He was the eldest of four.They described him as the bright, precocious little boy who had taken care of a sick bird and loved dogs. Duntsch grew up in a middle-class family. And Ill reflect back on how difficult those first months were afterwards. Victim statements reveal more gruesome details of botched surgeries - WFAA 12 Unnerving Facts About Dr. Death Christopher Duntsch - Ranker She would be present during the spinal . Among these doctors who escaped Medical Board action was one who racked up 22 malpractice suits over 12 years, totaling $2.4 million in judgments, for such things as performing unnecessary or harmful procedures or, in one case, removing the wrong body part, according to the federal database. Its a completely egregious case, Leigh Hopper, then head of communications for the Texas Medical Board, told The Dallas Morning News in June. 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). Its more or less satisfied with the way that things work.. He sounded impressive, Don said. It was supposed to be such a simple procedure. His mistakes were obvious and well-documented. It shouldnt happen again.". Brown was later found unresponsive in her hospital room and staff couldnt contact Duntsch for 90 minutes, according to those records. In 2011, he founded a neurosurgery practice, Texas Neurosurgical Institute. 121. He had a doctorate in molecular biology as well as a medical degree from the University. According to ProPublica, most neurosurgery residents perform 1,000 operations; Duntsch completed 100. He told Morgan that Young was just his secretary from Memphis, whose husband would be moving to the area soon, according to the podcast. Goals scored. 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.". 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. Kirby said Duntsch had problems at nearly every step of the operation. "Dr. Death" and the companion docuseries "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story" are both available to stream on Peacock now. Rather than immediately ordering scans to find out what was wrong, Duntsch moved on to other patients, according to Kirbys letter to the Medical Board. He claimed to work as a bioscience consultant and researcher, and maintained his innocence. What Happened To Jerry Summers, 'Dr. Death' Christopher Duntsch's After Christopher performed a spinal surgery on Mary in 2012, Mary suffered crippling pain afterward. In February of 2017, Christopher was sentenced to life in prison. 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. This guy already killed somebody, made another a quad, made a partial paraplegic out of my patient. I said, He needs to be stopped. They all have blood on their hands.. A dissection of an esophagus led to significant blood loss in one patient. Per The Washington Post, when another surgeon named Dr. Robert Henderson went in to investigate, he was shocked to find spinal hardware left in her soft tissue, a severed nerve root, a nerve with a screw in it and several screw holes on a different area of Mary's spine. Promising Beginnings Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. It was supposed to be a simple procedure, which is, perhaps, why Baylor didnt put anyone in the operating room to supervise Duntsch. The Terrifying True Story Behind Peacock's Dr. Death - Yahoo He just had no recognition of the proper anatomy. 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.. At his home and office, my calls rang and rang before going to voicemail boxes that were full. What is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr Death's ex Kimberly - The Sun That as you walk into the waiting room of a Christopher Duntsch or Greggory Phillips or Rolando Arafiles, somewhere, in some office in Austin, the parties the state has deemed responsible are sitting at desks quietly investigating. For one thing, it can open a case only if it receives a written complaintakin to a police department that forbids its officers from investigating criminal activity they witness. His daughter, Caitlin Martin-Linduff, was relieved and tearful to know Duntsch will never hurt anyone again. and a Ph.D. from a top-tier medical school, a decade of experience, and a central role in a pioneering stem-cell treatment. Though a hospital peer review took this doctors privileges in 2006, he continued to practice for three more years until he retired, according to federal records. When he moved to Dallas in late 2010, Duntsch was 41 years old, fresh out of a residency program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Centers Department of Neurosurgery in Memphis. At one point Dr. Henderson sent me a tape of a conversation he had with the main Medical Board investigator assigned to Duntschs case. Duntsch, an engaging and fast-talking son of missionaries, came to North Texas with uncommon credentials. 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. 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. 2023 . ), Photo: In July 2012, four months after Kellie Martins death, Duntsch applied for surgical privileges at Dallas Medical Center. The problem, she said, isnt staff. Its not clear how such a well-trained surgeon could have performed so disastrously, but the June 26 Medical Board report offers a hint: Respondent is unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety due to impairment from drugs or alcohol.. Shes also worked as a social editor for House Beautiful and had previous writing stints at Redbook,CosmopolitanandSeventeen. Before we ask if the board does its job, we have to ask what is the job the Legislature assigned to the board, and what resources the board gets to do that job. The answer, in both cases, seems to be very little. Birthday boy Zverev knocked out in Munich - mid-day.com 'Dr. Death' clings to the wrong part of a true story - Mic The four-part docuseries features old footage and new interviews to tell more of the story about the neurosurgeon who was sentenced to prison after maiming or killing more than 30 patients. At the time, Duntsch had been fielding offers in Dallas, San Diego and New York from medical centers eager to have a neurosurgeon with his seemingly impressive resume on staff. .css-1omz5nv{background-color:#E61957;border-radius:50rem;color:#000;display:inline-block;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:0.02em;line-height:1.3;padding:0.625rem 1.25rem;text-align:center;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-transform:uppercase;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;width:auto;}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1omz5nv{min-width:7.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-1omz5nv{min-width:11.25rem;}}.css-1omz5nv:focus-visible{outline-color:body-cta-btn-link-focus;}.css-1omz5nv:hover{color:#fff;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;background-color:#9D002F;}Watch Dr. Death. The patients mother complained to the Medical Board. Duntschs explanation, along with the email from Baylor, was enough to get him a trial run of five surgeries at Dallas Medical Center. Death Based On A True Story, Joshua Jackson On Role Of Surgeon, Christopher Duntsch, In Peacocks Dr. That July, Duntsch was firing off panicked emails to his business partners at 4 am. Young told D Magazine the incident had simply been a misunderstanding after she had given birth to the couples second son and had asked Duntsch to bring Aiden to the hospital to meet his new brother. "Rather than protecting the public from harm, Baylor allowed him [Duntsch] to be passed on from hospital to hospital," Van Wey told the Dallas News. Of that set, two died and 31 were paralyzed or seriously injured. Yet Arafiles didnt surrender his license until November 2011, after he had been convicted of a felony. Brown had suffered excessive blood loss and a stroke, according to the agency. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. His report was damning. Henderson went in to remove it. Dr. Death is the new true-crime series on Peacock starring The Affair's Joshua Jackson as the infamous surgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch. And while the Medical Board investigated, the pattern continued. Was it that he was unqualified and completely unaware of regional anatomy? Another suffered a sliced vertebral artery which led to a stroke and later death. He said his son called him upset after several of the botched surgeries. Duntsch was still living with Young, but he tried to carry out the dual romances by lying to each woman. For Mary Efurd, it was sweet justice for the man who ruined her life. 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. As she lay dying, Duntsch performed his third surgery, on a woman named Mary Efurd. A Texas neurosurgeon accused of intentionally botching multiple spinal surgeries, resulting in the death of two . Who Is Kimberly Morgan, 'Dr. Death' Christopher Duntsch's Assistant 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. Christopher Duntsch - Wikipedia The former neurosurgeon is currently serving a life sentence for the maiming of Mary Efurd, one of the . 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. When physical therapy didnt relieve the pain, her family doctor suggested she see a certain neurosurgeonbut the doctor couldnt find that surgeons card, so she suggested Duntsch instead. Its left to hospitals to police their doctors. The series is set to premiere on July 12 and will feature a star-studded cast. The Untold Truth Of Dr. Death - Grunge (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.). (Like other state licensing agenciesthe Pharmacy Board, the Nurse Practitioner Boardthe Medical Board operates at a surplus for the state.). Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. But a few years later, he popped up in Kermit doing just thatas well as selling drugs out of the operating room and performing bizarre surgeries he hadnt been trained for. The process for resolving complaints is slow and painstaking, set up in statute to guarantee doctors the maximum legal protection. 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.". Because he owed people a lot of money. AnnaSophia Robb Stars In New Series Dr. Over the next year, the Medical Board would receive at least six more complaints from doctors who had seen Duntschs work up close. What remained was the Texas Medical Board. In June 2010, following the media circus around the prosecution of the Kermit nurses, they filed a complaint against him. He blamed Summers paralysis on Duntschs surgical misadventures, which had led to the artery being cut; the final straw, he wrote in his report, had been the packing of coagulants around the cut, which had seriously damaged Summers spinal cord. After losing his license, Duntsch filed for bankruptcy and returned to Colorado, where his parents live. His father was a missionary and physical therapist and his mother was a school teacher. Among neurosurgeons, the procedure isnt considered terribly difficult. Wendy Young believed she had finally met her Prince Charming after crossing paths with Christopher Duntsch. Why Trust Us? But as investigators took a look back at Christopher's history and consulted with those who knew him, what they discovered was quite disturbing. But more than anything, we don't get to know Christopher Duntsch. In 2012, when Efurd was 74, she saw Duntsch for what should have been a relatively simple surgery to fuse two of her vertebrae. They know if they try to discipline a doctor, the burden of proof will be on them. This what Ive waited for four and half years., Follow Tanya Eiserer on Twitter: @tanyaeiserer. "After building a flourishing neurosurgery practice, everything suddenly changes when patients entering Dr. Duntsch's operating room for complex but routine spinal surgeries start leaving permanently disabled or dead. But the board is limited in its ability to investigate malpractice. 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. Martins surgery was Duntschs last at Baylor. Morgan later secured a temporary protective order against him in April 2012 after telling authorities that Duntsch had come to her apartment at 2 a.m. and banged on her window, according to the podcast. He chose Dallas after learning that Young had family near thecityand she offered to go with him. By all appearances, he had simply decided to leave. Duntsch, it turned out, had, as with other patients, cut into Glidewells vertebral artery; an MRI found that he had also left a sponge festering in the soft tissue of Glidewells throat. Articles must link back to the original article and contain the following attribution at the top of the story: This article was originally published by the, Articles cannot be rewritten, edited or changed beyond alignments with house style books. Get our latest in-depth reporting straight to your inbox. Senior Editor, Editorial Business Development, Where Is Dr. Death Now? 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. 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. Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months as a practicing surgeon at multiple Texas hospitals until he had his license revoked in 2013. Another spinal fusion; another routine procedure. You could have a Medical Board thats the size of the [Texas Department of Public Safety], she said, but the state doesnt want that. When the Medical Board suspended Duntschs license, the agencys spokespeople too seemed shocked. "The nerve root had been severed. After growing up in Tennessee,. Then he waited for several more hours until the nurses came out to tell him and his daughters that Kellie Martin was dead. Duntsch continued to operate in the year it took for the board to investigate him. Even when the board does sanction a doctor, those sanctions are often lighteven in cases in which the doctor is badly impaired. Following Summers surgery, Baylor Plano suspended Duntsch for 30 daysafter that, he was supposed to be supervised on every surgery he performed, according to Kirby. For the first time, the board could suspend without a hearing doctors who constituted a continuing threat to the public welfare, i.e., cases where the public couldnt afford to wait for the full board proceedings. 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. Duntsch was offered a $600,000 advance and a temporary suite in a luxury hotel to come to Dallas while the couple searched for a new home in Plano, according to a 2018Dr. Many of them had committed serious practice violations. Christopher Duntsch Photo: Dallas County Jail/AP About a month after meeting, Morgan and Duntsch were already sleeping together, according to the podcast. Unlike with Summers, though, he hadnt noticed in time, and Martin bled to death, according to Texas Medical Board records. Weve seen neurosurgeons get in trouble but not one such as this, in terms of the number of medical errors in such a short time.. 'Dr. Death': Who Is Jerry Summers and What Happened to Him? - Newsweek 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. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. I was very independent and I had to become dependent on others for transportation, for my meals, for a lot of things," she said. In 2008 one of his patients died of a prescription drug overdose after he had prescribed her a lethal dose of the painkiller Tramadol. Ellis Unit outside of Huntsville, Texas. Some drag on for years. Nevertheless, Christopher had his medical license stripped in 2013 and was eventually brought to justice after Mary took him to court. Mr. 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. Theres no reason to assume another doctor would have advised her differently. The only entity that could stop Duntsch from seeing more patients was the Texas Medical Board. Instead, Duntsch would find himself behind bars for life after botching more than 30 surgeriesresulting in the death of two patients and earning him the nickname Dr. He had a slick marketing team in Best Docs Network, a physician PR company that pumps out infomercials to local TV stations. Ellisontold thepodcast that Morgan was instantly smitten with the doctor. I couldnt believe a trained surgeon could do this, Henderson told me. He has a job inside the prison. Baylor brought in a senior surgeon to fix the damage to Summers spine. Site made in collaboration with CMYK. And still it took the Texas Medical Board more than a year to stop Duntscha year in which he kept bringing into the operating room patients who ended up seriously injured or dead. .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. But her dream of Duntsch being her Prince Charming is now nothing more than a memory. 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"). He has nothing. Even now, Young told American Greed she still hears from Duntsch when he calls to talk to their sons. Of the three in the academy, viz. "He was interpersonally a monster, a nightmare to be around. Duntsch, 44, is the first surgeon known to be sentenced to prison for a botched surgery. Kayla Keegan leads Good Housekeepings editorial growth strategies in the partnership, news, social, branded, membership and newsletter spaces. The eight-episode series is anticipated to be a thrilling watch. For 33 patients of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, it was a reality. But the school told Henderson that Duntsch had completed the residency program. Up until 2003, medical care in Texas was regulated by a system of checks. The point isnt that all doctors are dangerous, or even that any more than a tiny minority are. We rely on the generosity of our readers who believe that this work is important. "I think its going to be like a floodgate thats going to really open, crying. Duntsch was arrested in July 2015. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. 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. The board, when it finally handed down an order in 2011, faulted him for both deaths. 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. He was a megalomaniac. And in its place is where he had placed the fusion. The boards mandate, spelled out in the Medical Practice Act, recognizes a doctors license as a hard-won, valuable credential. Duntsch was a highlysought-after neurosurgeon who promised her a life filled with extravagance and success. Dallas Magazine states that Duntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. Friends since they played football together in high school, Summers helped Duntsch stay organized while he worked in the lab during his residency. He was found guilty of his crimes in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison. So why didnt he stop? Shughart said. 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. It was just gone. The series is based on reporting from the podcast Dr. Death, from the same production studio that created Dirty John. (And the National Practitioner Databank doesnt make doctors names public, so we dont know who they are.) In January 2012, he assisted on one of Duntschs surgeries. Doctors brought in to clean up his surgeries decried his surgical misadventures, according to hospital records. "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. .css-ssumvd{display:block;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.0625rem;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.25;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-ssumvd:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-ssumvd{letter-spacing:0rem;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Gayle King Is Showcasing Women Making Waves, Your Complete Guide to the Bridgerton Family, Jada Pinkett Smiths Red Table Talk Is Canceled, Oprah Wishes Carol Burnett a Happy 90th Birthday, Oprah and Mindy Kaling Are Producing a TV Show, Oprah and Michelle Obama Have a Netflix Special, Gayle Kings Pop Culture Must-See List for April, What We Know About The Little Mermaid Remake, Dr. Death Tells the Horrifying True Story of Christopher Duntsch, The True Story that Inspired Season 2 Dirty John, 20 True-Crime Podcasts You Should Be Listening To, Gayle King Is Showcasing Women Making Waves, email he wrote to former assistant Kimberly Morgan.