Digging into Christopher Duntsch's personal and professional life, Dr. Death paints a detailed portrait of a possible sociopath. Methods for the treatment of degenerative disc disease Patent number: 11168305 Unlike a TV series where you get to see the character,a podcast is darker. As one lawyer told me off the record, they faced an almost impossible dilemma: settle and give their families a financial cushion for the future medical costs but sacrifice their right to tell their stories. By November, he had surgical privileges to operate on patients. Meanwhile, his patients kept suffering, and dying, in his OR. The world at large may have never heard of Dr. Death but for Laura Beil. He wrote grants and secured more than $3 million in funding. The hospitals didnt do their due diligence until it was too late, and those who couldve spoken up didnt. Duntschdestroyed the lives of numerous patients who were seeking relief from back problems. Unlike Baldwin, Slater takes on a more brash and quirky doctor role as Dr Kirby, though both work side by side to help reveal the truth about Duntsch's botched surgeries. And, seeing as how the hospital was asking specifically about that training, Foley said he didnt feel comfortable expressing concern about what hed heard was happening in Dallas. Today, Duntsch is serving a life imprisonment term in a Texas prison, and he's now the subject of an NBC Peacock netstreaming series featuring some big-name, A . According to ProPublica, Boop was aware of a complaint Duntsch used drugs before seeing patients. He wears a gray-and-black-striped uniform, not unlike a set of scrubs. There were two names on the top page: Kellie Martin and Christopher Duntsch. But they were also, presumably, two consenting adults, and both were, presumably, qualified to fix the pain that was wrecking his lower body. Photo: But what Duntsch hadnt counted on was the Dallas County District Attorneys Office. Dr. Christopher Duntsch 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 Center's Department of. His mom was a teacher. Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. At the time, Kane was dating Jerry Summer, a childhood friend of Duntsch. She describes investigators with binoculars camped out on their street in a white van, trying to see into their home. The door opened and Young found Duntsch, who had earned the moniker Dr. Their suffering becomes yours. It was the same with Dallas Medical Center where hedid not face any action. It still feels as if his feet are asleep. The other, Discgenics, was more successful; it still owns the patent for the technology. Duntsch placed a surgical cage where the disc was, to widen the opening around the nerve roots and relieve the pressure that was causing Passmores pain. Every patient mentioned in this story who has sued, except for Passmore, has settled. He was the first surgeon to do so, but not the last. Currently, Discgenics has no mention of Duntsch at all, his history with the company, or that he's the massive elephant in the room. The arrest report says that he was driving on two flat tires, and one was completely gone and was on the rim. Officers found an empty bottle of Mikes Hard Lemonade on the floorboard and a full one in the console. His next patient, Floella Brown was 63. Will it help patients protect their rights? After another disastrous outcome, this time at University General, Kirby and malpractice attorney Kay Van Wey decided to turn to the criminal justice system. And yet the actual tragedy is that someone could have stopped it. Many shake and tremble, some have unimaginable pain. Passmore was allowed to resign and still access his long-term disability insurance, which he says hed paid into for more than 10 years. That was the same month the two started having sex. Duntsch is now living out his life behind bars, but Young told CNBC'sAmerican Greed earlier this year that the former neurosurgeon still regularly talks with his two young sons. Duntsch declined a jailhouse interview, but he has called the allegations preposterous. In April 2015, he was arrested for stealing $887.30 in Walmart merchandise: five pairs of sunglasses, five watches, two pairs of shoes, four ties, two briefcases, a wallet, cologne, necklaces, a walkie-talkie. The hospital called Rimlawi when it couldnt reach his colleague. Christopher Duntsch didn't. For years, hed focused on research. To be a good doctor, you have to be a good human being. According to an article by WFAA, Christopher Duntsch's father Don stated his son had called him, completely beside himself, when he botched several surgeries. Not long after, Young said Duntsch broke into her apartment for the first time. I am beginning to think the police are the only ones intellectually and physically capable of getting to the bottom of this matter, he wrote. The university said, We cant let you see his personnel file. 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. Was he was only in it for the research prestige and the money? Don tried to convince the jury that his son cared for his patients. Passmore later discovered that, less than a week after his second surgery, Duntsch had operated on 45-year-old Barry Morguloff. He performed his first operation at Dallas Medical Center on July 24, 2012; the hospital issued temporary privileges while it verified his credentials. The autopsy had not been finished when Passmore accidentally saw the fax from Baylor Plano. But hospital after hospital passed the buck. In the two years he practiced as a spine surgeon across four Dallas institutions, Duntsch operated on 37 people. After graduating as a physician with above-average grades, he had his whole life ahead of him. Christopher Duntsch and Wendy Young struck up a conversation right away, and within three months, they were dating and living together. In many ways, Morgan was the opposite of Young. They numbed the pain radiating from his lower back, down each of his legs. Christopher Duntsch, Known As Dr. Death, Maimed His Patients Through Routine Back Surgery. According to ProPublica, Duntsch's residency and fellowship records show less than 100 surgeries. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. I dont want my name out there. Hed received a letter from University General Hospital in South Dallas, verifying Duntschs training. Duntsch was told to take a drug test but disappeared instead. In February 2017, Duntsch, 50, was convicted of a first-degree felony for intentionally injuring an elderly victim. The seeds of greed were sown. After his arrest, he still had those loving parents. The University of Tennessee refused to comment on grounds of confidentiality, but neurosurgeon Dr. Frederick Boop, under whom Duntsch completed his residency, knew. GQ calls it the scariest podcast of 2019. It said, Anyone close to me thinks that I likely am something between god, einstein, and the antichrist. A grand jury returned five indictments of aggravated assault and one of harming an elderly person. She also says they snorted cocaine from a small pile that he kept on a dresser in his home office. Dr. Death is now also going to be a TV show with Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin playing main roles. Mayfield also developed syringomyeliain 2014 - fluid-filled cysts that emerged within his spinal cord, which compressednerves to cause more pain and damage to the sensitive area. He was a phenomenal partner right up until the pandemic hit and we got shut down. Armed with Baylors declaration that it never amended his privileges, Duntsch found work in four months. But he was apprehended trying to leave the store. Yet they let him resign and passed the bill along for someone else to pay. Duntsch had a comfortable upbringing. And this was 10 months before Duntsch's last surgery. According to Duntsch's colleagueDr. Randall Kirby, Glidewell's procedure was so botched that"Duntsch was forcibly restrained from continuing the surgery by the [operating room] team.". Young and Duntsch have two sons. According to him, Duntsch had a "great work ethic" and no areas of weakness. The evidence collected by the DA's office by subpoenaing every hospital on his CVshows Duntsch completes a fraction of these. Duntsch harmed many of his patients, including his childhood friend Jerry Summers. Over this period, Duntschperformed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition,paralyzed, ordeceased. A string of arrests for DWI, shoplifting, and more followed. Passmore later learned that a ligament in his leg had been severed. 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. Hoyle became so disturbed by Duntsch's actions that at one point he physically restrained him. Other doctors had to perform surgery to save his life. Duntsch suspected that this had something to do with his vodka bottle and neurostimulants. It said he was $1 million in debt. I dont have Facebook, I dont Myspace. Wendy Renee Young is the mother of three children. Six weeks after her death on March 12, 2012, the medical examiner ruled her fate an accident. The civil attorneys in these cases were able to land a rather damning e-mail sent from Duntsch to his girlfriend/physical assistant.The girlfriend was Kimberly Morgan, and in the e-mail to her, the ramblings of a mind gone wrong are clear. Like, he wasnt scared. Dr. Christopher Duntsch, better known as Doctor Death, is serving a life sentence at a Texas prison today. They lived in a future colleagues condo at the W Hotel while they looked for a home in Plano, close to where Duntsch would be practicing. Duntsch's initial presentation bowled him over. There was a dissection of one patients esophagus, and screws that an indictment labeled far too long that caused significant blood loss in another patient. Not a single doctor, surgeon, staff, or the pathologist of the autopsy every [sic] stated that I surgically caused vascular injury, he wrote. Unequivocally, testified an expert witness, a neurosurgeon should stop practicing after incurring multiple patient deaths and severe outcomes. Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couple's son. In July 2015, he was indicted by a Dallas County grand jury on six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (his hands and surgical tools). To say that this e-mail proved that Duntsch was notfit to be a doctor would be completely correct. Duntsch has a court date next month for the shoplifting case along with the unrelated matter of a criminal trespass complaint filed against him last fall. During the 45-minute surgery, Duntsch cut through one of Martin's arteries. I think he built up this idea in his head of who he was and what he was going to do with his life and now all of that has disappeared and wasnt coming back, I think he finds himself in a state where hes struggling to figure out, who am I now? Shughart said in the series. The Hippocratic Oath is sworn by all doctors and binds them to do no harm. One such recommendation came from the surgeon under whom Duntsch completed his residency, Dr. Frederick Boop. He always had a plan, always had a pitch, always had a way to fix you. Prodigal Son actress Molly Griggs takes on the role of Wendy Young, who was Duntsch's girlfriend and is the mother of his kids. His mom was a teacher. During a deposition with Passmores lawyer, attorney James Girards, a woman named Megan Kane recalls Duntsch eating a paper blotter of LSD and taking prescription painkillers on his birthday in either 2006 or 2007. "Dr. Death," which was shot earlier this year in the Albuquerque area and debuted July 15 on the Peacock streaming service, is the story of Christopher Duntsch, who is now serving a life sentence . Something was wrong, one lawsuit alleges, whether it be impairment from drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or a combination of all three. His first and only surgery with Minimally Invasive Spine Institute was on a Thursday at Baylor Plano. Young lived there, too, and she says Morgan was a frequent visitor. But Passmore knows its his battle to fight. Duntsch landed in jail on a $600,000 bond and waited for the trial to begin. In the Dallas medical community, Christopher Duntsch was seen as a rising star. Duntsch contends the patient was just trying to get painkillers. Maybe thats how they do it in Tennessee, but according to my training, thats not how they do it here. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! He did earnhis M.D., doing so well that he was among the 12 percent of medical school graduates in his class named to the elite Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. We discovered it.. Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couples son. By this time his wife and he had separated and he also filed for bankruptcy. I cant write on this form, Oh, by the way, I heard from Dr. Henderson about what sounds like major patient issues that you ought to look into, Foley said in the call. They eventually went back to his home, dancing to music under a disco ball he had in his office. Many ofDuntsch's patient-turned-victims filed malpractice suits, according to Dallas News. 11:15 PM on Mar 1, 2014 CST. He wasnt paranoid. Their trysts were largely confined to his office at Baylor Plano, the same place where, she said in her deposition, he often drank vodka and did research after hours. Kane dated Summers for a year. In real life, after helping the ADA Michelle Shughart send Duntsch to jail, Dr Henderson continues to practice medicine in Texas. Days after Duntsch returned, he was fired. Passmore is still fighting. There were multiple screw holes nowhere near where they were supposed to be, and a screw had been lodged in another nerve root near the bottom of the spine. How old was Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things season 1? That's when he moved to Colorado to live with his parents. She fell pregnant with their first son, Aiden, not long after that. Governor Greg Abbott, then the attorney general, even waded into the whole mess, filing a brief in Passmores suit in support of the law. He couldnt help it. At Baylor Regional Medical Center,after botched surgeries and complaints from fellow doctors, Duntsch resigned. (He also appears in no yearbooks from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at the time in which he says he earned his Ph.D., and the school declined to verify his claims, citing afederal privacy law.) The 51-year-old recently starred in the USA true crime series, Dirty John, opposite Connie Britton. His license gone, Duntsch went off the rails. The damage is irreversible. He had a lot of animus to me personally. Its less than a millimeter from the spinal canal. Christopher Duntsch Early Life Story, Family Background and Education. Lopez answers Henderson's frustrationin a somber tone, sayingthat while you may know a doctor is bad, gathering evidence takes time. Hospitals are liable only if the plaintiff can prove that the hospital was also malicious, that it knew of the risk and ignored it. This despite the drug problems as well as incomplete residency training. The new true crime show, which comes out Thursday, tells the story of promising-turned-disgraced surgeon, Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Jackson), who was accused of maiming and killing his more than two dozed patients. Theres no blank here for that.. His pain management specialist advised against an operation. 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. He recorded conversations with Foley, the head of the fellowship program, and Boop, the chairman. But Morguloffs suit describes him being in excruciating pain and telling nurses that his pain was a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. She was a National . And you are one of the lucky ones." For the DA though she proved to be a good witness. It was the invention of me and my wife, because we made all primary experiments. The monster in the white coat is all too real. Or, they should be: the scientists names are misspelled. (Neither responded to requests for comment for this story.) 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. He would climb a ladder and take aerial photos of crime scenes to aid in the death investigation. Joshua Jackson as Dr. Christopher Duntsch Asked if he had a chance to meet with Duntsch, who's now serving a life sentence for maiming Mary Efurd during what should have been routine surgery,. Duntsch pleaded not guilty. A few weeks later I took my first son to visit him for Christmas and then I became pregnant, Young said. Through his career, reports of him doing rounds under the influence were commonplace. Did these doctors truly not see though Duntsch? That July, Duntsch was firing off panicked emails to his business partners at 4 am on a Monday morning: My reputation has been ruined, he wrote. The procedure was routine and involved removing bone tissue in the spine to alleviate pressure on afflicted nerves. Like Dr Henderson, Dr Kirby is still a practicing doctor in real life. We moved in together within three months, and then I became pregnant.. Portrayed in the Peacock miniseries, "Dr. Death," the Dallas spinal surgeon is responsible for helping stop Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 after leaving .