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." by Saul Elbein. Christopher Duntsch wrote that he was ready to become a "cold blooded killer". One of the patients who suffered disastrous consequences was Jerry Summers, the boyfriend of Megan Kane and a friend of Christopher Duntsch. 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. He has taken Baylor Plano to court over changing the Texas law requiring patients to prove that a hospital intended to harm them when it granted privileges to someone unsafe. Young said that Morgan visited often. Around this time, Christopher Duntsch's behavior became noticeably erratic. He claimed he was the best in Dallas. Trusty would later find out there was no award and it had just been a paid advertisement. 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. [40][41] On May 8, 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Duntschs petition for discretionary review. Duntsch continued to medicate Morguloff with prescription pain killers and ignored the change in his condition. Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. [33][34] The indictments were made four months before the statute of limitations were to run out. Unfortunately, when Morguloff woke up, he began to experience continuous pain, paresthesia, and loss of sensation in his left leg. This case was filed in Dallas County District Courts, Dallas County Civil District Courts located in Dallas, Texas. He was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus, and partial paralysis on his left side. Mary Efurd: While Brown was dying, Duntsch was operating on Mary Efurd, a 71-year-old anxious to return to her treadmill after surgery to relieve her back pain. 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. Christopher Duntsch was nicknamed Dr. Death due to the injuries he caused his patients. Death'? The board called in veteran neurosurgeon Martin Lazar to review the case. When Jerry Summers woke up, he couldn't move his arms or legs. His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary. [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. The pressure was building inside her brain. The hospital hired him and granted him temporary surgical privileges until his reference checks were completed. Henderson sent Duntsch's picture to the University of Tennessee to determine whether he actually had a degree from that institution and received confirmation that Duntsch, in fact, did. She also said they snorted cocaine from a small pile he kept on a dresser in his home office. Dr. Death is based on the podcast of the same name, produced by Wondery. [4] [19], Despite both of his surgeries at Dallas Medical Center going catastrophically awry, hospital officials did not report him to the NPDB. 5 of Dallas County (opinion)", "Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Conviction of 'Dr. 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. Prosecutors also faulted Duntsch's employers for not reporting him. However, on January 6, 2012, a week after the surgery, Dr. Duntsch performed another operation on Passmore. You'd like to think . His mother, Susan, was a school teacher. Glidewell is still in constant pain and has undergone more than 50 procedures to correct the damage left by Duntsch. 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. Troy was sedated for weeks and forced to eat through a feeding tube because food was getting into her lungs. 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. To avoid the costs of fighting and possibly losing a wrongful termination suit, hospital officials reached a deal with Duntsch's lawyers in which Duntsch was allowed to resign in return for Baylor Plano issuing a letter stating that there were no issues with him. [9][10], Duntsch had severed Brown's vertebral artery, and refused to abort despite the massive blood loss. 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. [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. Cheney recalled wondering why a neurosurgeon with such outstanding credentials would be operating at a lower-tiered hospital on the way to his surgery. It was determined during the repair surgery that Dr. Duntsch had not even been operating on the correct part of Jeff Glidewell's spine. However, St. Jude says there was no such program at the hospital. He said even a person with the most basic sense of human anatomy would know they were operating in the wrong area. The story of Dr. Death, Christopher Duntsch, feels like something out of a movie or book. Then, on July 24, 2012, he operated on Floella Brown. Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months as a practicing surgeon at multiple Texas hospitals until he had his license revoked in 2013. Could you take care of it?" Muse spiraled into opioid addiction that cost him his wife and his job. Immediately, he started yelling and cussing at me, saying, 'How dare you? "Something was wrong," Dr. Rimlawi said, "whether it be impairment from drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or a combination of all three." Duntsch also removed so much bone and muscle tissue from Summers' neck that his head was no longer secure on his body. Duntsch suggested drilling a hole in Brown's head to relieve the pressure, but was refused permission. Inside The Death Of Chris Benoit, The Professional Wrestler Who Killed His Family And Then Himself, Archaeologists Just Uncovered A Massive Roman Phallic Carving In Spain And It Might Be The Biggest Ever Found, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The problem was that Dallas Medical Center did not perform those or even have the proper equipment to do them. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. Duntsch continued operating despite clear signs that Martin was losing massive amounts of blood. Duntsch also appears in no yearbooks during the time in which he says he earned his Ph.D. The series is set to premiere on July 12 and will feature a star-studded cast. From 2017: https://bit.ly/3hXJccx When Martin awoke from anesthesia, she was screaming and clawing at her legs which had become patchy and full of purple streaks and spots. The television series Dr. Death based on the incident, began streaming on Peacock in July 2021. Unfortunately, it's all too real. However, red flags surfaced early on, as nurses wondered if Duntsch was under the influence of drugs while on duty. Left: WFAA-TV, Right: D MagazineLeft: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. Page opened a desk drawer and saw a mirror with a pile of cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill on top. 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. Since receiving his life sentence, Dr Death is currently housed in the O.B. Once, he stopped by to pick up some paperwork. DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch has been sentenced to life in prison for a series of botched spinal surgeries, reports CBS . Dr. Christopher Duntsch appeared to havean impressive resume, but left a trail ofpain and devastation for those who trusted him with their health. Passmore says if he settles, he is allowing the hospital to continue to get away with their negligence. Donald Duntsch was a gridiron football standout in Montana, and . His very first operation at the hospital would once again turn deadly. However, he sewed up Glidewell with the sponge still in place despite others in the operating room warning him about it. 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. But when he awoke and was experiencing extreme pain, Dr. Duntsch said that surgery had been a success and there had been no complications. Finally, the board permanently revoked Duntsch's license on December 6, 2013. Before going to medical school, Duntsch wanted to be a pro-football player. The deal required Duntsch to attain privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano. Dr. Duntsch came from a good family and showed considerable potential at medical school. My experience with this doctor has been great. A Texas jury found Christopher Duntsch guilty Feb. 14 of maiming patients who had turned to him for surgery to resolve debilitating injuries. As a result of the 2017 trial, Duntsch was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. But, she never reported Duntsch up the ladder or told anyone about the horrors she witnessed in the operating room. It was Duntsch, babbling about his family being in danger. During surgery, Duntsch operated on the wrong part of Fennell's back. 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 initially attended Millsaps College to play Division III college football, and later transferred to Division I Colorado State University. Although she didn't think much of it and assumed Morgan was helping with research. He wanted to become a doctor, and not just any doctor - a neurosurgeon, operating on injured backs and necks. At the time, hospitals were not required to report doctors who only had temporary privileges. "I called Dr. Duntsch up, and I said, 'I saw this online.' After intense rehab and his determination, eventually, he was able to use a walker and cane to mobilize himself. 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. We've had a catastrophic event here. How could Dr. Christopher Duntsch practice medicine for as long as he did without being stopped? Young let him buy her an appletini, and they felt a connection; eventually, she went home with Duntsch. D Magazine gave him the nickname in . [19] Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. 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 . Promising Beginnings. Christopher Duntsch, known as "Dr. Death" tried to explain himself in rambling emails, but he only made things worse for his criminal case. i feel much better now ! [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. [18] He damaged patient Philip Mayfield's spinal cord, drilling into it and leaving him partially paralyzed from the neck down. "If he wasn't doing research, he was out with Jerry Summers, partying," Morgan said in her deposition. [7] While operating on Jacqueline Troy, Duntsch cut one of her vocal cords and an artery and also damaged her trachea. Through it all, Duntsch was able to lure patient after patient under his knife was his extreme confidence. Dallas Magazine states that Duntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. Even worse, some of the patients never got the chance to wake up. 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. [37][4], Over objections from Duntsch's lawyers, prosecutors called many of Duntsch's other patients to the stand in order to prove that his actions were intentional. Brown was left in a coma for hours before Duntsch finally acquiesced to her transfer. Every victim deserves to have their story told, and unfortunately, Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, has 33. 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, The operation should have taken less than ninety minutes; it ultimately lasted four and a half hours. [48], In 2019, Duntsch was the focus of the premiere episode of License to Kill, Oxygen's series on criminal medical professionals. Duntsch is a former neurosurgeon born in 1971 in Montana . Duntsch stuffed a surgical sponge in Glidewell's throat to stanch the bleeding. [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. 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. 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. Baylor wanted Duntsch operating quickly and often so they could be reimbursed for the monies they had advanced to him. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football.[7]. I thought he was either really, really good, or hes just really, really arrogant and thought he was good, Hoyle said. [7], Shughart argued that Duntsch should have known he was likely to 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! "It's a miracle," she said in the infomercial later promoted on his website. His older son had been born back when he was at Baylor Plano. Duntsch is a former Dallas neurosurgeon who, through . Around 2006 and 2007, Duntsch began to become unhinged. He was arrested for DUI in Denver, taken for a psychiatric evaluation in Dallas during one of his visits to see his children, and was arrested in Dallas for shoplifting. The day after Mary Efurd's surgery, she awoke in excruciating pain and could not turn over or wiggle her toes. He was then brought on board at the Dallas Medical Center where he continued his carnage. 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. Left: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. Veteran vascular surgeon Randall Kirby recalled that Duntsch frequently boasted about his abilities despite being so new to the area. [10][7], Duntsch completed his residency having participated in fewer than 100 surgeries. Before working with him, Dr. Hoyle said that he didnt know how to feel about his fellow surgeon. Watch the trailer for Dr . MISI representatives stated he would brag about his capabilities and be critical of the work of other surgeons. Now, a podcast called Dr. Death is breaking down the deranged surgeons criminal acts and shows how drug abuse and blinding overconfidence led to big trouble for the patients who found themselvesunderneath the spiraling doctors knife. Passmore met with Dr. Duntsch and was impressed by his confidence; he would fix him. In his first surgery after his suspension lifted, he nicked the vertebral artery of Kellie Martin, a 55-year-old Garland woman. The series peers into the torturous crimes of . He didn't wear underwear. 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. Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. No diagnostic imaging studies were ordered, and no reasonable explanation was offered for his condition. Duntsch told Mayfield's wife it went well, but she instantly knew something was wrong as she walked into his room. Dr Deathis a new limited series about the rise and fall of Duntsch. 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. 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. Mayfield was taken to a different hospital and told his spinal cord had already been deformed, and the damage was irreversible. [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. Kirby arrived and transferred Glidewell to a top-tier hospital to perform an emergency operation to remove the sponge. No one can pay to remove ratings. Passmore had a herniated disc in his lower spine pressing on a nerve causing him pain. Chahadeh was worried about his facility and getting sued by Duntsch; he said to Dr. Kirby that they had already given him privileges. 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. But soon his patients started to experience complications, and the system failed to protect them. Your trust is important to us. Updated Dec 9, 2022 at 3:25pm. Did Christopher Duntsch have a wife and kids? His mother, Susan, was a school teacher. [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. However, by the time he met Young, Duntsch was over $500,000 in debt. His name appeared on several papers and patents, and he took part in a number of biotech startups. After he arrived in town, he secured a deal with the Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano and was given surgical rights at the hospital. He remained there for several months before being allowed to return to the residency. He later appealed his case, but lost when his conviction was upheld 2-1 in the Fifth District Court of Appeals . In December 2012, Jacqueline Troy was left barely able to speak above a whisper after Duntsch cut her vocal cords and one of her arteries. They created a method for culturing the stem cells of intervertebral discs outside of the body. It told the unfortunately true story of Doctor Christopher Duntsch, who was eventually sentenced to life in prison for maiming an elderly patient. Summers asked Duntsch to fix his chronic neck pain from a high school football injury that had gotten worse after a car accident. His pain management specialist advised against an operation but referred him to a neurosurgeon named Christopher Duntsch. To stop the bleeding, he packed the space with so much anticoagulant foam that it constricted Summers' spine. When he called Duntsch's office, he was told it would "go away." Finally, Dr. Kirby received a call from Hassan Chahadeh. Over this period, Duntsch performed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition, paralyzed, or deceased. During surgery, Duntsch damaged Summers' vertebral artery causing it to bleed uncontrollably. 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. According to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a neurosurgery resident does about 1,000 operations during training. Prince Charming, Im gonna change your life, Wendy Young said of the promising start to her romance with Christopher Duntsch. She was dancing at a strip club in Memphis, and Duntsch's issues with his business, DiscGenics, grew more severe. So as Duntsch operated on Efurd, he quarreled with Kissinger and his supervisors, insisting on a craniotomy for Brown. 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. He Was Also His Victim. Over the span of a few years, he managed to maim and injure over 30 patients, with two more dying during and shortly after undergoing surgery with him. Kissinger also noticed that Duntsch had pinpoint pupils and hardly seemed to blink. In January 2013, Kenneth Fennell was scheduled for another operation because he was still experiencing extreme pain in his back. [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. It was completely unnecessary, didn't relieve her pain, and only set her up for another needed surgery. During his short tenure, he spent little time in the operating room. However, Duntsch was allowed to resign, and the hospital didn't notify the National Practitioner Data Bankagain. Dr. Hassan Chahadeh, the owner, said when Duntsch had applied for privileges, his record was clean. Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971)[1] is a former American neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death[2] for gross malpractice resulting in the maiming of several patients' spines and two deaths while working at hospitals in the DallasFort Worth metroplex. 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. A disc in his lower spine had blown out, and the pieces had to be picked out of the space above. There were two names on the top page: Kellie Martin and Christopher Duntsch. [9] Texas Medical Board Revocation Order. Morguloff had become addicted to the pain killers being prescribed to him by this time. He wrote grants and secured more than $3 million in funding. In 2010, he completed the MDPhD and neurosurgery residency programs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center,[3] and subsequently completed a spine fellowship program at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic in Memphis. When he woke, he could not move anything on the right side of his body. Pic credit: Dallas County Sheriff's Office. ", "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? 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. Duntsch, once a neurosurgeon, is the focal point of the new streaming Peacock docuseries "Dr. Death." D Magazine gave him the nickname in its reporting in 2016. Death'? Everything went perfect in there." The surgery was supposed to take less than 45 minutes and ultimately lasted over four hours. The patient was Mary Efurd coming in for a second operation. [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. Dr. Death in surgery. His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary. 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. [16] In 2021, he was profiled on CNBC's American Greed. Dr. Duntsch assured Muse that the pain was normal and prescribed him, strong pain killers, causing him to spiral into an addiction. Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of . 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. In February 2012, he went under the knife for an elective spinal fusion surgery. "[4] The Texas Medical Board revoked Duntsch's license on December 6, 2013. During this time, he ran two successful labs and raised millions of dollars in grant funding. Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch first met in 2011 at a Beauty Shop bar in Memphis. Lazar was scathingly critical of Duntsch's work. His CV also conveyed he earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from St. Jude Children's Research Hospitals, graduating summa cum laude. He hoped to play football, but his multiple transfers revoked his eligibility. [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. His first and only surgery with MISI was on a Thursday in September 2011 at Baylor Plano. Former teammates later said that, while Duntsch trained hard, he lacked talent at the game. Duntsch moved to Denver, Colorado, and went into a downward spiral. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing Dr. Robert Henderson was brought in on July 28, 2012, to perform a revision surgery on Efurd. From 2011 to 2013, dozens of patients in the Dallas area woke up after their surgeries with horrible pain, numbness and, paralysis. 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 the patient died from having an allergic reaction to the anesthesia." The Dallas district attorney's office subpoenaed every hospital on Duntsch's CV for records of his surgeries. He was a genius. Dr. Death in surgery. Efurd was left paralyzed. He is not eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74 years old. As a young neurosurgeon in Texas, Duntsch killed . Her husband could not hold himself up; he had no support of his own and could barely speak. Donald Duntsch was a gridiron football standout in Montana, and Christopher was determined to follow in those footsteps. Getty Dr. Duntsch, aka "Dr. Death", operated on his last patient in 2013, before he was arrested.