[36][11][9] For the same reason, prosecutors opted to try Duntsch for Efurd's maiming first. 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. 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 hoped to play football, but his multiple transfers revoked his eligibility. 1-Christopher Duntsch and then girlfriend, Wendy Young. He added that many board members found it hard to believe that a trained surgeon could be as incompetent as Duntsch appeared to be.[9]. Glidewell was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus and partial paralysis on his left side. [44] The Dallas County district attorney's office called it "a historic case with respect to prosecuting a doctor who had done wrong during surgery. Dr. Duntsch said to Cheney, "I don't know why you're this way. Duntsch moved to Denver, Colorado, and went into a downward spiral. Duntschs career started off bright. Dallas-based surgeon Christopher Duntsch was also the subject of a Wondery podcast titled "Dr. Death." (Dallas County Jail) The indictment accused Duntsch of wide-ranging malpractice, including . 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." Death. In November 2011, he was hooked on the prescription opiates that numbed the pain in his lower back. [7], When Duntsch applied for privileges at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, the hospital queried the NPDB. 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. The series peers into the torturous crimes 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. Duntsch operated and flew out to Las Vegas without securing a call physician. Dr. Christopher Duntsch appeared to havean impressive resume, but left a trail ofpain and devastation for those who trusted him with their health. An investigator by trade and nature, Passmore started digging into Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Lazar was scathingly critical of Duntsch's work. Duntsch arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes after Efurd's surgery had been scheduled. "I called Dr. Duntsch up, and I said, 'I saw this online.' She says she even filed a temporary protective order against him in April 2012, after he showed up banging on her window at 2 am. Duntsch's trial has been called a precedent-setting case, as it's the first time that a physician has been convicted on criminal charges for actions in the course of their medical work and malpractice involving botched surgery. B. Ellis Unit outside Huntsville. [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. Boop said that Duntsch spent his final year as an attending physician and could not operate independently. Where is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr. Death now? She was dancing at a strip club in Memphis, and Duntsch's issues with his business, DiscGenics, grew more severe. In May 2013, Dr. Randall Kirby was invited to a dinner by University General Hospital to meet their new neurosurgeon, Dr. Duntsch. Christopher Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison in February 2017 for his heinous acts. 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. Under heavy lobbying from Kirby and Henderson, the Texas Medical Board suspended Duntsch's license on June 26, 2013. August 28, 2013, 2:01 . He was left with pain so debilitating he could not work any longer and now spends most of his days at home. A neurosurgery expert for Duntsch's defense team himself said, "The conditions which created Dr. Duntsch still exist, thereby making it possible for another to come along.". Duntsch had also installed hardware into her muscle, not her bone, so loose that it moved when you touched it. The Legislature has also made suing hospitals difficult. Unfortunately, when Morguloff woke up, he began to experience continuous pain, paresthesia, and loss of sensation in his left leg. Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971) is a former American neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death for gross malpractice resulting in the maiming of several patients' spines and two deaths while working at hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.. Duntsch was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years before his license was revoked by the . Kirby warned him again that it was only a matter of time. Mayfield was taken to a different hospital and told his spinal cord had already been deformed, and the damage was irreversible. 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. He was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus, and partial paralysis on his left side. By this time, Jerry Summers, his childhood friend, had moved from Tennessee to live with Duntsch. Anatomy of a Tragedy. Moving made sense for both of them. Those are the words that Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a Dallas neurosurgeon, wrote to his girlfriend in 2011 in the midst of a two-year period that left 33 of his 38 patients maimed, wounded or . D MagazineChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. Duntsch stuffed a surgical sponge in Glidewell's throat to stanch the bleeding. [38][39] On December 10, 2018, the Texas Court of Appeals affirmed Duntsch's conviction by a 21 split decision. Soon after starting Efurd's surgery, Duntsch turned to Kissinger and told him he would be performing a craniotomy on Floella Brown. According to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a neurosurgery resident does about 1,000 operations during training. 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. So as Duntsch operated on Efurd, he quarreled with Kissinger and his supervisors, insisting on a craniotomy for Brown. 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. Board chairman Irwin Zeitzler later said that complications in neurosurgery were more common than most think. Donald Duntsch was a gridiron football standout in Montana, and . [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. Before his license was revoked by the Texas Medical Board, he was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 . ", "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? During his tenure at Baylor Plano, Kimberly Morgan assisted in every surgery with Duntsch. On November 7, 2011, Dr. Duntsch was scheduled to perform his first surgery at Baylor Plano on Kenneth Fennell for his back pain. Board chairman Irwin Zeitzler later said that complications in neurosurgery were more common than most laymen believe, and it took until June 2013 to find the "pattern of patient injury" required to justify suspending Duntsch's license. Mr. A spill of more than 500,000-gallons of crude oil from the Keystone Pipeline in December in Kansas was caused by a combination of a faulty weld and "bending stress fatigue" on the pipe, the . Ghostbar, Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza. [4], After 13 days of trial, the jury needed only four hours to convict him for the maiming of Efurd. Duntsch told his friends and family that Passmore would be fine in a day or two and to not worry about it. During surgery, Duntsch damaged Summers' vertebral artery causing it to bleed uncontrollably. Despite his colleagues being [] [10][7], Duntsch completed his residency having participated in fewer than 100 surgeries. Duntsch earned his undergraduate degree in 1995 and enrolled at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The criminal conviction of Christopher Duntsch, MD, PhD, holds important lessons for risk managers. However, Baylor did not fire him; instead, he was allowed to resign. At the time, hospitals were not required to report doctors who only had temporary privileges. However, it wasn't clear how much training Duntsch received. [38], Duntsch is housed at the O. Christopher Duntsch, known as "Dr. Death" tried to explain himself in rambling emails, but he only made things worse for his criminal case. He was wearing the shirt of his black scrubs, and it was covered in blood. [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. 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, Jerry Summers Was 'Dr. Death's' Best Friend. When he called Duntsch's office, he was told it would "go away." [9] Duntsch completed his undergraduate degree in 1995, then continued on to an ambitious MDPhD program. They also believed that charge would be easy to prove in court; Duntsch had been told repeatedly that he was not placing the hardware in the correct position and fluoroscopy images from Efurd's surgery proved this. There are many sick people in the world, but Duntsch takes the cake for me. In 2005, about a third of the way through his residency, department chairman Dr. Jon Robertson appointed Duntsch program director of the school's tissue bank. Baylor Plano again ordered Duntsch to take a drug test. However, the surgery had to be moved to November 14 because Duntsch had failed to order the appropriate surgical hardware and equipment. It was. The indictments were made four months before the statute of limitations ran out. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. Ratings for Dr. Christopher D. Duntsch, Inactive. Now, his time at the university . Berry Morguloff was Dr. Duntsch's next unsuspecting victim. This time on 53-year-old Mary Efurd. 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. [18] Despite this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. Unfortunately, when Fennell woke up from surgery, he was paralyzed from the waist down. The case highlights the risks of allowing a troubled physician to move to another hospital . Every victim deserves to have their story told, and unfortunately, Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, has 33. The surgical disasters of neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch led to his jailing in 2017, setting a legal precedent. [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. Ellis Unit outside of Huntsville, Texas. 5 of Dallas County (opinion)", "Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Conviction of 'Dr. This meant Summers could still feel pain, but was unable to move from the neck down. Three holes had been poked into Efurd's spinal column where Duntsch had tried and failed to insert screws. One day, he happened to see a fax come in to the medical examiner's office. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Glidewell is still in constant pain and has undergone more than 50 procedures to correct the damage left by Duntsch. Those words continue to haunt her, and she's tormented by the knowledge that her endorsement caused others to select Duntsch themselves. Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work in the months following his surgery. Dr. Hassan Chahadeh, the owner, said when Duntsch had applied for privileges, his record was clean. 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. Troy was left barely able to speak above a whisper, had to be sedated for weeks and had to be fed through a feeding tube for some time as food was getting into her lungs. This was the time when Dr. Christopher Duntsch started to turn into Dr. Death. Death,' Dallas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch", "Texas neurosurgeon nicknamed 'Dr. Then, on July 24, 2012, he operated on Floella Brown. The Peacock originalDr Deathis based on atrue story. He performed only one surgery with the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute. The operation should have taken less than ninety minutes; it ultimately lasted four and a half hours. As he lay there in agony, Duntsch was nowhere to be found. 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 . The television series Dr. Death based on the incident, began streaming on Peacock in July 2021. Written by Patrick Macmanus, the show will only be available exclusively on Peacock. Many readers may recognize the name Christopher Duntsch, a doctor who allegedly was negligent in his practice for years before finally being stripped of his medical license. He refused to acknowledge anything was wrong, hindering the, This page was last edited on 14 February 2023, at 04:48. Just weeks after permanently maiming Morguloff, Dr. Duntsch operated on his lifelong friend and roommate, Jerry Summers. They have two sons. 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. It was then that Christopher decided to switch his career to medicine. 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. Dr. Death, read about how reckless surgeon Robert Liston killed his patient and two bystanders. During surgery, he cut a major vessel in her spinal cord. Dr. Death was fired before the end of his first week for the damage hed inflicted on Brown and Efurd. He thought surgery might give him some relief and stop his need for drugs. Texas law states that hospitals are liable for damages caused by doctors in their facilities only if the plaintiff can prove that the hospital acted with "malice"that is, the hospital knew of the extreme risk and ignored itin credentialing a doctor. Dr. Duntsch assured Muse that the pain was normal and prescribed him, strong pain killers, causing him to spiral into an addiction. He didn't wear underwear. As a young neurosurgeon in Texas, Duntsch killed . He was brilliant. He then packed it with too much of a substance intended to stop the bleeding. He had a bedroom upstairs in their Plano house. Christopher Duntsch is confirmed to have injured 31 patients and killed two . He earned his M.D. An MRI revealed that multiple bone fragments in his spinal canal were compressing and adhering to his S1 nerve and that Duntsch had installed the hardware incorrectly. 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. He was held in the Dallas County jail for almost two years until the case went to trial in 2017. After intense rehab and his determination, eventually, he was able to use a walker and cane to mobilize himself. That's why it really shined down to me," Kissinger said in an interview.