Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a motion to intervene in the suits to defend Baylor Plano, citing the Texas legislature's 2003 statute that placed a medical malpractice cap of $250,000, and removed the term "gross negligence" from the definition of legal malice. Christopher was raised along with his three younger siblings in a wealthy suburb in Memphis, Tennessee. The case highlights the risks of allowing a troubled physician to move to another hospital . 'Dr. Death' Condemns Christopher Duntsch, but the Real Culprit Is Texas 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. Ellis Unit outside of Huntsville, Texas. Despite his colleagues being [] Famously known by the Family name Christopher Daniel Duntsch, is a great neurosurgeon and convicted criminal for malpractice.He was born on April 3, 1971, in Montana. Duntsch's next stop was at Dallas Medical Center. [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. 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. In 2017, Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of maiming one of his patients. 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. Jerry Summers believed that his best friend Christopher Duntsch was a talented neurosurgeon who would cure his chronic neck pain. Finally, Dr. Kirby received a call from Hassan Chahadeh. 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. Pic credit: Dallas County Sheriff's Office. Did Christopher Duntsch Have Any Successful Surgeries? [18] He damaged patient Philip Mayfield's spinal cord, drilling into it and leaving him partially paralyzed from the neck down. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! When Martin awoke from anesthesia, she was screaming and clawing at her legs which had become patchy and full of purple streaks and spots. 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. [6], Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana and spent most of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, it's all too real. 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. She was dancing at a strip club in Memphis, and Duntsch's issues with his business, DiscGenics, grew more severe. That's why it really shined down to me," Kissinger said in an interview. [31][16] The inquiry went nowhere until 2015, when the statute of limitations on any potential charges was due to run out. Christopher Duntsch Texas True Crime Blog It was Duntsch, babbling about his family being in danger. February 22, 2017. In 2011, Christopher Duntsch met Wendy Young at the Beauty Shop bar in Memphis. [42] The four hospitals that employed Duntsch have ongoing civil cases against him. Duntsch told his friends and family that Passmore would be fine in a day or two and to not worry about it. They also believed that the 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. Advertisements. He was put on probation for three weeks and told to stick to relatively minor procedures when he returned. Shughart countered that the 2011 email, sent after his first surgeries went wrong, proved that Duntsch knew his actions were intentional. ", "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 was held in the Dallas County jail for almost two years until the case went to trial in 2017. 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, Who Is Christopher Duntsch, The Man Nicknamed 'Dr. Death' Who Injured 'Hot TikTok doc' urges young people to get jabbed - warning of dangers of long Covid, Daughter, 39, guilty of stabbing mum to death before setting house on fire and dumping her dismembered body in river, Pregnant beautician loses baby after savage beating by monster husband who kidnapped her amid divorce row, Shocking moment man is crushed to death by an enraged elephant after crowd taunts herd of jumbos. We've had a catastrophic event here. "[4] The Texas Medical Board revoked Duntsch's license on December 6, 2013. Why do Slipknot wear masks and what do they look like without? Morguloff sought a second opinion on his excruciating pain from Dr. Michael Desaloms. A patient who was left barely able to walk and in constant pain after undergoing two botched surgeries at the hands of killer neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch says he 'guarantees' there are other . Duntsch is a former neurosurgeon born in 1971 in Montana . By this time, Duntsch was almost penniless, and the judge had to appoint a lawyer for him. Neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch was nicknamed Dr Death: Evil Lives Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. among the top 12 percent of medical school graduates in his class named to the elite Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. 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. [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. He was left with only one vocal cord, permanent damage to his esophagus, and partial paralysis on his left side. Written by Patrick Macmanus, the show will only be available exclusively on Peacock. As part of their investigation, prosecutors obtained a December 2011 email written by Christopher Duntsch. From 2017: https://bit.ly/3hXJccx Before working with him, Dr. Hoyle said that he didnt know how to feel about his fellow surgeon. Base compensation was $600,000 a year for two years, beginning on June 14, 2011. Duntsch arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes after Efurd's surgery had been scheduled. Kirby arrived and transferred Glidewell to a top-tier hospital to perform an emergency operation to remove the sponge. 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 will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. [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. Updated Dec 9, 2022 at 3:25pm. Was Wendy Renee Young Dr. Death's Wife? - Heavy.com Summers asked Duntsch to fix his chronic neck pain from a high school football injury that had gotten worse after a car accident. 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. Mayfield died of COVID in February 2021; according to his wife, he had been vulnerable to the virus due to complications caused by Duntsch's botched surgery. During his tenure at Baylor Plano, Kimberly Morgan assisted in every surgery with Duntsch. He knew this couldn't have been a one-time mistake. 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. 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. As he lay there in agony, Duntsch was nowhere to be found. [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. In 2014, he developed syringomyelia, a painful condition that causes fluid-filled cysts on the spinal cord. [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. The two went back to Duntsch's home and danced under a disco ball he had in his office. How could Dr. Christopher Duntsch practice medicine for as long as he did without being stopped? B. Ellis Unit outside Huntsville. She said she thought that he was going to make millions, Kimberly Morgan's friend once said her attraction to Christopher Duntsch. After this look at Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. 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. He remained there for several months before being allowed to return to the residency. Just weeks after permanently maiming Morguloff, Dr. Duntsch operated on his lifelong friend and roommate, Jerry Summers. Under heavy lobbying from Kirby and Henderson, the Texas Medical Board suspended Duntsch's license on June 26, 2013. Christopher Duntsch was nicknamed Dr. Death due to the injuries he caused his patients. [29] Texas Attorney General and current Governor Greg Abbott filed a motion to intervene in the suits to defend Baylor Plano, citing the Texas legislature's 2003 statute that placed a medical malpractice cap of $250,000 and removed the term "gross negligence" from the definition of legal malice. However, by the time he met Young, Duntsch was over $500,000 in debt. He is very caring and took the time to help me understand my pain issues. You'd like to think . Glidewell is still in constant pain and has undergone more than 50 procedures to correct the damage left by Duntsch. It was then that Christopher decided to switch his career to medicine. 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. The surgery was supposed to take less than 45 minutes and ultimately lasted over four hours. Lee Passmore was thirty-seven and worked as a field agent for the Collin County medical examiner. Glidewell was reportedly still suffering the ill effects of Duntsch's operation years later and has undergone more than 50 procedures to correct the damage. [16] In 2021, he was profiled on CNBC's American Greed. His CV also conveyed he earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from St. Jude Children's Research Hospitals, graduating summa cum laude. Wendy Young Says Christopher Duntsch Broke Into Home Covered In Blood 1-Christopher Duntsch and then girlfriend, Wendy Young. 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. Peacock's Dr. Death is a chilling dramatization of the real-life story of former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch. At the time, Duntsch was looking for operating prospects in Dallas, San Diego, and New York. D Magazine gave him the nickname in . 'Dr Death' Stars Share Why They Think Christopher Duntsch - TheWrap 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. They have two sons. Baylor Plano allowed Duntsch to continue operating despite the documented issues with Kenneth Fennell, Mary Efurd, Lee Passmore, and Barry Morguloff's surgeries. The last charge was for the maiming and paralyzing of Efurd. 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." Over objections from Duntsch's lawyers, prosecutors called many of Duntsch's other patients to the stand to prove that his actions were intentional. Is Christopher Duntsch In Jail? Arrest And Charges Details Dr. Christopher Duntsch's patients ended up maimed and dead, but the real tragedy is that the Texas Medical Board couldn't stop him. [19] Prosecutors sought a sentence long enough to ensure that Duntsch would never be able to practice medicine again. Duntschs career started off bright. He was sent to a program for impaired physicians when he returned but was allowed to finish his residency. D MagazineChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. Duntsch moved into a five-bedroom house not far from the hospital. Troy was sedated for weeks and forced to eat through a feeding tube because food was getting into her lungs. They didn't have enough evidence to stop him because he hadn't done anything wrong yet. Page opened a desk drawer and saw a mirror with a pile of cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill on top. Henderson then cleaned out bone fragments and discovered that one of Efurd's nerve roots was gone entirely. Victim of Real-Life 'Dr. Death' Believes There Are Others - Yahoo! DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch has been sentenced to life in prison for a series of botched spinal surgeries, reports CBS . Ghostbar, Dragonfly at Hotel Zaza. He wrote grants and secured more than $3 million in funding. Plans start at $4.99/month. Dr. Death executive producer explains how Christopher Duntsch could No diagnostic imaging studies were ordered, and no reasonable explanation was offered for his condition. [38], Duntsch is housed at the O. During a deposition, Megan Krane recalled Duntsch eating a paper blotter of LSD and taking prescription painkillers on his birthday. Dr. Death: Disgraced surgeon at center of podcast, show has CSU roots I left with him and believed in him and then, you know, he just kind of fell apart.. 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. Left: WFAA-TV, Right: D MagazineLeft: Christopher Duntsch in surgery, Right: Christopher Duntschs mugshot. Anatomy of a Tragedy: The Story Behind 'Sociopath Surgeon' Christopher Chahadeh was worried about his facility and getting sued by Duntsch; he said to Dr. Kirby that they had already given him privileges. Christopher Duntsch ended up at Millsaps College in Mississippi to play football and was offered financial aid. 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. However, Baylor did not fire him; instead, he was allowed to resign. When he arrived, Nurse Kyle Kissinger spotted a hole in Duntsch's scrubs. The process involves cutting a hole in the skull to relieve the pressure in the brain. He recommended fusing two of her vertebrae and the insertion of "hardware" in her spinal area. The show starsJoshua Jackson,Grace Gummer, AnnaSophia Robb,Christian SlaterandAlec Baldwin. But he yearned to play linebacker for a Division 1 team and set his sights on the Colorado State Rams. "It's on the butt cheek of his scrubs. So as Duntsch operated on Efurd, he quarreled with Kissinger and his supervisors, insisting on a craniotomy for Brown. [40][41] On May 8, 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Duntschs petition for discretionary review. However, Mayfield still woke up with paralysis on occasion. And its all because of one surgeon named Christopher Duntsch a.k.a. He was a forty-five-year-old man with typical back problems. ", "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? Efurd was left paralyzed. But based on documents gathered by the DA, when Duntsch finished his residency, he had operated fewer than 100 times. During surgery, Duntsch damaged Summers' vertebral artery causing it to bleed uncontrollably. He was smart. 'Sociopath' neurosurgeon accused of botching operations A Texas jury found Christopher Duntsch guilty Feb. 14 of maiming patients who had turned to him for surgery to resolve debilitating injuries. "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. That same month, the two began an affair. [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. In January 2013, Kenneth Fennell was scheduled for another operation because he was still experiencing extreme pain in his back. Through it all, Duntsch was able to lure patient after patient under his knife was his extreme confidence. He avoided it and disappeared for several days. "[32][9] ADA Michelle Shughart, who led the prosecution of Duntsch, later recalled that Henderson, Kirby, and Lazar contacted her demanding to testify against Duntsch; according to Shughart, doctors almost never testify against each other.

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