But, he can only walk 30 feet at a time and cannot stand for more than a few minutes. Then, on December 6, 2011, he operated on seventy-four-year-old Mary Efurd. His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary. Christopher Duntsch is confirmed to have injured 31 patients and killed two . Shughart countered that the 2011 email, sent after his first surgeries went wrong, proved that Duntsch knew his actions were intentional. Vaccinated people who catch Covid are reporting unique symptoms - the 4 signs to watch for, Man, 34, charged with murder after woman, 63, killed in house fire as family vow 'you'll never be forgotten', Six dead after private jet crashes and explodes in fireball between two houses sparking forest blaze near golf course. The surgery was supposed to take less than 45 minutes and ultimately lasted over four hours. His sophomore year, he made it as one of the few walk-on players. 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. 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. "[4] The Texas Medical Board revoked Duntsch's license on December 6, 2013. Page opened a desk drawer and saw a mirror with a pile of cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill on top. [4], After 13 days of trial, the jury needed only four hours to convict him for the maiming of Efurd. 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. Where is Kim Morgan Now? Glidewell was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus and partial paralysis on his left side. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Policy | Compact with Texans | Website Linking Policy; Please contact Pre-Licensure, Registration and Consumer Services at . Many of his patients suffered severe spinal cord damage, resulting in paralysis and pain severe enough to render painkillers ineffective. Duntsch had removed part of his femoral nerve. By the end of the week, administrators told Duntsch he would no longer be operating at Dallas Medical Center. Death', "Texas Jury Imposes Life Sentence on Neurosurgeon", "The Making and Breaking of Dr. "Christopher Duntsch" (Dr. Death)", "Season 14 of CNBC's 'American Greed' Premieres Monday, January 18 at 10PM", Dr. Death: The Texas Surgeon Who Paralyzed his Patients, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Duntsch&oldid=1139253982. This meant Summers could still feel pain, but was unable to move from the neck down. However, he ignored them and proceeded with his scheduled surgery on Efurd. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. Passmore says if he settles, he is allowing the hospital to continue to get away with their negligence. Left: WFAA-TV, Right: D MagazineLeft: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. An investigator by trade and nature, Passmore started digging into Dr. Christopher Duntsch. 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. In January 2013, Kenneth Fennell was scheduled for another operation because he was still experiencing extreme pain in his back. 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 . Duntsch also received forty percent of all revenue he generated beyond $800,000 each year. 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 explanation was enough to satisfy Muse. However, St. Jude says there was no such program at the hospital. 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. In April 2015, Duntsch was arrested again for shoplifting $887 worth of merchandise from a Dallas Walmart. This was the time when Dr. Christopher Duntsch started to turn into Dr. Death. 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. As part of their investigation, prosecutors obtained a December 2011 email written by Christopher Duntsch. Jeff Glidewell came across Dr. Christopher Duntsch in 2013 while searching for a neurosurgeon . 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Duntsch, aka Dr Death, was sentenced to life in prison in 2017, Dr Death - Trailer for the Peacock series based on the true story of Christopher Duntsch. Dr. Christopher Duntsch became the subject of a Peacock original series for all the wrong reasons. Berry Morguloff was Dr. Duntsch's next unsuspecting victim. Ghostbar, Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza. I can't believe that you're accusing me of killing someone,'" Muse recounted. Baylor officials took Summers' accusation seriously and ordered Duntsch to take a drug test. 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." 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. [40][41] On May 8, 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Duntschs petition for discretionary review. On December 30, 2011, Duntsch operated on Lee Passmore. Death'? As Burke says in "Dr. Death," "No matter what happens, no matter what somebody does to you or the people you love, all you're gonna get is $250,000. He called Duntsch's fellowship supervisor in Memphis, as well as 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. [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]. ", "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? 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 hospital initiated another peer review, but Duntsch resigned rather than face certain termination. [7] He likened what he found when he opened Efurd up to the results of a child playing with Tinkertoys or an erector set. But police say an email Duntsch wrote in 2011 points to his mind-set in the months before he "intentionally, knowingly and . [23][19][24], While operating on Efurd, Duntsch severed one of her nerve roots during spinal fusion surgery while operating on the wrong portion of her back, twisted a screw into another nerve, left screw holes on the opposite side of her spine, failed to remove the disc he was supposed to remove, and left surgical hardware in her muscle tissue so loose that it moved when touched. He earned his M.D. The staff told Duntsch that Brown, his patient from the day before, was in critical condition. Since receiving his life sentence, Dr Death is currently housed in the O.B. A Texas jury found Christopher Duntsch guilty Feb. 14 of maiming patients who had turned to him for surgery to resolve debilitating injuries. Jeff Cheney later learned that part of his spinal cord had been cut during the operation. Dr. Henderson thought the operation on Mary Efurd was so botched that Christopher Duntsch had to be an imposter. 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. He then packed it with too much of a substance intended to stop the bleeding. He was then brought on board at the Dallas Medical Center where he continued his carnage. Those words continue to haunt her, and she's tormented by the knowledge that her endorsement caused others to select Duntsch themselves. The hospital called Rimlawi when it couldn't reach his colleague. 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. At the time, hospitals were not required to report doctors who only had temporary privileges. "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. Why do Slipknot wear masks and what do they look like without? He completed a spine fellowship program at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic in Memphis for his surgical residency, spending the standard five years on neurosurgery and one-year learning general surgery. 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, Morguloff had become addicted to the pain killers being prescribed to him by this time. 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. 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 . Wendy Young knew her ex-boyfriend Christopher Duntsch's medical career was unraveling, but she wasn't prepared for what she said was his bizarre behavior that coincided with his fall from grace as a surgeon.. Christopher Duntsch was nicknamed Dr. Death due to the injuries he caused his patients. Duntsch stuffed a surgical sponge in Glidewell's throat to stanch the bleeding. No one can pay to remove ratings. We've had a catastrophic event here. Fennell is in constant pain, and it took several months of rehabilitation before he could begin to walk with a cane. He decided to turn to neurosurgery, which can be a lucrative field. Before his license was revoked by the Texas Medical Board, he was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 . Summers asked Duntsch to fix his chronic neck pain from a high school football injury that had gotten worse after a car accident. [18] Despite this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. During this time, he ran two successful labs and raised millions of dollars in grant funding. After interviewing dozens of Duntsch's patients and their survivors, prosecutors concluded that Duntsch's actions were indeed criminal, and nothing short of imprisonment would prevent him from practicing medicine again. The board called in veteran neurosurgeon Martin Lazar to review the case. Not only was he not qualified for and held no privileges to perform brain surgery, but Dallas Medical did not have the proper equipment or personnel for such an operation. [4] [19], Despite both of his surgeries at Dallas Medical Center going catastrophically awry, hospital officials did not report him to the NPDB. Prosecutors also faulted Duntsch's employers for not reporting him. i feel much better now ! The indictments were made four months before the statute of limitations ran out. The Dallas district attorney's office subpoenaed every hospital on Duntsch's CV for records of his surgeries. In one particularly disturbing episode, in March 2015, she said she arrived home to her front door had been locked with a deadbolt from the inside. In 2014, he developed syringomyelia, a painful condition that causes fluid-filled cysts on the spinal cord. Anatomy of a Tragedy. He is not eligible for parole until 2045; he will be 74 years old by then. Nevertheless, it took until June 2013 to find the "pattern of patient injury" required to justify suspending Duntsch's license, despite receiving complaints dating back to 2011. ", "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. He is very caring and took the time to help me understand my pain issues. The criminal conviction of Christopher Duntsch, MD, PhD, holds important lessons for risk managers. Advertisement. Despite his colleagues being [] Of those 38, 31 were leftparalyzed or seriously injured and two of them died from surgical complications. 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. Then came the fax, and he saw Duntsch's name next to Kellie Martin's. Henderson sent Duntsch's picture to the University of Tennessee to determine whether he had a degree from that institution and received confirmation that Duntsch was not a fraud. Christopher Duntsch is currently imprisoned at the O.B. Written by Patrick Macmanus, the show will only be available exclusively on Peacock. Watch the trailer for Dr . She was 27, and he was 40. WFAA-TVChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. 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. 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. Several of Duntsch's surgeries at Baylor Plano resulted in severely maimed patients: Baylor Plano officials found that Duntsch failed to meet their standards of care and permanently revoked his surgical privileges. 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. Philip is one of more than 30 people maimed by Dr. Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Dr. Death by the media. He thought surgery might give him some relief and stop his need for drugs. During his tenure at Baylor Plano, Kimberly Morgan assisted in every surgery with Duntsch. He later told Glidewell that it was clear Duntsch had tried to kill him. 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. After intense rehab and his determination, eventually, he was able to use a walker and cane to mobilize himself. Duntsch's next patient was Jeff Glidewell. [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. After his license was revoked,Duntsch fled from Texas. "If he wasn't doing research, he was out with Jerry Summers, partying," Morgan said in her deposition. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. Joshua Jackson went to the dark side to play Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who's serving a life sentence for maiming a woman during surgery, in the new Peacock series Dr. Death. While there, he damaged patient Jeff Cheney's spinal cord, leaving him without feeling on the right side of his body. 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]. Her husband could not hold himself up; he had no support of his own and could barely speak. The sponge triggered a severe blood-borne infection that caused Glidewell to become septic. And its all because of one surgeon named Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. [26][4], After leaving Dallas Medical Center, Duntsch received privileges at South Hampton Community Hospital in Dallas and also took a job at an outpatient clinic named Legacy Surgery Center (now Frisco Ambulatory Surgery Center) in Frisco. She also said they snorted cocaine from a small pile he kept on a dresser in his home office. Duntsch recommended fusing Morguloff's L5-S1 vertebrae, and the surgery was scheduled for January 11, 2012. Despite all of this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football.[7]. 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. [15], Duntsch joined Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano (now Baylor Scott & White Medical Center Plano) as a minimally invasive spine surgeon with a salary of $600,000 per year, plus bonuses. During his short tenure, he spent little time in the operating room. [18] He damaged patient Philip Mayfield's spinal cord, drilling into it and leaving him partially paralyzed from the neck down. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971. executive producer explains how Christopher Duntsch could have avoided prison. Your trust is important to us. Dr. Death in surgery. Death. [12], Initially, Duntsch focused heavily on the PhD half of his degree. Officers took him to a nearby psychiatric hospital. When he woke up, he was a quadriplegic with incomplete paralysis. In July 2015, Duntsch was arrested in Dallas and charged with six felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of aggravated assault causing severe bodily injury, and one count of injury to an elderly person. He stalled at first, telling administrators he got lost on the way to the lab. Every victim deserves to have their story told, and unfortunately, Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, has 33. [38] Shughart countered that the 2011 email, sent after his first surgeries went wrong, proved that Duntsch knew his actions were intentional. He was put on probation for three weeks and told to stick to relatively minor procedures when he returned. However, it wasn't clear how much training Duntsch received. He refused to acknowledge anything was wrong, hindering the, This page was last edited on 14 February 2023, at 04:48. Dr. Death was fired before the end of his first week for the damage hed inflicted on Brown and Efurd. He later appealed his case, but lost when his conviction was upheld 2-1 in the Fifth District Court of Appeals . Plans start at $4.99/month. When Kirby learned the details, he immediately asked the doctor who referred the case to him about the surgeon: "Is it a guy named Christopher Duntsch?" [47] A follow-up docuseries, Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story, was later released on Peacock on July 29, 2021, featuring interviews with some of Duntsch's patients and colleagues, as well as with Henderson, Kirby and Shughart. 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. One screw was jabbed directly into her spinal canal and had skewered the nerves that control one leg and the bladder. He was sent to a program for impaired physicians when he returned but was allowed to finish his residency. Im the only clean minimally invasive guy in the whole state.. He was a forty-five-year-old man with typical back problems. Duntsch was fired after he performed a surgery and immediately left for Las Vegas, leaving no one to look after his patient. After the operation, Brown woke up and seemed fine, but early the following day; she lost consciousness. Lee Passmore is still fighting. No diagnostic imaging studies were ordered, and no reasonable explanation was offered for his condition. Baylor suspended Duntsch, pictured, for a month. It stars Joshua Jackson as Duntsch, Alec Baldwin as Robert Henderson, Christian Slater as Randall Kirby and AnnaSophia Robb as Michelle Shughart. In 2011, Christopher Duntsch met Wendy Young at the Beauty Shop bar in Memphis. February 21, 2017 / 5:45 AM / CBS News. Summers remained quadriplegic for the rest of his life. "Dr. Duntsch is one great man." He knew this couldn't have been a one-time mistake. [4] Mayfield died of COVID-19 in February 2021; according to his wife, he had been vulnerable to the virus due to complications caused by Duntsch's botched surgeries. "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 . February 22, 2017. As a young neurosurgeon in Texas, Duntsch killed . Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. [19], In July 2015, approximately a year and a half after his license was revoked, Duntsch was arrested in Dallas and charged with six felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, and one count of injury to an elderly person. I am sorry in advance that this blog post is so long. Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work in the months following his surgery. [4] In an article for The Texas Prosecutor, the journal of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, Shughart and the other members of the trial team recalled that their superiors were initially skeptical when they presented the case, but eventually found themselves in "overwhelming disbelief" that a surgeon could do what Duntsch was accused of doing. "[45], Wondery Media launched a ten-episode podcast series named Dr. Death, focusing on Duntsch. Duntsch moved into a five-bedroom house not far from the hospital. 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. Duntsch told Mayfield's wife it went well, but she instantly knew something was wrong as she walked into his room. 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. As those watching the show know, Christopher was dubbed "Dr. Death" in D Magazine . Kenneth Fennell, the first patient Duntsch operated on at Baylor Plano, was left with chronic pain after Duntsch operated on the wrong part of his back. Since Duntsch's departure was technically voluntary, Baylor Plano was under no obligation to report him to the Texas Medical Board or the National Practitioner Data Bank. In May 2013, Dr. Randall Kirby was invited to a dinner by University General Hospital to meet their new neurosurgeon, Dr. Duntsch. 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. He also reported shooting pains throughout his body. In a long running series of complaints, a Texas doctor has been found guilty of a felony in one medical malpractice case. [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. If you had back pain, and had tried everything else, Dr. Duntsch could give you the spine surgery that would take your pain away. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing Unfortunately, when Morguloff woke up, he began to experience continuous pain, paresthesia, and loss of sensation in his left leg. 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. On November 7, 2011, Dr. Duntsch was scheduled to perform his first surgery at Baylor Plano on Kenneth Fennell for his back pain. The process involves cutting a hole in the skull to relieve the pressure in the brain. 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. Just weeks after permanently maiming Morguloff, Dr. Duntsch operated on his lifelong friend and roommate, Jerry Summers. Christopher Duntsch ended up at Millsaps College in Mississippi to play football and was offered financial aid. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. He is currently appealing this sentence. CHRISTOPHER Duntsch, is infamously known as Dr Death for gross malpractice. Learn more. ", "Surgeon who wrote of becoming killer is denied bail reduction", "Elderly couple attends court hoping for justice in Duntsch case", "Who Were The Victims Of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, Who Earned The Ominous Nickname 'Dr. Duntsch continued operating despite clear signs that Martin was losing massive amounts of blood.