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[7] He lasted for less than a week before administrators pulled his privileges after the death of a patient, Floella Brown, and the maiming of another, Mary Efurd. Duntsch pierced and blocked her vertebral artery with a misplaced screw and refused to stop despite the massive blood loss. They created a method for culturing the stem cells of intervertebral discs outside of the body. This case was filed in Dallas County District Courts, Dallas County Civil District Courts located in Dallas, Texas. [9][10], Duntsch had severed Brown's vertebral artery, and refused to abort despite the massive blood loss. i feel much better now ! [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. That's why it really shined down to me," Kissinger said in an interview. By this time, Duntsch was almost penniless, and the judge had to appoint a lawyer for him. Having exhausted his football eligibility, Duntsch decided to switch to a career in medicine. It had come from Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. Advertisement. [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. Muse spiraled into opioid addiction that cost him his wife and his job. Mayfield was taken to a different hospital and told his spinal cord had already been deformed, and the damage was irreversible. In my opinion, we had a serial killer in our medical community, Dr. Randall Kirbysays of Christopher Duntsch in "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story.". Troy was sedated for weeks and forced to eat through a feeding tube because food was getting into her lungs. Left: WFAA-TV, Right: D MagazineLeft: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. 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. [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. As he lay there in agony, Duntsch was nowhere to be found. 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. Duntsch is at the O. Peacock's new grisly drama tells the real-life story of Dallas-area neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who killed or maimed more than 30 patients in the 2010s. [7] He likened what he found when he opened Efurd up to the results of a child playing with Tinkertoys or an erector set. In October 2011, she registered articles of incorporation to form Duntsch's practice, the Texas Neurosurgical Institute. As of this date, there have been no summary or administrative restrictions or suspension of Duntsch's medical staff membership or clinical privileges during the time he has practiced at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano.". [9] Texas Medical Board Revocation Order. Dr. Henderson thought the operation on Mary Efurd was so botched that Christopher Duntsch had to be an imposter. He is not eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74 years old. Jerry Summers Was 'Dr. Death's' Best Friend. She suffered a stroke as a result. 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 . As the trial team put it, the "scary pattern" of Duntsch's actions became apparent to the others in the office, leading the DA to give the green light to take the case to a grand jury. Due to the debilitating pain, Fennell later had a second operation by Duntsch to relieve it, and was left significantly paralyzed in his legs. 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. Prince Charming, Im gonna change your life, Wendy Young said of the promising start to her romance with Christopher Duntsch. "[4] The Texas Medical Board revoked Duntsch's license on December 6, 2013. 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. Kirby was shocked; he called the owner of University General and warned him that Duntsch would hurt someone, and the hospital would be over. Jerry Summers believed that his best friend Christopher Duntsch was a talented neurosurgeon who would cure his chronic neck pain. One day, he happened to see a fax come in to the medical examiner's office. Now, his time at the university . 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. The night before his surgery, he read online about Kellie Martin's death just months earlier. Despite all of this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. Death'? 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. However, Mayfield still woke up with paralysis on occasion. However, during training for neurosurgery he followed a research path and did fewer operations than most trainees. Homesick, Duntsch left Colorado after a year and transferred to Memphis State University, now the University of Memphis. 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. (Dallas County Jail via AP) Gift Article. Immediately, he started yelling and cussing at me, saying, 'How dare you? He decided to turn to neurosurgery, which can be a lucrative field. Marshall Muse was scheduled to have a disc removed in his back. Dr. Duntsch said to Cheney, "I don't know why you're this way. WFAA-TVChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. Dr. Death was fired before the end of his first week for the damage hed inflicted on Brown and Efurd. Duntsch earned his undergraduate degree in 1995 and enrolled at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. 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. 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. On top of this, he misspelled both Kukekov and Ignatova's names. Floella Brown went under Dr. Deaths knife in July 2012 and shortly after her surgery, she suffered a massive stroke caused by Duntsch slicing her vertebral artery during surgery. Board chairman Irwin Zeitzler later said that complications in neurosurgery were more common than most think. Moving made sense for both of them. Jurors convicted Duntsch Tuesday of injury to an elderly person in the botched July 2012 surgery that put Mary Efurd in a wheelchair. When he called Duntsch's office, he was told it would "go away." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Duntsch, https://www.propublica.org/article/dr-death-christopher-duntsch-a-surgeon-so-bad-it-was-criminal, https://www.dmagazine.com/healthcare-business/2021/10/a-witness-to-dr-death-in-the-presence-of-a-sociopath/, https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2016/november/christopher-duntsch-dr-death/, https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/who-were-the-victims-of-dr-christopher-duntsch, https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2014/03/02/planos-baylor-hospital-faces-hard-questions-after-claims-against-former-neurosurgeon/, https://www.texasobserver.org/anatomy-tragedy/, https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2015/08/25/7-chilling-thoughts-of-jailed-neurosurgeon-christopher-duntsch/, https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/greg-abbott-enters-fray-in-lawsuits-involving-sociopath-doctor/, https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2017/02/a-jury-now-controls-the-fate-of-neurosurgeon-christopher-duntsch/, https://www.thedailybeast.com/victim-of-real-life-dr-death-believes-there-are-others-like-him-out-there?ref=scroll, https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/what-happened-to-discgenics-co-founded-by-dr-death-christopher-duntsch, https://www.texasobserver.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Morguloff-Complaint.pdf. Donald Duntsch was a gridiron football standout in Montana, and Christopher was determined to follow in those footsteps. 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. In May 2013, Dr. Randall Kirby was invited to a dinner by University General Hospital to meet their new neurosurgeon, Dr. Duntsch. His CV also conveyed he earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from St. Jude Children's Research Hospitals, graduating summa cum laude. Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. It told the unfortunately true story of Doctor Christopher Duntsch, who was eventually sentenced to life in prison for maiming an elderly patient. Ellis Unit prison in Huntsville, Texas. Dr. Duntsch assured Muse that the pain was normal and prescribed him, strong pain killers, causing him to spiral into an addiction. [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. Caroline is a writer and Florida-transplant currently living in New York City. 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 day that Brown suffered her stroke, Duntsch operated again. Dr. Frederick Boop, chief of neurosurgery at the hospital where Duntsch was completing his residency, said that university officials asked Duntsch to take a drug test. The operation should have taken less than ninety minutes; it ultimately lasted four and a half hours. He was then brought on board at the Dallas Medical Center where he continued his carnage. It stars Joshua Jackson as Duntsch, Alec Baldwin as Robert Henderson, Christian Slater as Randall Kirby and AnnaSophia Robb as Michelle Shughart. 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. Now, a podcast called Dr. Death is breaking down the deranged surgeon's criminal acts and shows how drug abuse and blinding overconfidence led to big trouble for the patients who found themselves underneath the spiraling doctor's knife.. Watch the trailer for Dr . I am sorry in advance that this blog post is so long. 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. Everything went perfect in there." Dhruv Trivedi. In 2014, he developed syringomyelia, a painful condition that causes fluid-filled cysts on the spinal cord. Morguloff had become addicted to the pain killers being prescribed to him by this time. [10][7], Duntsch completed his residency having participated in fewer than 100 surgeries. Soon after starting Efurd's surgery, Duntsch turned to Kissinger and told him he would be performing a craniotomy on Floella Brown. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971. [19] Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. 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. [9] Duntsch's defense blamed their client's actions on poor training and lack of oversight by the hospitals. [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. Just one day after his suspension had ended, Duntsch operated on Kellie Martin. 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, He knew this couldn't have been a one-time mistake. Duntsch told Mayfield's wife it went well, but she instantly knew something was wrong as she walked into his room. They have two sons. Pic credit: Dallas County Sheriff's Office. 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. He is very caring and took the time to help me understand my pain issues. Muse woke up in considerable pain, but Duntsch convinced him it was normal. 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. 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. "Based on a hit podcast and inspired by the terrifying true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a young and charismatic star in the Texas medical community," Peacock explains about the series. The television series Dr. Death based on the incident, began streaming on Peacock in July 2021. 5 of Dallas County (opinion)", "Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Conviction of 'Dr. However, he sewed up Glidewell with the sponge still in place despite others in the operating room warning him about it. On December 30, 2011, Duntsch operated on Lee Passmore. [33][34] The indictments were made four months before the statute of limitations were to run out. Duntsch had his surgical rights temporarily suspended after his botched surgery on Summers and his first patient back was 55-year-old Kellie Martin. Young let him buy her an appletini, and they felt a connection; eventually, she went home with Duntsch. Duntsch stuffed Glidewell's throat with a surgical sponge to attempt to stop the bleeding. Christopher Duntsch was a neurosurgeon who radiated confidence. Duntsch initially attended Millsaps College to play Division III college football, and later transferred to Division I Colorado State University. I can't believe that you're accusing me of killing someone,'" Muse recounted. One of the patients who suffered disastrous consequences was Jerry Summers, the boyfriend of Megan Kane and a friend of Christopher Duntsch. 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.". 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 . His sophomore year, he made it as one of the few walk-on players. She was left with just one vocal cord. He is currently appealing this sentence. However, red flags surfaced early on, as nurses wondered if Duntsch was under the influence of drugs while on duty. 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. Death. Then check out the horrifying story of Simon Bramhall, a surgeon who admitted to burning his initials into patients livers. In April 2015, Duntsch was arrested again for shoplifting $887 worth of merchandise from a Dallas Walmart. Lee Passmore's screams poured out from the ICU and down the hallway. Why do Slipknot wear masks and what do they look like without? A disc in his lower spine had blown out, and the pieces had to be picked out of the space above. But, he can only walk 30 feet at a time and cannot stand for more than a few minutes. When he arrived, Nurse Kyle Kissinger spotted a hole in Duntsch's scrubs. Every victim deserves to have their story told, and unfortunately, Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, has 33. We've had a catastrophic event here. Where is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr. Death now? It was determined during the repair surgery that Dr. Duntsch had not even been operating on the correct part of Jeff Glidewell's spine. Despite this refusal, Duntsch was allowed to finish his residency. Christopher Duntsch is confirmed to have injured 31 patients and killed two . 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." His pain management specialist advised against an operation but referred him to a neurosurgeon named Christopher Duntsch. In 2005, partway through the six-year program, he became the director of the tissue bank. 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. At one point, he was only able to eat small bites of food at one time. The hospital initiated another peer review, but Duntsch resigned rather than face certain termination. She also said they snorted cocaine from a small pile he kept on a dresser in his home office. It was. Over objections from Duntsch's lawyers, prosecutors called many of Duntsch's other patients to the stand to prove that his actions were intentional. DiscGenics says its mission is toimprove the lives of those suffering from the debilitating effects of degenerative diseases of the spine. 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. Trusty was never told she was participating in an infomercial and believed Duntsch had been selected as the top neurosurgeon in Dallas and was participating in a video about the award. Fennell required months of rehabilitation to be able to walk with a cane, and was left unable to walk for more than 30 feet or stand for more than a few minutes without having to sit down again. Then, on July 24, 2012, he operated on Floella Brown. Death' found guilty of maiming woman during surgery", "Former neurosurgeon sentenced for purposely maiming patients", "Doctor convicted of botched surgery gets life in prison", "Christopher Daniel Duntsch v. The State of Texas Appeal from Criminal District Court No. [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. When Henderson opened the freshly made incisions on her, he was appalled. As those watching the show know, Christopher was dubbed "Dr. Death" in D Magazine . 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. The problem was that Dallas Medical Center did not perform those or even have the proper equipment to do them. He Was Also His Victim. [7], While in Memphis, Duntsch began a long-term relationship with Wendy Renee Young. DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch has been sentenced to life in prison for a series of botched spinal surgeries, reports CBS . A Texas neurosurgeon accused of intentionally botching multiple spinal surgeries, resulting in the death of two . She also said that he kept a pile of cocaine on his dresser in his home office. Part of the problem was being able to prove that Duntsch's actions were willful as defined by Texas law. He thought surgery might give him some relief and stop his need for drugs. However, Baylor did not fire him; instead, he was allowed to resign. Efurd eventually gained back some control and mobility, but she now uses a wheelchair and suffers chronic pain. Several people who were in the operating room for Efurd's surgery suspected that Duntsch might have been intoxicated, recalling that his pupils were dilated. The first screening came back diluted with tap water, but a second, taken a few days later, came back clean. However, the surgery had to be moved to November 14 because Duntsch had failed to order the appropriate surgical hardware and equipment. Duntsch continued to medicate Morguloff with prescription pain killers and ignored the change in his condition. But based on documents gathered by the DA, when Duntsch finished his residency, he had operated fewer than 100 times. Duntsch is a former neurosurgeon born in 1971 in Montana . Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. He's serving a life sentence for gross malpractice that resulted in two direct fatalities and the maiming of more than 30 neurosurgery patients, as told by Laura Beil, the journalist who hosts the Dr. Death podcast, on which the eponymous show is based. Baylor officials took Summers' accusation seriously and ordered Duntsch to take a drug test. During his surgery, Duntsch didnt installed the necessary hardware to Muses spine and instead had left it floating between the spine and muscle tissue. The last charge was for the maiming and paralyzing of Efurd. The Texas Medical Board would later conclude that Brown died of excessive blood loss and a stroke, according to The Texas Observer . He was held in the Dallas County jail for almost two years until the case went to trial in 2017. The process involves cutting a hole in the skull to relieve the pressure in the brain. He secured investments in Discgenics from local spine surgeons, including Dr. Robertson and Dr. Kevin Foley, a prominent Memphis neurosurgeon Duntsch spent a year training under as part of the surgery fellowship at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic. The explanation was enough to satisfy Muse. D Magazine gave him the nickname in . 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. Glidewell is still in constant pain and has undergone more than 50 procedures to correct the damage left by Duntsch. In February 2012, he went under the knife for an elective spinal fusion surgery. 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. Unfortunately, when Fennell woke up from surgery, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Officers said he was driving on the left side of the road with two flat tires. As a result, Summers lost almost 1,200 mL of blood. Thankfully, this ended up being Dr. Christopher Duntsch's last operation. Chahadeh was worried about his facility and getting sued by Duntsch; he said to Dr. Kirby that they had already given him privileges. [18] Despite this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. He was sent to a program for impaired physicians when he returned but was allowed to finish his residency. Christopher Duntsch is a former neurosurgeon known by his nickname Dr. Death or Dr. D. The Montana native got his nickname for his malpractice while working at hospitals in Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. [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. 1-Christopher Duntsch and then girlfriend, Wendy Young. Written by Patrick Macmanus, the show will only be available exclusively on Peacock. He was left with pain so debilitating he could not work any longer and now spends most of his days at home. 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. The surgery was scheduled for December 30, 2011. 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. 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. Duntsch also removed so much bone and muscle tissue from Summers' neck that his head was no longer secure on his body. He will be up for parole in 2045, when he is 74 years old. Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of . Kirby arrived and transferred Glidewell to a top-tier hospital to perform an emergency operation to remove the sponge. Chris Dozois, a fellow linebacker with the Rams, recalled Duntsch struggling, even with basic drills, but begging to run them over and over until he got it right.