But the same law also helps these very hospitals in keeping doctor credentials confidential. The two broke up in 2014, at which time Wendy was pregnant with their second child. One surgeon described these as never events. They shouldnt ever happen in someones entire career. Summers declined an interview in Memphis and would not answer questions on the phone. Beil is a journalist who has specialized in science and medical writing for 20 years, and lives in the Dallas area where much of Christopher Duntsch's story takes place. It took the Texas Medical Board one whole year to investigate and finally revoke Duntsch's license. The company, Discgenics, is still going, and still holds the patents, listingDuntsch, Ignatova, and Kukekov as the inventors. Passmore was allowed to resign and still access his long-term disability insurance, which he says hed paid into for more than 10 years. Prosecutors used testimony from patients and the doctors who corrected their surgeries to argue that Duntsch's outcomes were more than mere medical error. Duntsch landed in jail on a $600,000 bond and waited for the trial to begin. Its hard to find good conversation with a random person, Young says. He wanted to ask them questions. Joshua Jackson as Christopher Duntsch in "Dr. Death." (Peacock/Scott McDermott/Peacock) The real Duntsch, a Texas-based surgeon, maimed or killed 33 of 38 surgical patients between 2011 and . But they were also, presumably, two consenting adults, and both were, presumably, qualified to fix the pain that was wrecking his lower body. He went back to the sourcethe University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Why Did Dr. Death Do It? 'Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story - Distractify According to his lawyer, Duntsch was a scapegoat. They would later have two children. In fact, he went on to work at two more hospitals. I dont want my name out there. They eventually went back to his home, dancing to music under a disco ball he had in his office. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football. They turned around, away from the yelling. It still feels as if his feet are asleep. From the top of his class to life in prison: things did not go as he planned. Duntsch filed patents for each discovery, and two companies were soon created. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, a former Texas-based neurosurgeon, maimed dozens of his victims and killed at least two. 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. The hospitals didnt do their due diligence until it was too late, and those who couldve spoken up didnt. Meanwhile, Brown went brain dead and passed away. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. and a Ph.D. Duntsch was told to take a drug test but disappeared instead. In 2005, partway through the six-year program,he became the director of the tissue bank. This despite the drug problems as well as incomplete residency training. After Summers procedure, Morgan says Duntsch was not allowed to operate at Baylor Plano until March 2012. Morgan, in her deposition, said Duntsch called her to say he got lost going to the lab and never took the test. These medical professionals do irreparable harm to their patients. The other survivors suffered damage, disability,and excruciating pain. Multiple lawsuits allege that Baylor did not report Duntsch to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which was created by Congress to be a private clearinghouse of physicians who have been suspended or had their privileges revoked. NovoStem Therapeutics, which attempted to monetize the cancer stem cell discovery, failed after taking a funding hit during the 2008 recession. That same month, Kirby wrote, he, along with the Glidewell family, brought the case to prosecutors and asked to press charges. He grew up in a middle-class suburb with a teacher mom and a missionary/physical therapist dad. Dr Death cast vs real people - See photos of Christopher Duntsch According to Irving-based physician recruitment firm Merritt Hawkins, a single neurosurgeon produced his or her hospital an average revenue of $2.45 million in 2015. We talked about marriage pretty quickly. The Real Story Behind the Dr. Death Podcast - Christopher Duntsch And not just Dallas CountyI dont recall hearing about it anywhere.. They went on to have two children. I was on the third story.. I dont know if hes there to harm me or what his true intentions were, she said in the docuseries. GQ calls it the scariest podcast of 2019. Duntsch's license was finally revoked in June 2013, after he had killed two patients and maimed 31 others. Young puts Morgan there, too, although Morgan denied it in her deposition. But hed make troubling, bizarre pronouncements, like Everybodys doing it wrong. (Neither responded to requests for comment for this story.) Young says hed been breaking into her apartment, and one day she came home to find him inside, covered in blood. Now keep in mind, Morgan herself was at the wrong end of some of these suits. 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. Why else would his daughter have sent Duntsch a card thanking him? It's thrilling if uncomfortable to listen. But she wasnt in the room when he woke up a quadriplegic, telling anyone with ears that Duntsch had been using cocaine the night before the procedure. Dr. Death might not have cared about being a surgeon, just the prestige that came with it. In November 2011, Passmore was hooked on prescription opiates. His screams poured out of Baylor Planos intensive care unit and down the hallway, creating a panic in his mother. Hoyle stepped in front of Duntsch to block his way. Or at least a morally upright one. Duntsch contends the patient was just trying to get painkillers. I thought is this somebody that youve pissed off? The 51-year-old recently starred in the USA true crime series, Dirty John, opposite Connie Britton. Unfortunately, Martin and Brown were not alive to tell their tale. 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. Kane dated Summers for a year. The first of these had been college football. He has taken Baylor Plano to court to change the Texas law requiring patients to prove that a hospital intended to harm them when it granted privileges to someone who was unsafe. Every patient mentioned in this story who has sued, except for Passmore, has settled. She says he was prone to hyperbole, and, yeah, he had a questionable sense of humor. This led to another 20 patients suffering. Seven more doctors voiced complaints before TMB finally canceled Dr. Death's license. He filed for bankruptcy in Denver, and wound up selling off the shares in Discgenics for a tenth of their value. Like Dr Henderson, Dr Kirby is still a practicing doctor in real life. DR Death, Peacocks new limited series starring Joshua Jackson, is based on a true story, and we have your look at photos comparing the cast with their real-life counterparts. Mary Efurd, 74, was to have two vertebrae fused, linked by a metal plate. I was just like Whatever, Im out of here, Young recalled. Somebody knocks back and I am like Who in the f---is in my house, Young recalled in the four-part Peacock docuseries Dr. Duntschs legal woes were only just beginning. Duntsch, Kukekov, and Ignatova are listed as its inventors. While staying with his parents outside Denver, he was stopped for driving under the influence. And scary as it may seem, it's only when we listen to podcasts like these, do we realize the reality of medical horror stories. By December, Duntsch wrangled privileges at Legacy Surgery Center of Frisco, and Kirby, in his letter to the Texas Medical Board, narrated another grim outcome: Jacqueline Troys vocal cord was paralyzed, and her esophagus and trachea had become connected, an unheard of complication. A corrective surgery happened two weeks later, after she arrived at the emergency room of Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, where Kirby practiced. Later, attorneys would sit on the stairwell of her Skillman Street apartment. The monster in the white coat is all too real. Passmore, an investigator by trade and by nature, started digging. We discovered it.. He was the eldest of four. Over this period, Duntschperformed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition,paralyzed, ordeceased. Where is Christopher Duntsch now? But the media definitely played its part sending Dr. Death where he rightfully belongs, life in prison. (And if you want to dive even deeper into the story, you can also watch the scripted drama "Dr. Death" on Peacock, starring Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater.). Was he was only in it for the research prestige and the money? And of course, there are many in the medical field who go above and beyond the call of duty. 50 Best True Crime Shows & Movies Right Now (March 2023) But thats all. Or was Duntsch just good at hiding his true self? Ultimately, Duntsch'shorrific mistakes made during surgeryand alleged drug use caught up with him. The encounter was just one of a series of troubling incidents after Duntschwho once referred to himself as a mixture of God, Einstein and the Antichristlost his medical license in December of 2013 for leaving numerouspatients either maimed, in agonizing chronic pain, or, in two cases, dead. How old was Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things season 1? He hadnt seen it with his own eyes. The evidence said otherwise. The fault also lies with the Texas law. Duntsch hired Morgan while he was still with the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute, and she began on August 29, 2011. Also present, according to Kane, was Jerry Summers, the childhood friend who would later wake up a quadriplegic after a Duntsch operation. Her body was in the Collin County Medical Examiners office in March 2012. To be a good doctor, you have to be a good human being. At Baylor Regional Medical Center, during a simple laminectomy, Duntsch slashed one of Martin's major arteries butrefused to admit his mistake. During the 45-minute surgery, Duntsch cut through one of Martin's arteries. Unlike Summers, Brown, 63, suffered from hypertension and was a stroke risk. Kirby reported having direct knowledge of seven patients that Dr. Nerve pain now fires through his back, the result of a screw lodged in a nerve bundle. But Duntsch kept going, as if he were fishing in a pond at night, saying he was working by feel, not sight. There is no face to the monster you are hearing about, the one destroying lives. The damage is irreversible. 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. The real question is:Why couldn't anyone stop him in time? A bold pronouncement, yet after just one sloppy, dangerous surgery, Hoyle vowednever to work with Duntsch again. This way, no one recognizes them as the inventors. TX report aims to boost teacher pay, working conditions Duntsch declined a jailhouse interview, but he has called the allegations preposterous. They listened, judged and found Duntsch guilty, and sentenced him to life in prison, reports USA Today. Baylor asked him to resign immediately. Anton Floquet/NBCUniversal, I knocked on my door. A few months after the shoplifting arrest, Duntsch was charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault and injuring an elderly person for the damage he did on the operating table. The full story of Duntsch's actions can be read in Matt Goodman's D Magazine feature from 2016, when the magazine first coined him "Dr. Death.". Hes jailed on a $600,000 bond, and his trial is set for January 31, 2017. Dr. Death is now also going to be a TV show with Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin playing main roles. Let's delve into what made him tick, and how the medical community failed the victims of Dr. Christopher Daniel Duntsch. Passmore says the space above a disc in his lower spine had been blown out in the first surgery, and Duntsch returned to pick out the pieces. It wasnt his invention, Kukekov says. On Jan. 10, 2014, Denver police arrested him for driving under the influence. 'Dr. Death' on Peacock: The True Story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch and Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. He says Fennells surgery went so well that he agreed to be in a commercial for Baylor Plano. Dr. The evidence collected by the DA's office by subpoenaing every hospital on his CVshows Duntsch completes a fraction of these. Slater plays Dr. Randall Kirby while Baldwin is Dr. Robert Henderson. 'Sociopath' Surgeon Duntsch Arrested for Shoplifting Pants Wendy Young Says Christopher Duntsch Broke Into Home Covered In Blood While the show features the exes as the parents to one son, they had two kids together in real life. In the months following his surgery, Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work. The statute of limitations made them base their case on only six victims. Lee Passmores friends and family heard him before they saw him. What made this well-recommended neurosurgeon harm his patients and himself? At this point, Ive had enough and so I called the police.. How Old Are Christopher Duntsch Children? Sons Preston and Aiden Age Meanwhile, his patients kept suffering, and dying, in his OR. She enlisted Duntsch to help fix it. Yet, instead of saving lives and using his knowledge for good, the opposite happened. 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,. Maybe thats how they do it in Tennessee, but according to my training, thats not how they do it here. Dallas Magazine statesthatDuntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. 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. I cried when they said life imprisonment, Young said of the verdict. According to court filings, he was supposed to be overseen by an attending physician in the operating room; this allegedly was not adhered to, either. I thought he was either really, really good, or hes just really, really arrogant and thought he was good, Hoyle says now. Young said Duntschfollowed her and told her he could explain the bizarre scene. Jerry Summers, Duntsch's childhood friend, is now a quadriplegic. Slater is also known for his roles in Mr. While some called his eventual downfall greed-related, who knows what evil the human mind is capable of. Lopez answers Henderson's frustrationin a somber tone, sayingthat while you may know a doctor is bad, gathering evidence takes time. He gained experience writing grants, and earned more than $3 million in local, state, and federal funding for research projects where he served as principal or co-principal investigator. The two met at a Memphis strip club. For Duntsch, the path into medicine was unconventional and, perhaps, a reflection of his tendency to fixate on unlikely goals. After youve spent a night using cocaine, most people become paranoid and want to stay in the house. After graduating as a physician with above-average grades, he had his whole life ahead of him. 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. On paper, the 40-year-old man who arrived in Dallas in the summer of 2011 was a completely different Christopher Duntsch than the one who was introduced to the public after more than a dozen. Days after Duntsch returned, he was fired. Christopher Duntsch Early Life Story, Family Background and Education. Duntschcrammed a surgical sponge into the wound, then sewed it up. According to Dallas Magazine, Dr. Christopher Duntsch talked a big game. He was taller than 6 feet, with a stubby nose and neatly cropped hair above bright blue eyes, and he had crafted a strategy that endeared him to patients and to referring physicians: Im the best, hed tell them. Nobody stopped him soon enough.
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