and a Ph.D. Nerve pain now fires through his back, the result of a screw lodged in a nerve bundle. Duntsch in Dallas In 2010, he relocated to Dallas with his girlfriend Wendy Renee Young. Dr Christopher Duntsch is accused of causing agony to countless patients or worse during the three years he practiced medicine in Dallas. The Dallas County DA, along with fighting against these very laws, was also running out of time. The hospitals didnt do their due diligence until it was too late, and those who couldve spoken up didnt. Prodigal Son actress Molly Griggs takes on the role of Wendy Young, who was Duntsch's girlfriend and is the mother of his kids. Many readers may recognize the name Christopher Duntsch, a doctor who allegedly was negligent in his practice for years before finally being stripped of his medical license. He wrote, "You will not find a harder working or more willing individual." He kept a handle of Stoli under his desk and said it was because he used to work with Russians. 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. For the DA though she proved to be a good witness. Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, a former Texas-based neurosurgeon, maimed dozens of his victims and killed at least two. The real question is:Can this TV show bring about a change in medical law, or how hospitals treat their patients and doctors? And yet nearly all who met him said they liked him immediately. Young was evicted at least twice. Every patient mentioned in this story who has sued, except for Passmore, has settled. It was something that made us all nervous, but we never had any proof, Boop said in the phone call. Sort of. The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education has strict rules about residency programs. Even the hospitals that he worked for kept enabling him, according to a report by the Dallas County prosecutors. The couple had two children together. Duntsch's initial presentation bowled him over. He recorded a conversation with Dr. Frederick Boop, who followed Robertson as the chairman of the department of neurosurgery. In early 2014, he was arrested for DUI and sent to rehab, according to ProPublica. 11:15 PM on Mar 1, 2014 CST. Who else is left? Maybe thats how they do it in Tennessee, but according to my training, thats not how they do it here. What turned Dr. Christopher Duntsch into Dr. Death? 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 is now also going to be a TV show with Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin playing main roles. 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,. I cried when they said life imprisonment, Young said of the verdict. That's when he moved to Colorado to live with his parents. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. (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.). He seemed really distraught and I was scared, she said of the father of her two children. Photo: He was the eldest of four. 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. Her bright blond hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and shes wearing a tank top with yoga pants. Toby Shook, a Dallas defense attorney, gave a statement toDallas Magazine:"I cannot recall a physician being indicted for aggravated assault for acts committed during surgery. He was friendly, and we had good conversation. There are some who believe that he never wanted to be in the ORat all. But hospital after hospital passed the buck. It was sent on a Friday at 4 am. Jerry Summers, Duntsch's childhood friend, is now a quadriplegic. He had a lot of animus to me personally. While some called his eventual downfall greed-related, who knows what evil the human mind is capable of. When he finally turned up again, he was made to attended a program for impaired physicians. Dr Death, un nuevo programa que llegar a Peacock el jueves (15 de julio), se basa en la historia de la vida real de Christopher Duntsch, un ex neurocirujano que era, como dijo un famoso titular de ProPublica, "tan malo que era criminal".. Joshua Jackson interpreta a Duntsch, que ahora tiene 50 aos y cumple cadena perpetua despus de ser condenado en 2017 por mutilar a uno de sus . This very friend would later end up a quadriplegic under Duntsch's weapon of a scalpel. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Duntsch has maimed or killed. Hoyle, the surgeon who exposed the incision in Passmore, had also filed a complaint with the board. Duntsch had only been in the Dallas area for a few months. But police say an email Duntsch wrote in 2011 points to his mind-set in the months before he "intentionally, knowingly and . He thought surgery might give him some relief, eliminate the need for drugs, solve both problems at once. Now, one of the several complaints against the . Hoyle called the whole surgery sloppy, enough so that he canceled the remaining three or four operations he had scheduled with Duntsch and vowed never to work with him again. 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. Christopher Duntsch, Known As Dr. Death, Maimed His Patients Through Routine Back Surgery. During this time, out of three procedures, one patient died and another was partially paralyzed. I didnt really know how to feel anymore, but while he was out in Colorado we kept in contact.. Duntsch allegedly performed the operation and flew out to Las Vegas without securing a call physician. In Dallas, Duntsch developed a reputation of frequenting upscale bars and hotels where he partied with his lifelong best friend and personal assistant, Jerry Summers. Also Read: Made For Love: Who Are Caleb Foote Parents? In the months following his surgery, Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work. The 30 Rock alum also heads up the cast of the Peacock series as a doctor, though he plays one of the surgeons working to take Duntsch down. He said Youngwho by now had given birth to their son, Aidenwas just his secretary and friend. 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. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. A few weeks later I took my first son to visit him for Christmas and then I became pregnant, Young said. Baylor asked him to resign immediately. Duntschs reputation took another dive in April of 2015 when he was arrested for shoplifting at a local Walmart. They described him as the bright, precocious little boy who had taken. There's so much news out there, headlines can slip through the cracks. He was ultimately convicted of injuring an elderly person in connection with Mary Efurds case and was sentenced to life behind bars. Where is Christopher Duntsch now? When the Texas Medical Board revoked his license, Duntsch's reign of surgical terror had run its course. Like Boop, Dr. Robertson also gave Duntsch a great review. I thought is this somebody that youve pissed off? The good-looking but eerie Jamie Dornan. Later, he filed for bankruptcy and moved in with his parents in Colorado. He thought about how all that might have been stolen from him in a matter of hours. Was he was only in it for the research prestige and the money? He wears a gray-and-black-striped uniform, not unlike a set of scrubs. Duntsch could have turned it into something good and meaningful. His father, Donald, was a missionary and a physical therapist. I dont want my name out there. Jamie Dornan was originally attached to play Christopher in the beginning. It got to be too much. He wanted to find who Duntsch trained under, who his supervisors were. 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. Beil's somber reporting on the Wondery podcast titled Dr. Death will send chills down your spine. The damage is irreversible. An incredibly difficult thing to prove. His investors took him to court. 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. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. It wasnt his invention, Kukekov says. It is during this period that Duntschs carefully built faade began showing its first cracks. Its less than a millimeter from the spinal canal. When the story about Christopher Duntsch finally broke, it affected his patients, or rather, hisvictims, but many people missed it. Joshua Jackson stars as Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a twisted neurosurgeon who goes on a malpractice rampage in the halls of the hospitals that are inattentive and neglectful enough to employ him . Everything On His Family And Wikipedia Bio Meanwhile, his patients kept suffering, and dying, in his OR. His work ethic, character, and ability to get along with others were beyond reproach, Robertson wrote. Medical Center at Plano.. At first, Passmore didnt think much about the way Duntsch and his assistant, Kimberly Morgan, interacted. According to a police report obtained by The Texas Observer, Duntsch was captured on camera trying to steal $887 worth of merchandise, including pants, briefcases, cologne, watches and sun glasses. You know, hell call and say goodnight to his boys, um, sometimes hell have bedtime stories and try to be as normal as possible.. But Duntsch soldiered on. As these cases became public record, rumors circulated of late-night partying leading into early-morning rounds, and whispers of drug and alcohol abuse became shouts. Robb is known for her roles as Bethany Hamilton in Soul Surfer, Lacey in The Act, and Violet Beauregarde in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Attorney James Girards was representing Lee Passmore, one of Duntsch's victims and reached out to her. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. 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. He was gone until Monday. He was born in Montana, but his family settled in a suburb east of Memphis where the median household income is about $30,000 higher than the rest of the country. It was clear to anyone whos not a complete idiot that they were a thing, he says. Take the case of Dr. Death, aka Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Hed found a few months that were not accounted for in Duntschs educational history. They numbed the pain radiating from his lower back, down each of his legs. He wasn't concerned about the drugs in his system while he did his rounds. Nobody stopped him soon enough. 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 allegations of severely botched surgeries. Hospitals are liable only if the plaintiff can prove that the hospital was also malicious, that it knew of the risk and ignored it. Duntsch contends the patient was just trying to get painkillers. The real question is:Why couldn't anyone stop him in time? In 2005, partway through the six-year program,he became the director of the tissue bank. Unlike Summers, Brown, 63, suffered from hypertension and was a stroke risk. A longtime field agent for the Collin County Medical Examiner, Passmore needed knowledge from his training at scenes. We moved in together within three months, and then I became pregnant.. The Hippocratic Oath is sworn by all doctors and binds them to do no harm. After another disastrous outcome, this time at University General, Kirby and malpractice attorney Kay Van Wey decided to turn to the criminal justice system. 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. Eddie Redmayne dans le rle de Charlie Cullen et Jessica Chastain dans le rle d'Amy Ignatova believes this to be deliberate. So the hospitals he worked for knew of his carelessness and sociopathic behavior in the OR. The shocking story of a madman with a scalpel. 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. And there were plenty of other signs as well. ), 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: Duntsch calls thisand most other claimsnonsense. At this point, Im like freaking out, and I just, I leave.. He had blood all over him. Its accessible only to hospitals, and facilities are federally mandated to report their delinquents. Brown lost so much blood that the operating room team had to mop the floor with towels, all whileDuntschcomplained he couldn't see her spine to operate. Christopher Duntsch has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. 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. It had come from Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. His mother, Susan, taught school. Duntsch then joined Dallas Medical Center. So, I went back to Dallas. One such recommendation came from the surgeon under whom Duntsch completed his residency, Dr. Frederick Boop. In September 2014, after he and Young had separated, Duntsch was arrested for jumping the fence of Youngs sisters Garland home and attempting to take their child, Aiden. I knocked on my door. 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. With Ignatova and Kukekov in tow, he filed patents under a company he founded. He announced that he would be removing the ligament that separates the disc from the spinal canal. He said, Its not your case, its another case, and were looking into it. I trust that man wholly. But, he says, It all started coming together in my head that this isnt a one-time mistake.. His dad is a physical therapist. Young elaborated in a 2016 D Magazine story on Duntschs troubled career that Duntsch told her his attacker had been an investigator hired by an attorney representing his angry patients, but that account was never verified. The notorious neurosurgeon was forced to declare bankruptcy shortly after and moved back in with his parents in Colorado. The seeds of greed were sown. 1. She describes investigators with binoculars camped out on their street in a white van, trying to see into their home. Summers declined an interview in Memphis and would not answer questions on the phone. On Jan. 10, 2014, Denver police arrested him for driving under the influence. This could be path-breaking in the future ofcancer treatment andDr. Duntsch sniffed out the opportunity right away. According to court documents, Rimlawi soon grew suspicious of Duntsch. But Young said Duntsch wasnt happy at the news of another baby and the couple got into a heated argument, during which Duntsch admitted to seeing other women. But Hoyle says an X-ray later showed it was positioned too far to the left. Duntsch declined a jailhouse interview, but he has called the allegations preposterous. We talked about marriage pretty quickly. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football. 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. 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. Duntsch, again, maintains this wasnt true. He struggles with incontinence. 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 . Duntsch soon appeared and tried to calm them, assuring them that Passmore would be fine in one or two days. She fell pregnant with their first son, Aiden, not long after that. "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story" and the scripted series "Dr. Death," starring Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slaterare both available to stream on Peacock now. 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. A neurosurgeon reviewing the case for the court found an errant screw had not only opened Brown's arterybut blocked it, and that Duntsch hadmisdiagnosed Brown, operating on the wrong area entirely. Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch were parents of two kids, Preston and Aiden. Duntschdestroyed the lives of numerous patients who were seeking relief from back problems. His childhood was seemingly great. The real question isn't why Dr. Duntsch did what he did. 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. Duntsch had moved from the W to Hotel Zaza and then, finally, to a five-bedroom house not far from the hospital. Kukekov had discovered stem cells in human brain tumors, which presented a huge potential for the development of new cancer drugs. 33 of his 37 surgeries were botched, with two dead and 31 injured for life. The University of Tennessee refused to comment on grounds of confidentiality, but neurosurgeon Dr. Frederick Boop, under whom Duntsch completed his residency, knew. The first of these had been college football. But then he gave Passmore the card of a neurosurgeon named Christopher Duntsch. Young said Duntschfollowed her and told her he could explain the bizarre scene. Christopher Duntsch, 44, faces up to life in prison if convicted. Young says hed been breaking into her apartment, and one day she came home to find him inside, covered in blood. Nobody can recognize whether it was ours or not! Ignatova says. When he finally came to the hospital, he busied himself with another patient, also on the DA's list, Mary Efurd. 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. Christopher Duntsch didn't. When his patient woke up in the recovery room unable to move his extremities, Duntsch failed to perform a CAT scan or MRI. Morgan didnt follow Duntsch after Baylor Plano. In reality, he makes everything so, so much worse. There was Kellie Martin, who died from massive blood loss after a surgery at Baylor Plano. 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. You, my child, are the only one between me and the other side, he wrote. She also says they snorted cocaine from a small pile that he kept on a dresser in his home office. Many ofDuntsch's patient-turned-victims filed malpractice suits, according to Dallas News. A few days later, Glidewelldeveloped a serious infection due to the sponge left in his throat. Christopher Duntsch's medical license was suspended by the State Board after heavy lobbying from his former colleagues and wounded patients on June 26, 2013. Hoyle became so disturbed by Duntsch's actions that at one point he physically restrained him. Not a single doctor, surgeon, staff, or the pathologist of the autopsy every [sic] stated that I surgically caused vascular injury, he wrote. 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. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. This is notably weird, considering Christopher Duntsch trained underDr. Boop, so you'd assume that theyoperated together as part of the whole learning surgery process. Duntsch's resume shows a doctorate in microbiology from the St. Jude Children'sResearch Hospital. When Duntsch tried to reposition it, he stripped a screw; the cage wasnt going anywhere. Philip Mayfield experienced back pain and chronic conditions related to his longtime career driving tractor-trailers. Duntsch told Morgan a different story. In 2005, about a third of the way through the six-year program, department chairman Dr. Jon Robertson appointed him program director of the schools tissue bank, where hed supply samples to scientists and oversee two labs. Digging into Christopher Duntsch's personal and professional life, Dr. Death paints a detailed portrait of a possible sociopath. Duntschmade the incision in the wrong place before nicking a vertebral artery, confusing the muscles in Glidewell's neck for a tumor, cutting into his vocal cords, and removing a piece of hisesophagus. He stayed in New York while everyone. Becker's Hospital Review covered the 13 worst physicians of 2017, as named by Medscape. 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. 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. (Neither responded to requests for comment for this story.) Passmore is still fighting. After graduating as a physician with above-average grades, he had his whole life ahead of him. By November, he had surgical privileges to operate on patients. After his license was revoked from the Texas Medical Board, Young and Duntsch were evicted from their home. While staying with his parents outside Denver, he was stopped for driving under the influence. He harmed the very people who trusted him. Duntsch grew up in a middle-class family. She passedfromblood loss in the ICU. Duntsch says he was so distraught by Browns outcome that he placed a screw in Efurd 3 millimeters away from where it shouldve been, damaging a nerve root. One surgeon described these as never events. They shouldnt ever happen in someones entire career. One of the early investors in Duntsch's company Discgenics was Dr. Rand Page. Plano surgeon Christopher Duntsch left a trail of bodies. That same month, Kirby wrote, he, along with the Glidewell family, brought the case to prosecutors and asked to press charges. Yet, instead of saving lives and using his knowledge for good, the opposite happened. Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couples son. Dr. Duntsch eventually began a long-term romantic relationship with Wendy Renee Young while in Memphis. According to Dallas Magazine, Dr. Christopher Duntsch talked a big game. He alleged that Duntsch promised to pay him in stocks and out of his own salary but failed to follow through. Unequivocally, testified an expert witness, a neurosurgeon should stop practicing after incurring multiple patient deaths and severe outcomes. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing how easy. In the Dallas medical community, Christopher Duntsch was seen as a rising star. I dont want to be on Channel 8, I dont want to be on Inside Edition. According to the prosecutors, TMB had many complaints on file. Sproles issued a letter to Duntsch that read: There have been no summary or administrative restrictions or suspensions of Dr. Duntschs Medical Staff membership or clinical privileges during the time he has practiced at Baylor Reg. are both available to stream on Peacock now. Finally, it was the Texas Medical Board (TMB) that acted too late, too little. I look at my children, I felt like, How am I gonna explain this to them?. Wendy Young knew her ex-boyfriend Christopher Duntschs medical career was unraveling, but she wasnt prepared for what she said was his bizarre behavior that coincided with his fall from grace as a surgeon. He has left a novels worth of defenses on the web, in PDFs, and in comments below news stories. She was deposed over Skype since, at the time, she was stationed with the Air Force in the Middle East. Duntsch harmed many of his patients, including his childhood friend Jerry Summers. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana and spent most of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee. 2022-10-28 16:00:03 - Paris/France. According to Texas Medical Board records, Summers vertebral artery was damaged, and he lost more than two liters of blood while intubated. He wanted to ask them questions. We are committed to achieving this mission by delivering high-quality products that meet or exceed customer requirements.