Why Trust Us? He wrote grants and secured more than $3 million in funding. But the Legislature hindered plaintiffs cases even more by allowing hospitals to, in most cases, keep credentialing information confidential. The patients mother complained to the Medical Board. The procedure can improve stability in the back, according to the Mayo Clinic, and relieve pain. Dr. Christopher Duntsch's patients ended up maimed and dead, but the real tragedy is that the Texas Medical Board couldn't stop him. This defendant single-handedly ruined their lives, and he gave each of them a life of pain, prosecutor Michelle Shughart told jurors in closing statements. 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. .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. 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.. [2] The division consists of two tiers within it: Premier Division A and Premier Division B. But the school told Henderson that Duntsch had completed the residency program. Where is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr. Death now? | The US Sun - The Sun Anton Floquet/NBCUniversal. The Peacock originalDr Deathis based on atrue story. In June 2010, following the media circus around the prosecution of the Kermit nurses, they filed a complaint against him. Dr. Robert Henderson, a Dallas-based orthopedic surgeon who worked to alert authorities about Duntsch, had his own take. They all have blood on their hands.. Doctors brought in to clean up his surgeries decried his surgical misadventures, according to hospital records. Don was a lieutenant with the Garland Police Department, and had spent enough time in hospitals to know this delay wasnt a good sign. In the two years he practiced as a spine surgeon across four Dallas institutions, Duntsch operated on 37 people. He wanted to live the high life and a neurosurgeon makes big bucks. On the right side, there was a screw through a portion of the S1 nerve root.. She said she thought he was going to make millions. Duntsch was once an up and coming neurosurgeon. The board fined him $3,000, assigned him a monitor, and required him to take classes in medical recordkeeping. For the next several months, he was in constant pain, according to Mike Lyons, his attorney. (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.). I thought, this couldnt have happened. Dr. Death is the new true-crime series on Peacock starring The Affair's Joshua Jackson as the infamous surgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Christopher Duntsch, the focus of Peacock's true crime series Dr. Death, looked good on paper. Mary told reporters afterward, "I think its going to be like a floodgate thats going to really open, crying. Duntsch, who is now 50, is serving time in a Texas prison. 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. 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. But perhaps more terrifying, the show depicts the chilling real-life story of Dallas-area neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who. 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. Why Did Dr. Death Do It? 'Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story' Explains 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. As a result, one patient died from a massive blood lost. 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. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing how easy. Dr. Death: Where Is Christopher Duntsch Today? - Grunge 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. 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. Victim of Real-Life 'Dr. Death' Believes There Are Others Like Him Out 300 (2.48 per match) 2021. 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. 12 Unnerving Facts About Dr. Death Christopher Duntsch - Ranker His report was damning. But no one bothered to tell the Martinsand there was no way for them to knowthat their doctor had left a man paralyzed a month before in a case in which the hospitals own surgeons found him at fault. (Like other state licensing agenciesthe Pharmacy Board, the Nurse Practitioner Boardthe Medical Board operates at a surplus for the state.). "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. After Christopher performed a spinal surgery on Mary in 2012, Mary suffered crippling pain afterward. Senior Editor, Editorial Business Development, Where Is Dr. Death Now? CHRISTOPHER Duntsch, is infamously known as Dr Death for gross malpractice. As they dressed for surgery, Duntsch boasted to Kirby that he was the best neurosurgeon in Dallas. He works out, he reads, he studies the Bible. His father says Christopher Duntsch is a humbled man. In 2012, when Efurd was 74, she saw Duntsch for what should have been a relatively simple surgery to fuse two of her vertebrae. 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. 121. by Saul Elbein. The once notable neurosurgeon is now 50 years old. 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. Duntsch's trial took place in 2017. Their fellow physicians had found them committing such offenses as malpractice, sexual assault and drug use. 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.. Get our latest in-depth reporting straight to your inbox. "He was interpersonally a monster, a nightmare to be around. Out July 15, Dr. Death introduces viewers to Christopher Duntsch, a real-life Texas-based surgeon who in 2017 was sentenced to life in prison after maiming and even killing almost all of the. Sometimes hell have bedtime stories and try to be as normal as possible.". He was convicted of injury to an elderly person in the 2012 surgery on Mary Efurd that put her in a. After the Brown and Efurd debacles in July 2012, the CEO of Dallas Medical Center, Dr. Corazon Hernandez, fired Duntsch and reported him to the Medical Board, according to Henderson. For one, there was alleged drug and alcohol abuse. "He has a job inside the prison. Two days later, once Efurd was stable, Henderson was assigned to do the repair surgery. 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. What is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr Death's ex Kimberly - The Sun Dr. Death's Christopher Duntsch Is Now Serving a Life Sentence I was very independent and I had to become dependent on others for transportation, for my meals, for a lot of things.". CHRISTOPHER Duntsch, is infamously known as Dr Death for gross malpractice. 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.". By the time she was transferred to UT Southwestern Medical Center later that day, she was brain dead. "I think its going to be like a floodgate thats going to really open, crying. Promotional materials distributed by your outlet, including all social media work, must include cites for the Observer and our reporter. He was horrified to realize that Duntsch was going to keep practicing. We felt confident too.. 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. The Collin County medical examiner who performed the autopsy was so astounded by what had happened to Kellie Martins body that he brought her back in for another examination. 2022 Calcutta Premier Division - Wikipedia It takes the Texas Medical Board an average of nine months to resolve complaints. "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. He was functioning at a first- or second-year neurosurgical resident level but had no apparent insight into how bad his technique was.. Young told D Magazine she was forced to move from her Dallas home after investigators started camping out on her street and attorneys started waiting in the stairwell of her apartment, looking for Duntsch. More than a year had passed since Kellie Martins death and the complaint that started it all. 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. The former neurosurgeon is currently serving a life sentence for the maiming of Mary Efurd, one of the . Jurors heard from Duntschs father, mother, brother and a family friend who sought to appeal to the sympathies of the jury. Wendy Young, portrayed by Molly Griggs in Dr. Death, was the name of Duntsch's real girlfriend. His performance, Kirby wrote, was pathetic . His father was a missionary and physical therapist and his mother was a school teacher. 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. What remained was the Texas Medical Board. But the real tragedy of the Christopher Duntsch story is how preventable it was. But it wouldnt be the end of the trouble between the pair. He didnt tell them about Baylors internal reports that faulted him in both cases, according to Henderson. 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. Per Bustle, Christopher is currently incarcerated at O.B. The Terrifying True Story Behind Peacock's Dr. Death - Yahoo All of the Texas Observers articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: In late 2010, Dr. Christopher Duntsch came to Dallas to start a neurosurgery practice. Another spinal fusion; another routine procedure. He was convicted of injury to an elderly person in the 2012 surgery on Mary Efurd that put her in a wheelchair. Dr. Death, which premieres on July 15 on Peacock, shows the horrors that followed once he was on the job. But a second opinion wouldnt have helped. Death Based On A True Story, Joshua Jackson On Role Of Surgeon, Christopher Duntsch, In Peacocks Dr. I think what happened is that as things began to fall apart, the only thing he knew was to try harder, Don Duntsch said. Kimberly Morgan is the former assistant and ex-girlfriend of Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Dr Death. Kirby, the surgeon from Baylor, was philosophical. But its more complicated than that. The process for resolving complaints is slow and painstaking, set up in statute to guarantee doctors the maximum legal protection. "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. Even more surprising, these crimes came from a doctor who looked great on paper. It isnt enough to prove that a doctor did something awful. He had been a neurosurgeon for 40 years and what he saw inside Efurds back shocked him. He was a megalomaniac. Christopher Duntsch: The Remorseless Killer Surgeon Called 'Dr. Death' Hewould go on to have another child with Youngwho finally split from the struggling doctor by 2014. Anatomy of a Tragedy - The Texas Observer While that complaint worked its way through the system, another of his patients died of a hydrocodone overdose. In the time between the first complaint to the board, and when Duntsch was finally stopped on June 26, five of his patients were seriously injured and one died. Before going to medical school, Duntsch wanted to be a pro-football player. Victim statements reveal more gruesome details of botched surgeries - WFAA 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. He hired a marketing team and nurses. Ill do some crying. 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 two-week trial especially focused on Mary Efurd's testimony. For a temporary suspension, the standard is even higher than the boards other enforcement actions. Duntschs case raises the question: If it took a year to stop a doctor accused of this much, what else is getting through? August 28, 2013, 2:01 . The eight-episode series is anticipated to be a thrilling watch. You know, hell call and say goodnight to his boys, um, sometimes hell have bedtime stories and try to be as normal as possible.. 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. Ellisontold thepodcast that Morgan was instantly smitten with the doctor. Their romance moved. Christopher Duntsch - Wikipedia We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. One patient had a stroke following a chelation therapy. He told Morgan that Young was just his secretary from Memphis, whose husband would be moving to the area soon, according to the podcast. Because of greed. Public Citizen found that 793 Texas doctors had lost clinical privileges between 1990 and 2011. You're probably asking, How could Duntsch have gotten away with a string of botched surgeries? Given the graphic subject matter, if you're squeamish, keep your finger on the "fast forward" button while watching Dr. Death. In 2008 one of his patients died of a prescription drug overdose after he had prescribed her a lethal dose of the painkiller Tramadol. Henderson says that Duntsch told the Dallas Medical Center administration about the Martin and Summers cases, but explained that the outcomes hadnt been his fault: Summers, he said, had been paralyzed by a bad drug interaction, and Martin had died because of complications from anesthesia. But in Texas, when you go to see a doctor, there is a small but real chance that the doctor has been found by his or her peers to be a danger to the public, and that no one has bothered to do anything about it yet. Of that set, two died and 31 were paralyzed or seriously injured. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. And because the story of what he's accused of doing to 33 patients he operated on while . When she responds, shes quiet. Even Christopher's childhood friend, Jerry Summers, was unable to move his arms and legs after entrusting the surgeon with a cervical fusion surgery. The board suspended his license but then immediately stayed the suspension and gave him probation. Topping it all off had been Duntschs failure to order tests and re-operate on Summers in a timely mannera delay that likely cost his childhood friend the use of his arms and legs, according to the senior surgeons report. Hospitals can get all of the benefit of an expensive surgeon practicing in their facility and little of the exposure. And the only thing she complained about was she couldnt find what she wanted to watch on TV.. 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 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. The true story of Christopher Duntsch is the subject of the haunting Peacock drama. 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.. They shouldnt ever happen in someones entire career. 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. Ellis Unit outside of Huntsville, Texas. He listed the cause of death as therapeutic misadventure, according to his report. Whatever the reason, this time the board acted. He was very eloquent in stating the causes and the need for the procedure. 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.. Its a completely egregious case, Leigh Hopper, then head of communications for the Texas Medical Board, told The Dallas Morning News in June. (So far only Mary Efurd and the family of Floella Brown have filed suit against Duntsch, though the other patients or their families have all retained counsel as well.). Goals scored. He seemed to have a hard time moving organs and blood vessels out of the way, according to Kirby. Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months as a practicing surgeon at multiple Texas hospitals until he had his license revoked in 2013. He doesnt care what he has left in his wake.. Even the fact that the board is conducting an investigation remains confidential until the investigation is over. The 2022 Calcutta Football League Premier Division was the 124th overall season of the two highest state-level football divisions of West Bengal. He felt confident. A 27-year-old Young had been working as a stripper in Memphis when she met Duntsch, then 40. Efurd, who is now wheelchair-bound, spoke to reporters following the sentencing. Near the end of his report, Kirby wrote, The [Medical Board] must stop this sociopath Duntsch immediately or he will continue [to] maim and kill innocent patients. Perhaps it was the completeness and forcefulness of his presentation, perhaps it was the fact that another neurosurgeon had just joined the board, and he understood as none of the rest did the severity of what Duntsch had done. In November 2011 he was granted surgical privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano. This is a once-in-a-generation occurrence, that we have someone off the rails this badthis is why no one saw this coming., Most of the doctors on the Medical Board, he pointed out, arent surgeons. They all received the same response Henderson had: Send us what you have, and well get back to you.
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