When his patient woke up in the recovery room unable to move his extremities, Duntsch failed to perform a CAT scan or MRI. This would be the first and last time Hoyle worked next to Duntsch. There is no way to communicate what happened there, without a 20-page document of disclosures and events and responsible parties, Duntsch once wrote of Brown and Efurd. Somebody knocks back and I am like Who in the f---is in my house, Young recalled in the four-part Peacock docuseries Dr. The world at large may have never heard of Dr. Death but for Laura Beil. Meanwhile, Brown went brain dead and passed away. . In November 2011, Passmore was hooked on prescription opiates. Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. From the top of his class to life in prison: things did not go as he planned. His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary, and his mother, Susan, was a schoolteacher. The 31 people who survived Dr. Duntsch's scalpel face a struggle for the rest of their lives. She says she didnt hear or see any altercation between Duntsch and Mark Hoyleher view was blocked by a microscope, and the combined hum of the EKG machine and the oxygen cylinder drowned out the sound of Hoyles pleading, if there was any. Digging into Christopher Duntsch's personal and professional life, Dr. Death paints a detailed portrait of a possible sociopath. But that isn't the scariest part. Then it just started to all unravel.. Currently, Discgenics has no mention of Duntsch at all, his history with the company, or that he's the massive elephant in the room. But today, about five years after the Passmore surgery, Duntsch sits in Lew Sterrett Justice Center awaiting trial, the rare physician to be indicted on multiple counts of aggravated assault related to what happened in his operating rooms. Duntsch had only been in the Dallas area for a few months. I dont know what it is, she said. He promises to take all pain and suffering away. Duntsch filed for bankruptcy and was arrested in Denver for driving under the influence on Jan. 10, 2014, according to local station KCNC-TV. He was constantly involved in research, and, around 2006, he saw a way to commercialize discoveries by renowned Russian stem cell scientists Valery Kukekov and Tatyana Ignatova, a husband-and-wife team. Also Read: Made For Love: Who Are Caleb Foote Parents? (Neither responded to requests for comment for this story.) James Gunn has used the 'Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special' as a "trojan horse" to introduce some elements of the upcoming third film in the series.The 40-minute holiday special features Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis' (Pom Klementieff) bid to help Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) rediscover his love of the festive season, but the director admitted the one-off Disney+ feature We talked about marriage pretty quickly. What turned Dr. Christopher Duntsch into Dr. Death? We are committed to achieving this mission by delivering high-quality products that meet or exceed customer requirements. You dont get to walk away from two or three years of medical training, in the middle of an internship or a residency, get to take time off and be slotted directly in the position you left in with no questions asked. Seven more doctors voiced complaints before TMB finally canceled Dr. Death's license. And so shes here, in a Christian coffee shop tucked into a corner of the town square of Springtown, west of Fort Worth, where she lives with her new boyfriends parents. Hoyle became so disturbed by Duntsch's actions that at one point he physically restrained him. Because how can I do anything I want and cross every discipline boundary like its [sic] a playground and never ever lose., Duntsch also said he was prepared to embrace the very darkest part of himself. Duntsch declined a jailhouse interview, but he has called the allegations preposterous. Not long after, Young said Duntsch broke into her apartment for the first time. I cried when they said life imprisonment, Young said of the verdict. She fell pregnant with their first son, Aiden, not long after that. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. Duntsch's initial presentation bowled him over. 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. Meanwhile, his patients kept suffering, and dying, in his OR. She enlisted Duntsch to help fix it. According to the prosecutors, TMB had many complaints on file. 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. The real question is:Can this TV show bring about a change in medical law, or how hospitals treat their patients and doctors? That was the same month the two started having sex. I'm the only clean minimally invasive guy in the whole state." 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. 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. It wasnt until lawsuits were filed that the alleged drug use became public. The shocking story of a madman with a scalpel. In October 2011, she registered articles of incorporation to form Duntschs practice, the Texas Neurosurgical Institute. Dr. Neurosurgeon residents need to complete 1,000 surgeries as training requirements. Theres no blank here for that.. 11:15 PM on Mar 1, 2014 CST. In March 2012, Duntsch performed alaminectomy on Kellie Martin to reduce her back pain after afallat home. Her body was in the Collin County Medical Examiners office in March 2012. While Ignatova and Kukekov say they were in the labs, Duntsch focused on raising money. 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. There are a lot of explanations proposed for why the real-life subject of Peacock's "Dr. Death" limited series, neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Joshua Jackson), maimed and. A husband and wife pair of Russian stem cell scientists, Valery Kukekov and Tatyana Ignatova entered the picture. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing how easy. Anton Floquet/NBCUniversal, I knocked on my door. 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. Christopher Duntschs case is perhaps unique to the justice systemits incredibly rare for a surgeon to be indicted, much less convicted, for the care he or she provided. Investigations took patients and attorneys back to where Duntsch had had such a promising beginningin Memphis, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he earned both an M.D. Around that same time, Duntschs behavior was becoming erratic. 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. He has left a novels worth of defenses on the web, in PDFs, and in comments below news stories. It was sent on a Friday at 4 am. Dr. Christopher Duntsch, better known as Doctor Death, is serving a life sentence at a Texas prison today. Thus, his license was revoked for good on December 6, 2013. Kukekov and Ignatova say Duntsch took more credit than he deserved for the discoveries. In the two years he practiced as a spine surgeon across four Dallas institutions, Duntsch operated on 37 people. There Duntsch secured a job as a minimally invasive spine surgeon at. There was Duntschs childhood friend, Jerry Summers, who woke up from a procedure unable to move his arms and legs. Two of his patients, Floella Brown and Kellie Martin, died.. Dallas surgeon Randall Kirby says his former colleague, Dr. Christopher Duntsch, managed to commit crimes so heinous that patients everywhere are still struck by fear when they hear about the case . Dr. Death might not have cared about being a surgeon, just the prestige that came with it. 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. Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr Death / Joshua Jackson 6 The two broke up in 2014, at which time Wendy was pregnant with their second child. The thing is, if you dont push this, with everybody else settling, theyre getting away with it again., 750 North St.Paul St. But Duntsch soldiered on. Martin, it turned out, had bled to death in the intensive care unit while undergoing a relatively common procedure known as a laminectomy, which involves removing spongy tissue between the discs to relieve pressure. Now keep in mind, Morgan herself was at the wrong end of some of these suits. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football. I dont have feeling in my feet, and I will slip and fall off that damn ladder, he says today. 33 of his surgeries went horribly wrong. In the months following his surgery, Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work. He later told Duntsch to his face that he was dangerous. According to an arrest report obtained by the outlet, he had been driving on two flat fires and had two empty bottles of Mikes Hard Lemonade in the vehicle. Surprisingly, his superiors at The University of Tennessee also gave him glowing reviews. Christopher Duntsch was disorganized and undeliberate. Such behavior did not go unnoticed by the other doctors. Duntsch grew up in a middle-class family. 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. 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.". The Texas DA chose six patients to make their case to the jury: Lee Passmore, Barry Morguloff, Jerry Summers, Kellie Martin, Floella Brown, and Mary Efurd. However, in the Peacock series, the couple is parents to only one child. July 19, 2021 The former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch was finally brought to justice after injuring and maiming over 30 of his patients during surgery and allegedly causing the deaths of two more. A grand jury returned five indictments of aggravated assault and one of harming an elderly person. Saul Elbein writes in the Texas Observer that Dr. Hendersonsent him a recording of his complaint to the Texas Medical Board. What made this well-recommended neurosurgeon harm his patients and himself? With such goings-on, Duntsch got himself kicked out of his own company. At that point, the administration revoked his privileges. She describes investigators with binoculars camped out on their street in a white van, trying to see into their home. Jurors convicted Duntsch Tuesday of injury to an elderly person in the botched July 2012 surgery that put Mary Efurd in a wheelchair. He wears a gray-and-black-striped uniform, not unlike a set of scrubs. This is accomplished by: Establishing quality . As the eldest of four, his parents remember him as a precocious boy. Unfortunately, Martin and Brown were not alive to tell their tale. On April 9, 2013, Mayfield underwent surgery performed by Duntsch to remove a troublesome disk from his spine. But hed make troubling, bizarre pronouncements, like Everybodys doing it wrong. ), The door opened and Young found Duntsch, who had earned the moniker, 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 Antichrist, Photo: Duntschs patient outcomes would draw lots of attention over the years. 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. But Hoyle says an X-ray later showed it was positioned too far to the left. His license gone, Duntsch went off the rails. He kept a handle of Stoli under his desk and said it was because he used to work with Russians. Then he also took prescription painkillers and ate a paper blotter of LSD. 33 of his 37 surgeries were botched, with two dead and 31 injured for life. Where is Christopher Duntsch now? The 43-year-old new dad, who welcomed his first child with wife Jodie Turner-Smith last year, brought his WB experience to portray the charming aspect of the surgeon, as the other characters often call him on the show. 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. Six weeks after her death on March 12, 2012, the medical examiner ruled her fate an accident. Or was Duntsch just good at hiding his true self? Mary Efurd, 74, was to have two vertebrae fused, linked by a metal plate. In actuality, Duntschhad severely deformed Mayfield's spinal column and left him immobilized from mid-chest down to his toes. Martin was his first patient back, and it was the last operation he performed at that hospital. She says his favorite saying was You can kiss my black ass while Im watching black-girl porn on my monitor. Which may help explain why she didnt report the three-page email he sent on December 9, 2011. Over this period, Duntschperformed back surgeries that left his patients in a worse condition,paralyzed, ordeceased. Next week marks the five-year anniversary of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch being sentenced to life in prison. According to Young, there was even a ransom note for her and her two children written in blood. 1. In early 2014, he was arrested for DUI and sent to rehab, according to ProPublica. She was also present for Summers operation. Some hospitals may be reluctant toreport doctors who have allegedly caused bodily harm topatients. He also discovered a way to produce stem cells from intervertebral discs in cultures outside the body. Let's delve into what made him tick, and how the medical community failed the victims of Dr. Christopher Daniel Duntsch. Dr. Duntsch eventually began a long-term romantic relationship with Wendy Renee Young while in Memphis. He kind of let himself into my apartment by climbing up my balcony, she said. She suffered a massive posterior circulation stroke and was transferred to UT Southwestern Medical Center. Duntschs legal woes were only just beginning. And yet the actual tragedy is that someone could have stopped it. Don tried to convince the jury that his son cared for his patients. Brown had a massive stroke overnight that left her in a vegetative state, and her family chose to remove life support days later. No spam, ever. Instead, he thought about all those years he spent working and educating himself, all those years of paying bills on time to keep his credit high, of saving money to support his family. Whatever Duntsch set out to be when he first donned that white coat, being a media sensation for all the wrong reasons may not have been his goal. Morgan says they spent a lot of time in clubs. But for his victims, the judgment was a big relief. 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 company, Discgenics, is still going, and still holds the patents, listingDuntsch, Ignatova, and Kukekov as the inventors. After they all partied through the night, powered by LSD and cocaine, she said she saw Duntsch put on his lab coat to make rounds the next morning. Young says hed been breaking into her apartment, and one day she came home to find him inside, covered in blood. It was hearsay, he contended. In it,was a mirror with cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill on top. Likely due to Duntsch'sattemptto staunch the blood loss, Brown suffered a buildup of pressure in her brain. I dont know if hes there to harm me or what his true intentions were, she said in the docuseries. Hes alive. He discovered a significant esophageal injury that belabored Glidewells breathing and found a sponge that had been left in the soft tissue of his neck. The nerve root had been amputated. Many shake and tremble, some have unimaginable pain. Some never went to trial and had out-of-court settlements. Philip is one of more than 30 people maimed by Dr. Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Dr. Death by the media. There was Floella Brown, whose sliced vertebral artery triggered the stroke that killed her at Dallas Medical Center. He went back to the sourcethe University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. Meanwhile, Duntsch was struggling financially and started racking up a series of strange arrests. In April 2012, just over four months removed from that initial surgery, Passmore returned to work. Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couple's son. Facebook Dr. Christopher Duntsch on his first day as a neurosurgeon. But what Duntsch hadnt counted on was the Dallas County District Attorneys Office. Later, he filed for bankruptcy and moved in with his parents in Colorado. He didnt contact a lawyer, although he wrestled with the decision. You'd think that a surgeon who was this bad would have some mud spattered on him on the internet. Duntsch pleaded not guilty. Thats dangerouseven that attitude is dangerous. Duntsch relented, allowing Hoyle to move in, stop the bleeding, and clean out the wound. He, too, had an injury to his left vertebral artery, and the incision was far from where it shouldve been and had begun to leak pus. 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. And yet nearly all who met him said they liked him immediately.

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