impaired physicians. When he woke, he could not move anything on the right side of his body. [3], Duntsch was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years before his license was revoked by the Texas Medical Board. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. She was left with just one vocal cord. Duntschs career started off bright. Where is Kim Morgan Now? He then prescribed Muse so much Percocet that a pharmacist refused to fill the prescription. [9] Duntsch completed his undergraduate degree in 1995, then continued on to an ambitious MDPhD program. "[32][9] ADA Michelle Shughart, who led the prosecution of Duntsch, later recalled that Henderson, Kirby, and Lazar contacted her demanding to testify against Duntsch; according to Shughart, doctors almost never testify against each other. Convinced that he was a clear and present danger to the public, they urged the Dallas County district attorney's office to pursue criminal charges. February 21, 2017 / 5:45 AM / CBS News. Facebook Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch. Due to these legal hurdles and costly lawyer fees on the plaintiff's part, few hospitals end up having to pay out after facing a malpractice lawsuit. "Dr. Death" is based on the chart-topping podcast of the same name that, in turn, is based on the horrifying true story of Christopher Duntsch.