Typically, neurosurgery residents participate in over 1,000 surgeries in the course of their residency. [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. 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 . However, on January 6, 2012, a week after the surgery, Dr. Duntsch performed another operation on Passmore. Then, on December 6, 2011, he operated on seventy-four-year-old Mary Efurd. Duntsch arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes after Efurd's surgery had been scheduled. My surgery was 3 months ago but i noticed difference right away. [9] Duntsch completed his undergraduate degree in 1995, then continued on to an ambitious MDPhD program. Lee Passmore was thirty-seven and worked as a field agent for the Collin County medical examiner. The sponge triggered a severe blood-borne infection that caused Glidewell to become septic. There were two names on the top page: Kellie Martin and Christopher Duntsch. Following his blunders, Duntsch resigned from Baylor Plano in April 2012 before they could fire him. February 21, 2017 / 5:45 AM / CBS News. Prosecutors also faulted Duntsch's employers for not reporting him. D MagazineChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. 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. 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 . The series follows two other surgeons, along with . by Saul Elbein. It involves the case of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a spinal neurosurgeon who left a trail of dead and permanently disabled . Jeff Glidewell came across Dr. Christopher Duntsch in 2013 while searching for a neurosurgeon . The suit alleged that Baylor Plano made an average net profit of $65,000 on every spinal surgery performed by Duntsch. "[45], Wondery Media launched a ten-episode podcast series named Dr. Death, focusing on Duntsch. [19][25][7] She later recalled waking up feeling "excruciating pain", a "ten-plus" on a scale of 1 to 10. Dr. Mark Hoyle, a surgeon who worked with Duntsch during one of his botched procedures, told D Magazine that he would make extremely arrogant announcements such as: Everybody is doing it wrong. [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. February 22, 2017. Three holes had been poked into Efurd's spinal column where Duntsch had tried and failed to insert screws. It stars Joshua Jackson as Duntsch, Alec Baldwin as Robert Henderson, Christian Slater as Randall Kirby and AnnaSophia Robb as Michelle Shughart. Duntsch was fired after he performed a surgery and immediately left for Las Vegas, leaving no one to look after his patient. The Texas Medical Board would later conclude that Brown died of excessive blood loss and a stroke, according to The Texas Observer . But based on documents gathered by the DA, when Duntsch finished his residency, he had operated fewer than 100 times. The charismatic neurosurgeon was actually a successful researcher before he starting killing people in the operating . Facebook Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch. [7][28][16], 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. He didn't wear underwear. [46], Dr. Death, a TV mini-series based on the podcast, began streaming on Peacock on July 15, 2021. (Dallas County Jail via AP) Gift Article. Leaving on April 20, 2012, with a lawyer-negotiated letter saying, "All areas of concern with regard to Christopher D. Duntsch have been closed. He was brilliant. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The pressure was building inside her brain. He knew this couldn't have been a one-time mistake. 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 . I dont know if hes there to harm me or what his true intentions were, Wendy Young said of the harrowing alleged encounter with Christopher Duntsch. Ghostbar, Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza. Christopher Duntsch is confirmed to have injured 31 patients and killed two . 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. He is currently appealing this sentence. Over this period, Duntsch performed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition, paralyzed, or deceased. 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. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football.[7]. [30], Henderson and Kirby feared that Duntsch could move elsewhere and still theoretically get a medical license. When Jerry Summers woke up, he couldn't move his arms or legs. He was tragically mistaken. Brown was left in a coma for hours before Duntsch finally acquiesced to her transfer. The television series Dr. Death based on the incident, began streaming on Peacock in July 2021. Christopher Duntsch was nicknamed Dr. Death due to the injuries he caused his patients. When Morgan asked Duntsch about the woman in his house, he said she was just his secretary and friend. [7], When Duntsch applied for privileges at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, the hospital queried the NPDB. I thought he was either really, really good, or hes just really, really arrogant and thought he was good, Hoyle said. Shughart argued that Duntsch should have known he would hurt others unless he changed his approach and that his failure to learn from his past mistakes demonstrated that his maiming of Efurd was intentional. Duntsch is a former neurosurgeon born in 1971 in Montana . [8] Duntsch returned home to attend Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). The appalling actions of the rogue surgeon and their repercussions on his unsuspecting patients were . She came in to have two vertebrae fused, but when she woke up she experienced severe pain and couldnt stand. After a breath test, Duntsch was arrested for DUI and sent to a detox facility. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. Duntsch did not respond to messages from the hospital for a few hours, then the next day scheduled an elective surgery on Efurd rather than care for Brown. One screw was jabbed directly into her spinal canal and had skewered the nerves that control one leg and the bladder. Premiering Thursday on . 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. 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. 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. Once, he stopped by to pick up some paperwork. Despite all of this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. No one came out and spoke with Kellie Martin's family or informed them of her condition during this time. 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 . Left: WFAA-TV, Right: D MagazineLeft: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. Ellis Unit prison in Huntsville, Texas. After this look at Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. According to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a neurosurgery resident does about 1,000 operations during training. [36][11][9] For the same reason, prosecutors opted to try Duntsch for Efurd's maiming first. She also said that he kept a pile of cocaine on his dresser in his home office. One day, he happened to see a fax come in to the medical examiner's office. 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. To stop the bleeding, he packed the space with so much anticoagulant foam that it constricted Summers' spine. Duntsch's next patient was Jeff Glidewell. Passmore can't feel his feet; his chest shakes, his right-hand jitters, he can't run or swim with his kids, he struggles with incontinence, and he has nerve pain that fires through his back. An anesthesiologist and Dr. Anson Fulton, who assisted with the surgery, warned Duntsch about the blood loss, and he continued to ignore them and operate. He was left with pain so debilitating he could not work any longer and now spends most of his days at home. The day that Brown suffered her stroke, Duntsch operated again. Dr. Duntsch assured Muse that the pain was normal and prescribed him, strong pain killers, causing him to spiral into an addiction. 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 . For 33 patients of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, it was a reality. However, Mayfield still woke up with paralysis on occasion. 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. [14] He persuaded Young to come with him; Young agreed, since she had grown up in the Dallas area. They have two sons. Now, his time at the university . Summers had a credit card in his name connected to Duntsch's account and would drive him around, balance his checkbooks, and pick up his dry cleaning. Unfortunately, it's all too real. D Magazine gave him the nickname in . 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. ", "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. Christopher was raised along with his three younger siblings in a wealthy suburb in Memphis, Tennessee. 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. MISI representatives stated he would brag about his capabilities and be critical of the work of other surgeons. He then prescribed Muse so much Percocet that a pharmacist refused to fill the prescription. However, the surgery had to be moved to November 14 because Duntsch had failed to order the appropriate surgical hardware and equipment. Getty Dr. Duntsch, aka "Dr. Death", operated on his last patient in 2013, before he was arrested. 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. The Legislature not only puts the burden of proof on the plaintiff instead of the defendant in medical malpractice cases, but it also allows hospitals to keep information about doctors confidential. Duntsch pierced and blocked her vertebral artery with a misplaced screw and refused to stop despite the massive blood loss. Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months as a practicing surgeon at multiple Texas hospitals until he had his license revoked in 2013. He performed only one surgery with the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute. He refused to abort the surgery even after a trauma surgeon colleague and an anesthesiologist warned him about the blood loss. Death. Hoyle called the surgery sloppy enough to cancel the remaining four operations he had scheduled with Duntsch and vowed never to work with him again. Unfortunately, when Morguloff woke up, he began to experience continuous pain, paresthesia, and loss of sensation in his left leg. Jerry Summers believed that his best friend Christopher Duntsch was a talented neurosurgeon who would cure his chronic neck pain. In effect, plaintiffs have to prove a tough case without access to the necessary hospital records. Although he wasn't a talented athlete, he trained for hours on his own and made it as a linebacker on his high school football team at Evangelical Christian School in Memphis. He then packed it with too much of a substance intended to stop the bleeding. 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. 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 . 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. [36] On February 20, 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison. The first screening came back diluted with tap water, but a second, taken a few days later, came back clean. Morguloff had become addicted to the pain killers being prescribed to him by this time. Peacock's Dr. Death is a chilling dramatization of the real-life story of former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch. Legacy Surgery Center in Frisco (now Frisco Ambulatory Surgery Center). By the end of the week, administrators told Duntsch he would no longer be operating at Dallas Medical Center. On 06/26/2013 MARY EFURD filed a Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice lawsuit against CHRISTOPHER D DUNTSCH, MD. Board chairman Irwin Zeitzler later said that complications in neurosurgery were more common than most think. He later appealed his case, but lost when his conviction was upheld 2-1 in the Fifth District Court of Appeals . "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? Duntsch filed a patent for the technology, and he listed himself as one of the inventors even though he had not discovered it. Before the surgery, Kirby related that Duntsch said he was the best spine surgeon in Dallas and the only spine surgeon trained in minimally invasive spine surgery. Dr. Christopher Duntsch's patients ended up maimed and dead, but the real tragedy is that the Texas Medical Board couldn't stop him. Dr. Fulton never worked with Duntsch again. By this time, Duntsch was almost penniless, and the judge had to appoint a lawyer for him. [12], Initially, Duntsch focused heavily on the PhD half of his degree. Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. Duntsch had his surgical rights temporarily suspended after his botched surgery on Summers and his first patient back was 55-year-old Kellie Martin. This meant Summers could still feel pain, but was unable to move from the neck down. Your trust is important to us. He hoped to play football, but his multiple transfers revoked his eligibility. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. He was nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death for malpractice resulting in the maiming of several patients and killing two of them while working at hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The surgery was supposed to take less than 45 minutes and ultimately lasted over four hours. Thankfully, this ended up being Dr. Christopher Duntsch's last operation. [4] Duntsch also claimed to have graduated magna cum laude from St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital with a doctorate in microbiology a program that the hospital did not offer at the time he allegedly attended. His girlfriend, Wendy Young, had a second son in September 2014. Jerry Summers, who grew up with Christopher Duntsch in Tennessee, was left a quadriplegic after agreeing to let "Dr. Death" operate on his neck. He said, "Randy, you were right. 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. 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. The two soon began dating and moving in together within three months. A Texas neurosurgeon accused of intentionally botching multiple spinal surgeries, resulting in the death of two . 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. He was sent to a program for impaired physicians when he returned but was allowed to finish his residency. By this time, however, Brown was brain dead. 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. When Martin awoke from anesthesia, she was screaming and clawing at her legs which had become patchy and full of purple streaks and spots. 0:05. While there, he damaged patient Jeff Cheney's spinal cord, leaving him without feeling on the right side of his body. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Just weeks after permanently maiming Morguloff, Dr. Duntsch operated on his lifelong friend and roommate, Jerry Summers. i feel much better now ! She was transferred to a Dallas hospital after suffering from a severe infection, and Randal Kirby was asked to operate on her. 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." On top of this, he misspelled both Kukekov and Ignatova's names. Dr. Henderson thought the operation on Mary Efurd was so botched that Christopher Duntsch had to be an imposter. During surgery, he cut a major vessel in her spinal cord. The operation should have taken less than ninety minutes; it ultimately lasted four and a half hours. Summers remained quadriplegic for the rest of his life. Dr. Duntsch came from a good family and showed considerable potential at medical school. Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work in the months following his surgery. Fennell is in constant pain, and it took several months of rehabilitation before he could begin to walk with a cane. Before going to medical school, Duntsch wanted to be a pro-football player. Passmore says if he settles, he is allowing the hospital to continue to get away with their negligence. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Where is Kim Morgan Now? ", "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? 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. Dr. Phil airs on weekdays. Of those 38, 31 were leftparalyzed or seriously injured and two of them died from surgical complications. B. Ellis Unit outside Huntsville. In the end, Floella Brown never regained consciousness because Duntsch refused to transfer her to another doctor in time, and her family had to remove her from life support. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. Due to the debilitating pain, Fennell later had a second operation by Duntsch to relieve it, and was left significantly paralyzed in his legs. Dr Deathis a new limited series about the rise and fall of Duntsch. Cheney recalled wondering why a neurosurgeon with such outstanding credentials would be operating at a lower-tiered hospital on the way to his surgery. According to Megan Kane, an ex-girlfriend of one of Duntschs friends, she saw him eat a paper blotter of LSD and take prescription painkillers on his birthday. When he called Duntsch's office, he was told it would "go away." And its all because of one surgeon named Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. Updated Dec 9, 2022 at 3:25pm. Advertisement. 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. Kirby arrived and transferred Glidewell to a top-tier hospital to perform an emergency operation to remove the sponge. 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." The Judge overseeing this case is GINSBERG, CARL. 3-Jeff Glidewell, another victim of Duntsch's. 4-Michelle Shugart, the woman who brought this all to fruition . Nicknamed "Dr. Death," the story of Duntsch's egregious medical crimes and the healthcare system that failed so many by allowing him to practice received the podcast treatment in 2018 from Wondery, the team behind "Dirty John.". Baylor officials took Summers' accusation seriously and ordered Duntsch to take a drug test. However, red flags surfaced early on, as nurses wondered if Duntsch was under the influence of drugs while on duty. Duntsch also received forty percent of all revenue he generated beyond $800,000 each year. He thought it was odd that Duntsch wasn't working at Baylor Plano anymore, so he called his insurance company, who stated Christopher Duntsch was in good standing. His CV also conveyed he earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from St. Jude Children's Research Hospitals, graduating summa cum laude. Trusty would later find out there was no award and it had just been a paid advertisement. [16][24] Henderson described Duntsch's surgery as an "assault", and concluded that Efurd would have been bedridden had the salvage surgery not been performed. Dallas Magazine states that Duntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. The Dallas district attorney's office subpoenaed every hospital on Duntsch's CV for records of his surgeries. She had suffered from lower back pain for years and was referred to Duntsch by her pain management doctor. He was held in the Dallas County jail for almost two years until the case went to trial in 2017. His mother, Susan, was a school teacher. He said even a person with the most basic sense of human anatomy would know they were operating in the wrong area.
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