Once Duntsch proved himself inept, hospitals let him resign instead of going through the legal process of firing him. We now know that the Texas Medical Board was working behind the scenes in summer 2012, trying to find grounds to temporarily suspend Duntschs license. Young was soon pregnantbut Duntsch had already developed a wandering eye. You know in the beginning he talked about marriage. Anatomy of a Tragedy - The Texas Observer Kellie Martin was in good health; a laminectomy is considered a minor procedure. It would clearly be a policy decision for the Legislature to consider whether the process or the standards for evidence required for a temporary suspension need to change., Leigh Hopper, formerly the Medical Board spokesperson, put it more bluntly. He explained the disturbing visit by saying he had been attacked by an investigator for an attorney hired by one of his patients, although that account was never verified. They all received the same response Henderson had: Send us what you have, and well get back to you. When she responds, shes quiet. Ellisontold thepodcast that Morgan was instantly smitten with the doctor. The once notable neurosurgeon is now 50 years old. Physicians who complained about Duntsch to the Texas Medical Board and to the hospitals he worked at described his practice in superlative terms. Whatever the reason, this time the board acted. This was the time when Dr. Christopher Duntsch started to turn into Dr. Death. Before going to medical school, Duntsch wanted to be a pro-football player. Soon after Summers woke up paralyzed, a woman named Kellie Martin came to see Duntsch at Texas Neurosurgical Institute. By Jill Sederstrom & Leah Carroll Joshua Jackson On Role Of Surgeon, Christopher Duntsch, In Peacock's "Dr. Death" Series Now Playing Digital Original After growing up in Tennessee,. For weeks, jurors heard the accounts of patients who had been maimed or paralyzed in bungled surgeries. Please notify us by email that the article will be republished at, The Big Money Behind Greg Abbotts Intervention in Killer Doc Case, Sociopath Surgeon Duntsch Facing Criminal Charges for Botched Surgeries, Sociopath Surgeon Duntsch Arrested for Shoplifting Pants. One woman came in for a routine operation on a herniated disc, and bled to death on the recovery table. A charismatic, charming monster but still a monster but he saw himself as the hero of his own story. Then he waited for several more hours until the nurses came out to tell him and his daughters that Kellie Martin was dead. After his wife died, Don Martin found himself at a loss. Brown had suffered excessive blood loss and a stroke, according to the agency. We moved in together within three months, and then I became pregnant.. And yet they occurred in Duntschs operating rooms over a period of just two years," an article in D Magazine reads. 'Dr. Death': Texas Neurosurgeon Sentenced to Life in Prison - People Duntschs explanation, along with the email from Baylor, was enough to get him a trial run of five surgeries at Dallas Medical Center. A 27-year-old Young had been working as a stripper in Memphis when she met Duntsch, then 40. My record is excellent," he told The Dallas Morning News in 2015. During surgery, Duntsch had sliced through one of the arteries alongside Martins spine, as he had with Summers. Im just so grateful from the bottom of my heart, she said. These doctors are anomalies too. Dr. Death is a new true-crime series on Peacock about the story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Those were the words that Christopher Duntsch never wanted to hear. Wendy Young, portrayed by Molly Griggs in Dr. Death, was the name of Duntsch's real girlfriend. Or, was he actually a skilled surgeon intent on defying the Hippocratic Oath, and deliberately causing harm? Dr Death Christopher Duntsch's late patient Jerry Summers claims killer He was arrested in 2014 for jumping over the fence atthe home of Youngs sisterin Garland and trying to take their son, Aiden. It was that egregious. One might think that if a doctor had paralyzed one patient and had another die in the course of a month, it would be someones job to figure out why. And a system in which theres no way to know for sure if your doctor is dangerous. But the real tragedy of the Christopher Duntsch story is how preventable it was. He had been a neurosurgeon for 40 years and what he saw inside Efurds back shocked him. They move slowly and only take action theyre reasonably sure will be effective. If the board decides to act on a complaintand only one in four complaints makes it that farinvestigators begin subpoenaing hospital records, which the board will eventually send to a pair of volunteer doctors in the same specialty who will review the case (if they disagree, a third doctor has to be found to break the tie). Its left to hospitals to police their doctors. Duntschs case raises the question: If it took a year to stop a doctor accused of this much, what else is getting through? But more than anything, we don't get to know Christopher Duntsch. A CT scan found that the metal spinal fusion hardware, meant to be placed on the patients spine to keep the vertebrae from moving, was sunk into the muscles of her lower back, inches from her spine. He said his son called him upset after several of the botched surgeries. He was friendly, and we had good conversation. In February of 2017, Christopher was sentenced to life in prison. In 2012, when Efurd was 74, she saw Duntsch for what should have been a relatively simple surgery to fuse two of her vertebrae. It is unclear what she has been up to since Duntsch's life imprisonment sentence. Jurors convicted Duntsch Tuesday of injury to an elderly person in the botched July 2012 surgery that put Mary Efurd in a wheelchair. You know, hell call and say goodnight to his boys, um, sometimes hell have bedtime stories and try to be as normal as possible.. That complaint was filedalong with the 6,000 to 8,000 other complaints the Medical Board receives each year, in addition to the thousands of licensure applications the agencys 156 employees must review. "We were told Duntsch was one of the best and smartest neurosurgeons they ever trained, as they went on at length about his strengths," representatives from Baylor Regional Medical Center told Pro Publica in an email. Later in June 2013 Kirby sent a sworn statement to the Medical Board in which he laid out all of Duntschs patients he knew about and included reports from many of the surgeons who had worked on them. Upon his return, Duntsch performed surgery on a patient named Kellie Martinand she bled to death. The board, when it finally handed down an order in 2011, faulted him for both deaths. Mary told reporters afterward, "I think its going to be like a floodgate thats going to really open, crying. It is said to be rare for a physician to be indicted on several counts of aggravated assault stemming from events in an operating room. He did not make his mark, just not the one that he expected. This has freed hospitals from the fear of litigation, but its also removed the financial motivation for policing their own physicians. Anton Floquet/NBCUniversal. So I called them up, and they said, Will you fill out a complaint, and well probably read the complaint in about 30 days, and well start an investigation after that., I said, You dont seem to understand. The surgery, he said, beaming into the camera, was a resounding success. Given the graphic subject matter, if you're squeamish, keep your finger on the "fast forward" button while watching Dr. Death. The board suspended his license but then immediately stayed the suspension and gave him probation. Doctor convicted of botched surgery gets life sentence - USA Today He didnt tell them about Baylors internal reports that faulted him in both cases, according to Henderson. He faxed over a picture of Duntsch to the residency program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to see if Duntsch had graduated. He listed the cause of death as therapeutic misadventure, according to his report. Death Based On A True Story, Joshua Jackson On Role Of Surgeon, Christopher Duntsch, In Peacocks Dr. We felt confident too.. You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. Up until 2003, medical care in Texas was regulated by a system of checks. They used phrases like the worst surgeon Ive ever seen. One doctor I spoke with, brought in to repair one of Duntschs spinal fusion cases, remarked that it seemed Duntsch had learned everything perfectly just so he could do the opposite. A Medical Board investigation later found that Arafiles assistant was inappropriately prescribing stimulants and diuretics to patients. Young is portrayed in the dramatized series by actress Molly Griggs, who brings to life the couples volatile arguments, including onedepiction in whichYoung announcesshe is pregnant just months into their relationship to a less-than-thrilled Duntsch, played by former Dawsons Creek star Joshua Jackson. And that with Duntsch, as with other bad doctors, the system worked exactly as it was designed to. Competing on home soil, Zverev lost 7-6 (7/ . . "Dr. Death" and the companion docuseries "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story" are both available to stream on Peacock now. 'Dr. Death': Who Is Kimberly Morgan and Where Is She Now? - Newsweek Henderson went in to remove it. He said that Summers had broken down in to uncontrolled crying and said, I know your brother would never do this to me on purpose.. He became a quadriplegic, and in February 2021, died from an infection connected to that very surgery one decade prior, per Local 24 News. When Duntsch came out, he told Don there had been some complications, and that Kellie would have to stay the night, but that the operation had gone fine. The nuance of his private life is obscured by allusions to a failed football career and a demeaning father that somehow are. Like pilot trainingyou dont expect a trained pilot to get drunk and fly his plane into the ground., But its more complicated than that. Its not clear how much Dallas Medical Center officials knew about Duntschs past or how much Baylor told them. Another spinal fusion; another routine procedure. Though many were passed off as accidents, a surgeon told D Magazine that these mistakes were "never events" and should not "ever happen in someone's entire career.". It was mostly designed to monitor doctors licenses and make sure the states medical practitioners are keeping up with professional standards. But as investigators took a look back at Christopher's history and consulted with those who knew him, what they discovered was quite disturbing. He was functioning at a first- or second-year neurosurgical resident level but had no apparent insight into how bad his technique was.. The operation was a spinal fusion in which two vertebrae are joined; surgeons use a metal plate to help hold the vertebrae together. 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. Within a month of hiring Kimberly Morgan, who was a nurse practitioner, to help him run his new practice, the pair were sleeping together, according to the podcast. I was very independent and I had to become dependent on others for transportation, for my meals, for a lot of things," she said. He was convicted of injury to an elderly person in the 2012 surgery on Mary Efurd that put her in a wheelchair. I couldnt believe a trained surgeon could do this, Henderson told me. Over the course of 2012 and 2013, even as the Texas Medical Board and the hospitals he worked with received repeated complaints from a half-dozen doctors and lawyers begging them to take action, Duntsch continued to practice medicine. His victims also had descriptors. Hospital management, the court system and the Texas Medical Board formed a web of regulation that penalized and prevented bad care. Those who met him described him as being fast-talking, confident, and someone who always had a plan to fix patients' ailments, per D Magazine. This will not bring my mother back, but it is some sense of justice for the all the families, for all of the victims.. Brown was later found unresponsive in her hospital room and staff couldnt contact Duntsch for 90 minutes, according to those records. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Where is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr. Death now? | The US Sun - The Sun Doctors brought in to clean up his surgeries decried his surgical misadventures, according to hospital records. .css-1me6ynq{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#125C68;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#125C68;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-1me6ynq:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:#595959;}Peacock's Dr. Death is a chilling dramatization of the real-life story of former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch. 300 (2.48 per match) 2021. It was just gone. Who Were The Victims Of Dr. Christopher Duntsch? | True Crime Buzz When he arrived in Dallas in late 2010, Duntsch's resume spoke of a skilled neurosurgeon: An M.D. Sometimes we know that someones bad, but when it comes to taking them to a hearing and proving it to where we can actually do some disciplinary action, it takes time of gathering evidence. In an official statement, she wrote, The way the lawis currently written, with a high bar of evidence for the board to meet, the process can take time so that the board can build a solid case. On June 26, the board held an emergency meeting and suspended Duntschs license. He was horrified to realize that Duntsch was going to keep practicing. According to what his former assistant Kimberly Morgan said in her deposition, Christopher allegedly would regularly drink vodka and kept a handle of Stoli underneath his desk. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He said he had no doubt that his son cared about his patients. Even now, Young told American Greed she still hears from Duntsch when he calls to talk to their sons. The. But what is the real-life story behind Duntsch and Youngs complicated romance? Duntsch continued to operate in the year it took for the board to investigate him. Neither hospital would talk about Duntsch for this story. The jury came back with their verdict in about an hour. At the end of May 2013, Kirby and Henderson received invitations to a celebratory dinner, courtesy of University General Hospital, to meet their new neurosurgeon, Dr. Christopher Duntsch, at an expensive uptown restaurant. Speaking to Inside Edition, they called him "a snake in the grass," "a monster," "drug addict" and even "a psychopath.". I dont know what it is, she said. His father says Christopher Duntsch is a humbled man. Duntsch grew up in a middle-class family. When the Medical Board suspended Duntschs license, the agencys spokespeople too seemed shocked. His younger brother, Nathan, said he had spoken to Duntschs friend and former employee, Jerry Summers, who was left a quadriplegic after one of the botched surgeries. The Legislature has also made suing hospitals difficult. For a temporary suspension, the standard is even higher than the boards other enforcement actions. Some drag on for years. His dad is a physical therapist. Was it that he was unqualified and completely unaware of regional anatomy? "He has a job inside the prison. In a specialized field like neurosurgery, that means further months of delay. 'Dr. Death': AnnaSophia Robb on Playing ADA Michelle Shughart - Newsweek Further, both works question Duntsch's perspective. "He works out, he reads, he studies the Biblehell call and say goodnight to his boys. In an email he wrote to former assistant Kimberly Morgan in 2011, Duntsch seemed to be grappling with bloodlust: "You, my child, are the only one between me and the other side. Duntsch was arrested in July 2015. We have to consider the uncomfortable possibility that Christopher Duntsch is to the medical system what the recent West explosion was to the fertilizer industrya regrettable tragedy, but the price of living in a free-market system. Christopher Duntsch and Jerry Summers weren't only best friends - they took care of one another. Once the case has been put together, the investigators will make a recommendation to the board itself, a group of 12 physicians and seven laypeople appointed by the governor. And in its place is where he had placed the fusion. They shouldnt ever happen in someones entire career. Actually, hit the mute button, toothe sounds of botched surgeries are gruesome, made more horrifying knowing they're taken from real life. Duntsch, 40, met Wendy, 27, at a bar where she was working as a stripper. In Duntschs case, we see the weakness of Texas unregulated system of health care, a system built to protect doctors and hospitals. He sounded impressive, Don said. Dr. Death: Disgraced surgeon at center of podcast, show has CSU roots What is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr Death's ex Kimberly - The Sun During the summer of 2012, as Duntsch was searching for a new hospital, another doctor who had witnessed Duntschs errors at Baylor sent a complaint about Duntsch to the Medical Board, according to Kirby. AnnaSophia Robb Stars In New Series Dr. But as in many other areas in Texasbenzene pollution from hydraulic fracturing sites; ammonium nitrate pileups at fertilizer plantsMartins death and Summers paralysis fell into a regulatory no mans land. Her spine was pockmarked with screw holes, and a screw had been lodged in another nerve root near the bottom of her spine," D Magazine describes. Into this milieu rolled Christopher Duntsch, M.D., like a 100-year storm. At trial, prosecutors opted only to pursue the harming an elderly person charge connected to his failed surgery on MaryEfurd; however, other victims would also testify at trial. Here's All That Happened to the Real Christopher Duntsch, The Best Peacock Shows to Start Streaming Now, Leann Rimes Shares Video Montage for Anniversary. CHRISTOPHER Duntsch, is infamously known as Dr Death for gross malpractice. When Kirby saw Glidewell, he later wrote the Medical Board, he was horrified. The incision, he wrote, was cut into Glidewells throat two or three inches lower and an inch midline from where it should have been oriented saliva and pus were coming out of the wound.. Christopher Duntsch, who once claimed to be a mixture of "God, Einstein and the Antichrist," injured or killed 33 of his 38 patients in less than two years, according to prosecutors. Daniel Reece, Michael Rice and Christopher Ochwat, Reece left in January, while the other two were sacked by the management for reasons still unclear. All rights reserved. Though the Texas Medical Board is required by statute to investigate any doctor with more than three malpractice suits, no action was ever taken against the doctor by the state. You're probably asking, How could Duntsch have gotten away with a string of botched surgeries? 2021 The Texas Observer. Over this period, Duntsch performed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition, paralyzed, or deceased. Christopher Duntsch, the focus of .css-9cezh6{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#E61957;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-9cezh6:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Peacock's true crime series Dr. Death, looked good on paper. It was supposed to be such a simple procedure. Its more or less satisfied with the way that things work.. In the end, he blamed pride for his sons downfall. As for what Baylor told Dallas Medical Center, a Baylor spokesperson said in a statement to the Observer that, It has been the longstanding policy of Baylor to respond with comprehensive information when it receives a proper inquiry from another hospital. My whole world crashed, he said. Martins surgery was Duntschs last at Baylor. Joshua Jackson as Christopher Duntsch in "Dr. Death." Barbara Nitke/Peacock Duntsch, 50, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 in what's considered a precedent-setting case one of the. And Ill reflect back on how difficult those first months were afterwards. Doctors rights are to be protected at every step of the process. (And if you want to dive even deeper into the story, you can also watch the new docuseries "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story" on Peacock, which features interviews with numerous people intimately involved in the case.). He saw himself as a brilliant doctor and a brilliant surgeon. She said Duntsch came highly recommended. After Christopher performed a spinal surgery on Mary in 2012, Mary suffered crippling pain afterward. The pair met in 2011 at a Memphis bar, known as the Beauty Shop, according toa 2016D Magazineprofile of Duntschs scandalous medical career. Baylor brought in a senior surgeon to fix the damage to Summers spine. As she lay dying, Duntsch performed his third surgery, on a woman named Mary Efurd. Death Showrunner Breaks Down Turning Hit Podcast Into New Drama Series On Peacock, (And if you want to dive even deeper into the story, you can also watch the new docuseries, on Peacock, which features interviews with numerous people intimately involved in the case. Duntsch was once an up and coming neurosurgeon. In the aftermath of the debacle, the doctors who saw Duntschs handiwork were left to make sense of what happened. Dr. Death is the new true-crime drama on Peacock, based on the 2018 podcast series of the same name. The boards mandate, spelled out in the Medical Practice Act, recognizes a doctors license as a hard-won, valuable credential. Multiple people dead, dozens injured after dust storm causes massive pileup on I-55 in Illinois, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Because he had no conscience. Two weeks later, on June 14, 2013, Kirby got a call to come to University General to do a recovery surgery on one of Duntschs patients. Partners must notify. A Texas neurosurgeon accused of intentionally botching multiple spinal surgeries, resulting in the death of two . Where Is Dr. Death Now? - Here's Where Christopher Duntsch Is Today in 2021 On the tape, Henderson demands to know why Duntsch is still practicing. But according to Dr. Robert Henderson, another neurosurgeon at Dallas Medical Center, the comprehensive information Baylor sent over when Duntsch applied consisted of an email saying that there were no issues with Duntschs performance, that hed been on staff and had voluntarily resigned. Melinda Lehmann, his defense attorney, said Duntsch was a scapegoat for a medical establishment that just kept hiring him and putting him in operating rooms. Wendy Young believed she had finally met her Prince Charming after crossing paths with Christopher Duntsch. He was found guilty of his crimes in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison. During the surgery, Duntsch sliced into one of the arteries running down Summers spine, causing massive bleeding, which he tried to staunch by packing coagulants around the wound. Prince Charming, Imgonnachange your life, Young toldCNBCsAmerican Greed inan episode airing earlier this year. The only entity that could stop Duntsch from seeing more patients was the Texas Medical Board. Duntsch briefly enrolled at CSU in the fall of 1991 when he was 20 years old. According to Baylor, Duntsch had clinical privileges when he resigned. Dr. Death: The Shocking Story of Christopher Duntsch, a Madman with a