To suspend a license, as one Medical Board staffer explained, there has to be enough evidence to prove a pattern. Dr. Death: The Shocking Story of Christopher Duntsch, a Madman with a Mr. Dr. Duntsch's surviving surgery patients suffered a range of debilitating conditions, which ProPublica details: Permanent nerve damage, paralysis, loss of vocal cords. It was mostly designed to monitor doctors licenses and make sure the states medical practitioners are keeping up with professional standards. His mistakes were obvious and well-documented. Kellie Martin and her husband, Don, went to see Duntsch, who suggested a procedure called a microlaminectomy, in which part of the spine is removed to relieve pressure on the nerves. Duntschsmedical privileges were revoked by the Texas Medical Board in June of 2013 and Duntschs life continued to spiral from there, according to D Magazine. When I think about it, its just devastating., When I spoke to him, a year after his wifes death, he told me that they had trusted Duntsch, and that there had been no sign suggesting they do otherwise. Dr. Christopher Duntsch, Doctor Death Today: Where Is He Now? 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. During a spinal surgery on his childhood friend and roommate, Jerry Summers, Duntsch damaged an artery and rendered him a quadriplegic. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes longer than we want., What Henderson took from this, he told me, is that were dealing with people who dont do the job they are hired to do.. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. He became a quadriplegic, and in February 2021, died from an infection connected to that very surgery one decade prior, per Local 24 News. He was very eloquent in stating the causes and the need for the procedure. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. He resigned soon after, with full clinical privileges. Kellie Martin and Floella Brown died. After growing up in Tennessee,. 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 Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Travel ban concerns some in Iowa, which relies on foreign-born doctors. The 2022 Calcutta Football League Premier Division was the 124th overall season of the two highest state-level football divisions of West Bengal. "Ninety-nine percent of everything that has been said about me is completely false.". Hes been devastated, Don Duntsch said. But Baylor didnt hold him to that. If I am being honest, the best thing you could probably do is abort that fking baby because you are not the type of person who can raise it, Jacksons character screams at his pregnant girlfriend before tearing out of the couples Dallas home. This has freed hospitals from the fear of litigation, but its also removed the financial motivation for policing their own physicians. Kimberly Morgan is the former assistant and ex-girlfriend of Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Dr Death. Instead, she awoke in searing pain, which she likened to child birth, per D Magazine. Every year the board is both overseeing many more doctors and bringing in more money. He had no idea what he was doing. He has nothing. He chose Dallas after learning that Young had family near thecityand she offered to go with him. A man who was a victim of other people's bad work and bad behavior," he told Newsweek. They showed photos of him as a baby, as a toddler, and as a boy getting a soccer ball for Christmas. Maybe, he sighed, we should have gotten a second opinion.. But Public Citizen found that of those 793 doctors, the Texas Medical Board had taken serious action in less than half the cases. Death.. In July 2012, four months after Kellie Martins death, Duntsch applied for surgical privileges at Dallas Medical Center. It was supposed to be such a simple procedure. In November 2011 he was granted surgical privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano. 'Dr. Death': Who Is Jerry Summers and What Happened to Him? - Newsweek Multiple people dead, dozens injured after dust storm causes massive pileup on I-55 in Illinois, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. One patient had a stroke following a chelation therapy. (And the National Practitioner Databank doesnt make doctors names public, so we dont know who they are.) After a few calls to various Dallas-area medical societies, someone suggested he call the Medical Board. You know, hell call and say goodnight to his boys, um, sometimes hell have bedtime stories and try to be as normal as possible.. Because the credentialing process is deemed confidential under Texas Law, we are not permitted to discuss specific physicians or specific requests other than to say all policies were followed.. Young was soon pregnantbut Duntsch had already developed a wandering eye. And then there was the 2011 case of Dr. Rolando Arafiles, the West Texas doctor who sicced the county sheriff on two nurses who dared report him to the Texas Medical Board (see Intent to Harm, March 2011). Christopher Duntsch's case was the subject of Wondery's podcast, "Dr. Death," which was released in 2018. "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. Im just so grateful from the bottom of my heart, she said. But more than anything, we don't get to know Christopher Duntsch. Because he owed people a lot of money. Dr. Death is the new true-crime series on Peacock starring The Affair's Joshua Jackson as the infamous surgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch. The Legislature doesnt want the Medical Board taking a doctors licenseand livelihoodunnecessarily or based on flimsy or frivolous claims. Its hard to find good conversation with a random person, Young told the magazine. Hospitals can get all of the benefit of an expensive surgeon practicing in their facility and little of the exposure. "I think all of us will be thinking about things like this, and hopefully there will be some tighter controls, more accountability in a lot of areas so something like this wont happen again. By the time the Texas Medical Board revoked his license in June 2013, Duntsch had left two patients dead and four paralyzed in a series of botched surgeries. By Jill Sederstrom & Leah Carroll Joshua Jackson On Role Of Surgeon, Christopher Duntsch, In Peacock's "Dr. Death" Series Now Playing Digital Original Some drag on for years. I think what happened is that as things began to fall apart, the only thing he knew was to try harder, Don Duntsch said. This is an almost impossible standard to meet, and it has left hospitals immune to the actions of whatever doctors they bring on. Texas neurosurgeon gets life in prison for deliberately injuring 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. She was 55 and had been experiencing persistent back pain after a fall at home. 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. And because the story of what he's accused of doing to 33 patients he operated on while . Culture TV Peacock True Crime. Christopher Duntsch: The Remorseless Killer Surgeon Called 'Dr. Death' How much risk can there be?. 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. It was horrible. . First, the Medical Board staff has to screen every complaint and has 45 days to decide whether the agency will act on it. The surgery had gone so badly, Kirby later wrote to the Medical Board, that the rest of the OR team had to physically restrain Duntsch from continuing. Dr. Death, which premieres on July 15 on Peacock, shows the horrors that followed once he was on the job. During surgery, Duntsch had sliced through one of the arteries alongside Martins spine, as he had with Summers. Plano's Baylor hospital faces hard questions after claims against Nicknamed "Dr. Death," the story of Duntsch's egregious medical crimes and the healthcare system that failed so. Joshua Jackson on his 'evil' role in 'Dr. Death' - New York Post In 2015, Duntsch was charged with five counts of aggravated assault for allegedly mishandling spinal surgeries, and one count of injuring an elderly person, according to the Dallas Morning News. Why Trust Us? A 27-year-old Young had been working as a stripper in Memphis when she met Duntsch, then 40. Duntsch, he said, was the worst. He felt confident. In effect, plaintiffs have to prove a very tough case without access to the necessary hospital records. Only their consciences, and those of their fellow doctors, limit them. He did not make his mark, just not the one that he expected. Was it that he was unqualified and completely unaware of regional anatomy? According to The Dallas Morning News, he will be up for parole in 2045, when he is 74. 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.. [3] Two days later, once Efurd was stable, Henderson was assigned to do the repair surgery. .css-lwn4i5{display:block;font-family:Neutra,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:-0.01rem;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;text-align:center;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-lwn4i5:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}Leann Rimes Shares Video Montage for Anniversary, Read Erin Napier's Post about 'Home Town', Christie Brinkley = Iconic In Bareback Riding Pic, 35 Celebrity Relationships That Upset Fans, Celebrities You Didn't Know Had Famous Moms, 30 Celebrity Feuds That Were Never Resolved, Celebrity Couples from 50 Years You Forgot About, We Ranked Every Single Adam Sandler Movie, 34 'Bridgerton' Fun Facts to Fuel Your Obsession, Where Youve Seen the Cast of Bridgerton Before. When he arrived in Dallas in late 2010, Duntsch's resume spoke of a skilled neurosurgeon: An M.D. Many of them had committed serious practice violations. His mom was a teacher. According to ProPublica, most neurosurgery residents perform 1,000 operations; Duntsch completed 100. Shes also worked as a social editor for House Beautiful and had previous writing stints at Redbook,CosmopolitanandSeventeen. 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. I had so much anger, because my life changed so much. What Happened To Jerry Summers, 'Dr. Death' Christopher Duntsch's Christopher, known as Dr Death, was Jerry's friend and the surgeon who performed the botched operation on him in 2011 Credit: Dallas County Sheriff's office. He felt, Kirby wrote to the Texas Medical Board a year later, that most of the spine surgery being done in Dallas was malpractice, and he was going to have to clean things up.. A poorly put-together case can mean months or years of expensive litigation. In the second, while doing a cervical fusion on a woman named Floella Brown, Duntsch removed a bone from an area that was not required by any clinical or anatomical standards, resulting in injury to the vertebral artery, according to Texas Medical Board records. It was widely acknowledged that Christopher was a confident person, and D Magazine reported that many liked him immediately when they met him (though his fellow neurosurgeons reportedly found him to be "fast-talking and cocksure"). It's a good questionand one that Dr. Death details, along with the surprisingly difficult fight to revoke his license. He waited until they told him his wife had been sent to the intensive care unit. 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. The one-time neurosurgeon was sentenced by the 12-member jury to spend the remainder of his life behind bars Monday afternoon. But the Legislature hindered plaintiffs cases even more by allowing hospitals to, in most cases, keep credentialing information confidential. AnnaSophia Robb Stars In New Series Dr. My record is excellent," he told The Dallas Morning News in 2015. And in its place is where he had placed the fusion. Those are the words that Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a Dallas neurosurgeon, wrote to his girlfriend in 2011 in the midst of a two-year period that left 33 of his 38 patients maimed, wounded or . Even now, Young told American Greed she still hears from Duntsch when he calls to talk to their sons. Their fellow physicians had found them committing such offenses as malpractice, sexual assault and drug use. Ellisontold thepodcast that Morgan was instantly smitten with the doctor. As a result, one patient died from a massive blood lost. For the last three days, jurors listened to testimony in the . Wendy Young believed she had finally met her Prince Charming after crossing paths with Christopher Duntsch. She would be present during the spinal . Its a completely egregious case, Leigh Hopper, then head of communications for the Texas Medical Board, told The Dallas Morning News in June. 5 years after 'Dr. Death,' doctors still come to Texas to leave pasts Duntsch briefly enrolled at CSU in the fall of 1991 when he was 20 years old. Dr Death Christopher Duntsch's late patient Jerry Summers claims killer Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. "He has a job inside the prison. Hed made multiple screw holes on the left everywhere but where he had needed to be. Kellie Martin was in good health; a laminectomy is considered a minor procedure. As she lay dying, Duntsch performed his third surgery, on a woman named Mary Efurd. His father, Don Duntsch, spoke with pride about how his son had once been one of the top authorities on stem cells and had done ground-breaking cancer research. His daughter, Caitlin Martin-Linduff, was relieved and tearful to know Duntsch will never hurt anyone again. Christopher Duntsch, 46, was initially charged with five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and one count of injuring an elderly person, 1 but the trial focused on the last charge, which alleged that Duntsch deliberately harmed Mary Efurd, then aged 72, in a 2012 operation that left her in a wheelchair. The board forbade Arafiles to supervise nurses or physician assistants anymore. Later, when Duntsch moved to Dallas to begin his career as a neurosurgeon he took Summers with him. Theres no reason to assume another doctor would have advised her differently. Duntsch was a highlysought-after neurosurgeon who promised her a life filled with extravagance and success. Duntsch was arrested in July 2015. If you support this mission, we need your help. But the Medical Board wasnt designed to be an aggressive enforcer. For example, when Duntsch left Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, the hospital provided a letter confirming there had been no "summary or administrative restrictions or suspensions," despite the fact that Duntsch had been suspended for 30 days following Summers's surgery. How Did 'Dr. Death' Christopher Duntsch Continue To Operate? | True So the board members tend to act conservatively. Hospital management, the court system and the Texas Medical Board formed a web of regulation that penalized and prevented bad care. The eight-part series tells the harrowing true story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch who, across. The "deadly weapons" were his hands and surgical tools. You're probably asking, How could Duntsch have gotten away with a string of botched surgeries? Get our latest in-depth reporting straight to your inbox. Kirby had spent 16 years performing general surgery in the Dallas area, in which time hed assisted on more than 2,000 spine operations. Don Martin, who was waiting outside, was told the operation wouldnt take more than 45 minutes. The investigator, Maria Lopez, lets him yell. Dr. Death: Where Is Christopher Duntsch Today? - Grunge But perhaps more terrifying, the show depicts the chilling real-life story of Dallas-area neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who. Over this period, Duntsch performed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition, paralyzed, or deceased. But when I talked to Medical Board spokesperson Megan Goode about this, she said Public Citizen had it wrongthat the board isnt underfunded at all. This was the time when Dr. Christopher Duntsch started to turn into Dr. Death. Anton Floquet/NBCUniversal. Christopher Duntsch, the focus of Peacock's true crime series Dr. Death, looked good on paper. The show consists of interviews with his patients and other people close to the case, as well as the full story of Duntsch's crimes. I am 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.". Across two years, Duntsch . "One surgeon described these as 'never events.' The first three surgeries of Duntschs trial took place on three consecutive days in July 2012, a month after the first complaint against him with the Texas Medical Board. According to the outlet, while Jerry's lawyer said Christopher could now be criminally charged after his client's death, he believes Jerry wouldn't want that "because he had forgiven his friend for what had happened.".
