And its all because of one surgeon named Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. It was determined during the repair surgery that Dr. Duntsch had not even been operating on the correct part of Jeff Glidewell's spine. [18] Despite this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. Now, a podcast called Dr. Death is breaking down the deranged surgeon's criminal acts and shows how drug abuse and blinding overconfidence led to big trouble for the patients who found themselves underneath the spiraling doctor's knife.. Duntschs career started off bright. 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, Soon after starting Efurd's surgery, Duntsch turned to Kissinger and told him he would be performing a craniotomy on Floella Brown. Once, he stopped by to pick up some paperwork. A CT scan would later reveal that Efurds nerve root had been amputated, there were several screw holes nowhere near where they were supposed to be, and one screw had been lodged in another nerve root. There are many sick people in the world, but Duntsch takes the cake for me. Henderson then cleaned out bone fragments and discovered that one of Efurd's nerve roots was gone entirely. Young had family in Dallas and decided she would go with him if he picked that city. After several more months of botched surgeries, Duntsch finally lost his surgical privileges altogether in June 2013 after two physicians complained to the Texas Medical Board. 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 . Over the course of 18-months, the nefarious ex-surgeon performed a spree of botched . The Judge overseeing this case is GINSBERG, CARL. Several people who were in the operating room for Efurd's surgery suspected that Duntsch might have been intoxicated, recalling that his pupils were dilated. The series follows two other surgeons, along with . "Dr. Duntsch is one great man." "As his victims pile up, two fellow physicians and Dallas prosecutor Michelle Shughart set out to stop him.". 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. 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. Dr. Death (2021 TV series) Dr. Death is an American crime drama miniseries created by Patrick Macmanus, based on the podcast of the same name, focusing on the titular Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon who became infamous for permanently mutilating his patients, killing two of them. Now, one of the several complaints against the . Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Getty Dr. Duntsch, aka "Dr. Death", operated on his last patient in 2013, before he was arrested. [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. Prosecutors also faulted Duntsch's employers for not reporting him. 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. Dr. Duntsch assured Muse that the pain was normal and prescribed him, strong pain killers, causing him to spiral into an addiction. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a motion to intervene in the suits to defend Baylor Plano, citing the Texas legislature's 2003 statute that placed a medical malpractice cap of $250,000, and removed the term "gross negligence" from the definition of legal malice. [40][41] On May 8, 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Duntschs petition for discretionary review. Updated Dec 9, 2022 at 3:25pm. Christopher Duntsch, known as "Dr. Death" tried to explain himself in rambling emails, but he only made things worse for his criminal case. There were two names on the top page: Kellie Martin and Christopher Duntsch. Duntsch focused on his research for a while but was recruited from Memphis to join the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute in North Dallas in the summer of 2011. After intense rehab and his determination, eventually, he was able to use a walker and cane to mobilize himself. Could you take care of it?" Mayfield was taken to a different hospital and told his spinal cord had already been deformed, and the damage was irreversible. Mr. [19][25][7] She later recalled waking up feeling "excruciating pain", a "ten-plus" on a scale of 1 to 10. Why do Slipknot wear masks and what do they look like without? They met with an assistant DA but got little traction. Duntsch approached Pam Trusty about being on camera during a follow-up visit where she was still in pain. "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. Donald Duntsch was a gridiron football standout in Montana, and . Jeff Cheney later learned that part of his spinal cord had been cut during the operation. On May 24, 2011, Christopher Duntsch signed a physician services agreement with Rimlawi and Won's Minimally Invasive Spine Institute (MISI) in Dallas. His very first operation at the hospital would once again turn deadly. We've had a catastrophic event here. 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. 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 fired after he performed a surgery and immediately left for Las Vegas, leaving no one to look after his patient. February 22, 2017. Dallas Magazine states that Duntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. He had complex regional pain syndrome, a rare type of chronic pain that caused his skin to blister and peel off. Facebook Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch. 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. At the time of their meeting, Young was working as a dancer in a strip club. 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. Even worse, some of the patients never got the chance to wake up. Plans start at $4.99/month. According to his lawyers, Duntsch had not realized how poorly he had performed as a surgeon until he heard the prosecution experts tell the jury about his many blunders on the operating table. 'Hot TikTok doc' urges young people to get jabbed - warning of dangers of long Covid, Daughter, 39, guilty of stabbing mum to death before setting house on fire and dumping her dismembered body in river, Pregnant beautician loses baby after savage beating by monster husband who kidnapped her amid divorce row, Shocking moment man is crushed to death by an enraged elephant after crowd taunts herd of jumbos. [4][49], Last edited on 14 February 2023, at 04:48, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Baylor Scott & White Medical Center Plano, Texas District and County Attorneys Association, "Dr. Duntsch defense expert: "The only way this happens is the entire system fails the patients", "Plano Doctor Suspended After Two Patient Deaths", "Former Neurosurgeon Faces Life In Prison After Guilty Verdict", "What Was Dr. Christopher Duntsch's Background And Why Were People So Impressed With The Man Later Known As 'Dr. [4], Longtime spine surgeon Robert Henderson performed the salvage surgery on Efurd. Brown was left in a coma for hours before Duntsch finally acquiesced to her transfer. I am sorry in advance that this blog post is so long. Jodi Smith. Officers said he was driving on the left side of the road with two flat tires. The show starsJoshua Jackson,Grace Gummer, AnnaSophia Robb,Christian SlaterandAlec Baldwin. Pic credit: Dallas County Sheriff's Office. However, the surgery had to be moved to November 14 because Duntsch had failed to order the appropriate surgical hardware and equipment. This time on 53-year-old Mary Efurd. "It's a miracle," she said in the infomercial later promoted on his website. One of the patients who suffered disastrous consequences was Jerry Summers, the boyfriend of Megan Kane and a friend of Christopher Duntsch. Passmore met with Dr. Duntsch and was impressed by his confidence; he would fix him. Then, on July 24, 2012, he operated on Floella Brown. Efurd was left paralyzed. Dr. Hassan Chahadeh, the owner, said when Duntsch had applied for privileges, his record was clean. So as Duntsch operated on Efurd, he quarreled with Kissinger and his supervisors, insisting on a craniotomy for Brown. As part of their investigation, prosecutors obtained a December 2011 email written by Christopher Duntsch. After this look at Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. Lee Passmore's screams poured out from the ICU and down the hallway. DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch has been sentenced to life in prison for a series of botched spinal surgeries, reports CBS . A Texas neurosurgeon accused of intentionally botching multiple spinal surgeries, resulting in the death of two . In a long running series of complaints, a Texas doctor has been found guilty of a felony in one medical malpractice case. A deranged surgeon runs amok, maiming and killing multiple patients, unhindered by a medical community sworn to police itself. [9] Texas Medical Board Revocation Order. ", "Greg Abbott Enters Fray in Lawsuits Involving "Sociopath" Doctor", "Abbott sides with Baylor hospital in neurosurgeon lawsuit", "Who Are Robert Henderson And Randall Kirby, The Surgeons Who Tried To Stop 'Dr. Despite several warnings from his colleagues that he was not doing the surgery correctly and was attempting to put screws into muscle rather than bone, Duntsch persisted. [9][24][19][7] After several days, Kirby was brought in to repair the damage and later described what he found after opening Glidewell back up as the work of a "crazed maniac". His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary. Death' found guilty of maiming woman during surgery", "Former neurosurgeon sentenced for purposely maiming patients", "Doctor convicted of botched surgery gets life in prison", "Christopher Daniel Duntsch v. The State of Texas Appeal from Criminal District Court No. Dr Death, un nuevo programa que llegar a Peacock el jueves (15 de julio), se basa en la historia de la vida real de Christopher Duntsch, un ex neurocirujano que era, como dijo un famoso titular de ProPublica, "tan malo que era criminal".. Joshua Jackson interpreta a Duntsch, que ahora tiene 50 aos y cumple cadena perpetua despus de ser condenado en 2017 por mutilar a uno de sus . Duntsch's defense blamed their client's actions on poor training and lack of hospital oversight. The criminal conviction of Christopher Duntsch, MD, PhD, holds important lessons for risk managers. He said, "Randy, you were right. Chris Dozois, a fellow linebacker with the Rams, recalled Duntsch struggling, even with basic drills, but begging to run them over and over until he got it right. Peacock's Dr. Death is a chilling dramatization of the real-life story of former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch. According to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a neurosurgery resident does about 1,000 operations during training. In addition, a neurosurgeon hired to review Brown's case found that Dr. Duntsch had misdiagnosed the source of her pain and was operating in the wrong place. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football.[7]. However, he closed Glidewell with the sponge in place despite others in the operating room warning him about it. 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. He is not eligible for parole until 2045; he will be 74 years old by then. He hoped to play football, but his multiple transfers revoked his eligibility. [19] Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. The two soon began dating and moving in together within three months. During a deposition, Megan Krane recalled Duntsch eating a paper blotter of LSD and taking prescription painkillers on his birthday. Many of his patients suffered severe spinal cord damage, resulting in paralysis and pain severe enough to render painkillers ineffective. [9] Duntsch completed his undergraduate degree in 1995, then continued on to an ambitious MDPhD program. Dr. Frederick Boop, chief of neurosurgery at the hospital where Duntsch was completing his residency, said that university officials asked Duntsch to take a drug test. Due to the debilitating pain, Fennell later had a second operation by Duntsch to relieve it, and was left significantly paralyzed in his legs. 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. Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months as a practicing surgeon at multiple Texas hospitals until he had his license revoked in 2013. One screw was jabbed directly into her spinal canal and had skewered the nerves that control one leg and the bladder. His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary, and his mother, Susan, was a schoolteacher. By this time, Duntsch was almost penniless, and the judge had to appoint a lawyer for him. [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]. An investigator by trade and nature, Passmore started digging into Dr. Christopher Duntsch. He stalled at first, telling administrators he got lost on the way to the lab. 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." Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of . She came in to have two vertebrae fused, but when she woke up she experienced severe pain and couldnt stand. However, during training for neurosurgery he followed a research path and did fewer operations than most trainees. No diagnostic imaging studies were ordered, and no reasonable explanation was offered for his condition. He might have been fired from the Institute but was still a surgeon at Baylor Plano. The first screening came back diluted with tap water, but a second, taken a few days later, came back clean. Jerry Summers believed that his best friend Christopher Duntsch was a talented neurosurgeon who would cure his chronic neck pain. D Magazine gave him the nickname in . His father was a missionary and physical therapist and his mother was a school teacher. Glidewell was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus and partial paralysis on his left side. He knew this couldn't have been a one-time mistake. Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. Officers took him to a nearby psychiatric hospital. Dr. Randall Kirby, a general and vascular surgeon, assisted with Morguloff. Over this period, Duntsch performed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition, paralyzed, or deceased. ", "Plano's Baylor hospital faces hard questions after claims against former neurosurgeon", "Barry Morguloff's suit against the Baylor Health Care System", "Was Wendy Renee Young Dr. Death's Wife? The operation should have taken less than ninety minutes; it ultimately lasted four and a half hours. Dr. Duntsch came from a good family and showed considerable potential at medical school. Baylor Plano again ordered Duntsch to take a drug test. Before working with him, Dr. Hoyle said that he didnt know how to feel about his fellow surgeon. He is not eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74 years old. However, it wouldnt be long until Duntschs seemingly perfect career began to unravel. Duntsch's next patient was Jeff Glidewell. Duntsch severed his vertebral nerve, his vocal cords, cut a hole in his esophagus, sliced through an artery, and mistook part of his neck muscle as a tumor. DiscGenics says its mission is toimprove the lives of those suffering from the debilitating effects of degenerative diseases of the spine. She was moved to the ICU and died due to blood loss. 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 . Duntsch arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes after Efurd's surgery had been scheduled. Death,' Dallas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch", "Texas neurosurgeon nicknamed 'Dr. His case is receiving renewed attention in the media. [43], The conviction of Duntsch has been called a precedent-setting case, as it is believed to be the first time that a physician has been convicted on criminal charges for actions in the course of their medical work. He refused to acknowledge anything was wrong, hindering the, This page was last edited on 14 February 2023, at 04:48. Their fling was confined to his office at Baylor Plano, and Morgan said in her deposition that he frequently drank vodka and did medical research for hours. The nursing staff put down towels to soak it up. i feel much better now ! [7] He likened what he found when he opened Efurd up to the results of a child playing with Tinkertoys or an erector set. "[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. 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. But, she never reported Duntsch up the ladder or told anyone about the horrors she witnessed in the operating room. Morguloff sought a second opinion on his excruciating pain from Dr. Michael Desaloms.