'Dr. Death': Who Are the Real People in the True-Crime Drama? - Newsweek In a specialized field like neurosurgery, that means further months of delay. Public Citizen found that 793 Texas doctors had lost clinical privileges between 1990 and 2011. Because of greed. Their fellow physicians had found them committing such offenses as malpractice, sexual assault and drug use. Instead, she awoke in searing pain, which she likened to child birth, per D Magazine. I was very independent and I had to become dependent on others for transportation, for my meals, for a lot of things.". The True Story Behind Peacock's 'Dr. Death' | Time Morgan later secured a temporary protective order against him in April 2012 after telling authorities that Duntsch had come to her apartment at 2 a.m. and banged on her window, according to the podcast. You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. They know if they try to discipline a doctor, the burden of proof will be on them. His mistakes were obvious and well-documented. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. But more than anything, we don't get to know Christopher Duntsch. Christopher Duntsch Photo: Dallas County Jail/AP About a month after meeting, Morgan and Duntsch were already sleeping together, according to the podcast. Even now, Young told American Greed she still hears from Duntsch when he calls to talk to their sons. So why didnt he stop? Shughart said. How Did 'Dr. Death' Christopher Duntsch Continue To Operate? | True He had amputated a nerve root, Henderson said. A charismatic, charming monster but still a monster but he saw himself as the hero of his own story. Christopher Duntsch wrote that he was ready to become a "cold blooded killer". "We were told Duntsch was one of the best and smartest neurosurgeons they ever trained, as they went on at length about his strengths," representatives from Baylor Regional Medical Center told Pro Publica in an email. Two weeks later, on June 14, 2013, Kirby got a call to come to University General to do a recovery surgery on one of Duntschs patients. 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.. Because he had no conscience. In effect, plaintiffs have to prove a very tough case without access to the necessary hospital records. How much risk can there be?. Dr. Christopher Duntsch, better known as Doctor Death, is serving a life sentence at a Texas prison today, according to his inmate record. He said that Summers had broken down in to uncontrolled crying and said, I know your brother would never do this to me on purpose.. But Duntsch was an anomaly for another reason: the barrage of complaints to the board. "Dr. Death" and the companion docuseries "Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story" are both available to stream on Peacock now. In February 2021, Summers died of an infection directly related to the surgery. A 27-year-old Young had been working as a stripper in Memphis when she met Duntsch, then 40. Kellie Martin was in good health; a laminectomy is considered a minor procedure. I am ready to leave the love and kindness and goodness and patience that I mix with everything else that I am and become a cold blooded killer.". After losing his license, Duntsch filed for bankruptcy and returned to Colorado, where his parents live. This what Ive waited for four and half years., Follow Tanya Eiserer on Twitter: @tanyaeiserer. The only entity that could stop Duntsch from seeing more patients was the Texas Medical Board. At first, Henderson thought Duntsch might be an impostor. He has a job inside the prison. His daughter, Caitlin Martin-Linduff, was relieved and tearful to know Duntsch will never hurt anyone again. Partners must notify. 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. .css-lwn4i5{display:block;font-family:Neutra,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:-0.01rem;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;text-align:center;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-lwn4i5:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}Leann Rimes Shares Video Montage for Anniversary, Read Erin Napier's Post about 'Home Town', Christie Brinkley = Iconic In Bareback Riding Pic, 35 Celebrity Relationships That Upset Fans, Celebrities You Didn't Know Had Famous Moms, 30 Celebrity Feuds That Were Never Resolved, Celebrity Couples from 50 Years You Forgot About, We Ranked Every Single Adam Sandler Movie, 34 'Bridgerton' Fun Facts to Fuel Your Obsession, Where Youve Seen the Cast of Bridgerton Before. The Texas Medical Board finally suspended Duntsch's license on June 26, 2013, and permanently revoked it in December of that year. It was horrible. The investigator, Maria Lopez, lets him yell. Victim of Real-Life 'Dr. Death' Believes There Are Others Like Him Out But Baylor didnt hold him to that. and a Ph.D. from a top-tier medical school, a decade of experience, and a central role in a pioneering stem-cell treatment. 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. By Jill Sederstrom & Leah Carroll Joshua Jackson On Role Of Surgeon, Christopher Duntsch, In Peacock's "Dr. Death" Series Now Playing Digital Original 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. Unlike with Summers, though, he hadnt noticed in time, and Martin bled to death, according to Texas Medical Board records. Daniel Reece, Michael Rice and Christopher Ochwat, Reece left in January, while the other two were sacked by the management for reasons still unclear. According to The Dallas Morning News, he will be up for parole in 2045, when he is 74. 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. That complaint was filedalong with the 6,000 to 8,000 other complaints the Medical Board receives each year, in addition to the thousands of licensure applications the agencys 156 employees must review. When the Medical Board suspended Duntschs license, the agencys spokespeople too seemed shocked. Duntsch briefly enrolled at CSU in the fall of 1991 when he was 20 years old. I had so much anger, because my life changed so much. Photos, illustrations and other art may be available for syndication but must be confirmed. I left with him and believed in him and then, you know, he just kind of fell apart., Duntschs disturbing fall from grace is also chronicled in the new Peacock seriesDr. He chose Dallas after learning that Young had family near thecityand she offered to go with him. 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 nuance of his private life is obscured by allusions to a failed football career and a demeaning father that somehow are. So to be able to do that much wrong, I felt that he must have known at some point in time how to do it right. A poorly put-together case can mean months or years of expensive litigation. The. Their romance moved. Office manager B.J. You know, hell call and say goodnight to his boys, um, sometimes hell have bedtime stories and try to be as normal as possible.. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. The board fined him $3,000, assigned him a monitor, and required him to take classes in medical recordkeeping. After growing up in Tennessee,. 12 Unnerving Facts About Dr. Death Christopher Duntsch - Ranker 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. Nevertheless, Christopher had his medical license stripped in 2013 and was eventually brought to justice after Mary took him to court. Neither hospital would talk about Duntsch for this story. But its more complicated than that. But the real tragedy of the Christopher Duntsch story is how preventable it was. (Like other state licensing agenciesthe Pharmacy Board, the Nurse Practitioner Boardthe Medical Board operates at a surplus for the state.). The point isnt that all doctors are dangerous, or even that any more than a tiny minority are. 5 years after 'Dr. Death,' doctors still come to Texas to leave pasts But the board is limited in its ability to investigate malpractice. Who Were The Victims Of Dr. Christopher Duntsch? | True Crime Buzz 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. You're probably asking, How could Duntsch have gotten away with a string of botched surgeries? Duntschwho was just completing a prestigious spine surgery fellowship in Tennesseebought Young an appletini and the two immediately clicked. After his wife died, Don Martin found himself at a loss. Jurors convicted Duntsch Tuesday of injury to an elderly person in the botched July 2012 surgery that put Mary Efurd in a wheelchair. For 33 patients of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, it was a reality. Outlets must also tag the Observer in all social media posts. She said she thought he was going to make millions. 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. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! The operation was a spinal fusion in which two vertebrae are joined; surgeons use a metal plate to help hold the vertebrae together. Even Christopher's childhood friend, Jerry Summers, was unable to move his arms and legs after entrusting the surgeon with a cervical fusion surgery. As Dr. Henderson testified in part, "[O]ne of my thoughts that I expressed was that [appellant] must have known what he was doing because he did virtually everything wrong. Travel ban concerns some in Iowa, which relies on foreign-born doctors. It is unclear what she has been up to since Duntsch's life imprisonment sentence. He was smart. He said his son called him upset after several of the botched surgeries. Ellis Unit outside of Huntsville, Texas. 'Dr. Death' Surgeon Killed or Maimed 33 of His Patients - People Duntsch hired Morgan as his assistant while he was still with the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute in August of 2011. Duntschsmedical privileges were revoked by the Texas Medical Board in June of 2013 and Duntschs life continued to spiral from there, according to D Magazine. Because investigations are confidential, Duntschs public record with the Texas Medical Board remained clean. I'm a complex spine surgeon. The Untold Truth Of Dr. Death - Grunge 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. So while hospital administrators did a deeper background examination, they granted Duntsch temporary privileges. He was convicted of injury to an elderly person in the 2012 surgery on Mary Efurd that put her in a. It takes the Texas Medical Board an average of nine months to resolve complaints. Articles must link back to the original article and contain the following attribution at the top of the story: This article was originally published by the, Articles cannot be rewritten, edited or changed beyond alignments with house style books. And then there was the 2011 case of Dr. Rolando Arafiles, the West Texas doctor who sicced the county sheriff on two nurses who dared report him to the Texas Medical Board (see Intent to Harm, March 2011). He was found guilty of his crimes in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison. He saw himself as a brilliant doctor and a brilliant surgeon. "When asked about Dr. Duntschs weaknesses or areas for improvement, the supervising physician communicated that the only weakness Duntsch had was that he took on too many tasks for one person.". Finally the family fired him. For two days the patient, Jeffrey Glidewell, lay unattended in the ICU while Duntsch made excuses to the family. Site made in collaboration with CMYK. The jury found Duntsch guilty of injury to an elderly person (Efurd), and sentenced him to life in prison. We felt confident too.. CHRISTOPHER Duntsch, is infamously known as Dr Death for gross malpractice. As a stay-at-home mom to the couplestwochildren,she also found herself in financial trouble and was evicted from her home twice. Duntsch was still living with Young, but he tried to carry out the dual romances by lying to each woman. Death.. "I'm a well-trained surgeon. In January, one of his patients at University General Hospital Dallas woke up paralyzed from the waist down, according to the patients lawyer. He didnt tell them about Baylors internal reports that faulted him in both cases, according to Henderson. 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The 2022 Calcutta Football League Premier Division was the 124th overall season of the two highest state-level football divisions of West Bengal. Brown was later found unresponsive in her hospital room and staff couldnt contact Duntsch for 90 minutes, according to those records. 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. He was arrested in 2014 for jumping over the fence atthe home of Youngs sisterin Garland and trying to take their son, Aiden. Death Based On A True Story, Joshua Jackson On Role Of Surgeon, Christopher Duntsch, In Peacocks Dr. Young told D Magazine the incident had simply been a misunderstanding after she had given birth to the couples second son and had asked Duntsch to bring Aiden to the hospital to meet his new brother. But as investigators took a look back at Christopher's history and consulted with those who knew him, what they discovered was quite disturbing. By the time she was transferred to UT Southwestern Medical Center later that day, she was brain dead. The relationship between Duntsch and Morgan would come to an end after he leftBaylor Medical Center in Planoamidst criticism that he had botched multiple surgeries, including one that left a patient dead. Over the course of 2012 and 2013, even as the Texas Medical Board and the hospitals he worked with received repeated complaints from a half-dozen doctors and lawyers begging them to take action, Duntsch continued to practice medicine. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. In Duntschs case, we see the weakness of Texas unregulated system of health care, a system built to protect doctors and hospitals. Instead, Duntsch would find himself behind bars for life after botching more than 30 surgeriesresulting in the death of two patients and earning him the nickname Dr. At every step of the way, you would have to know the right thing to do so you could do the wrong thing, because he did all the wrong things.. So the board members tend to act conservatively. 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. In one, Duntsch tells the story, over stock footage of an operation, of a taxing back surgery he performed on an older woman. He sounded impressive, Don said. His younger brother, Nathan, said he had spoken to Duntschs friend and former employee, Jerry Summers, who was left a quadriplegic after one of the botched surgeries. Even if a plaintiff wins the maximum award, after you pay your lawyer and your experts and go through, potentially, years of trial, not much is left. Who Is Wendy Young, The Mother Of Christopher Duntsch's Children, And The procedure can improve stability in the back, according to the Mayo Clinic, and relieve pain. The surgery, he said, beaming into the camera, was a resounding success. But a few years later, he popped up in Kermit doing just thatas well as selling drugs out of the operating room and performing bizarre surgeries he hadnt been trained for. The Texas Observer is known for its fiercely independent, uncompromising work which we are pleased to provide to the public at no charge in this space. Kalighat MS (Division B) Matches played. Doctors brought in to clean up his surgeries decried his surgical misadventures, according to hospital records. Dr. Death is the new true-crime series on Peacock starring The Affair's Joshua Jackson as the infamous surgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch. In June 2010, following the media circus around the prosecution of the Kermit nurses, they filed a complaint against him. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing how easy. In February 2013, for unclear reasons, the board took his license. Given the graphic subject matter, if you're squeamish, keep your finger on the "fast forward" button while watching Dr. Death. Dallas Magazine states that Duntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. In December 2012, he performed a cervical fusion at Legacy Surgery Center of Frisco that left his patient with paralyzed vocal cordsan unheard-of complication. Joshua Jackson on his 'evil' role in 'Dr. Death' - New York Post And the only thing she complained about was she couldnt find what she wanted to watch on TV.. Duntsch was a highlysought-after neurosurgeon who promised her a life filled with extravagance and success. She was 55 and had been experiencing persistent back pain after a fall at home. He told Young that Morgan was his assistant and there was nothing romantic going on between the pair. With the exception of pain management clinics and anesthesiologists, the board doesnt have the authority to inspect a doctor, or to start an investigation on its own. Prince Charming, Im gonna change your life, Wendy Young said of the promising start to her romance with Christopher Duntsch. The Peacock originalDr Deathis based on atrue story. That as you walk into the waiting room of a Christopher Duntsch or Greggory Phillips or Rolando Arafiles, somewhere, in some office in Austin, the parties the state has deemed responsible are sitting at desks quietly investigating. For example, when Duntsch left Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, the hospital provided a letter confirming there had been no "summary or administrative restrictions or suspensions," despite the fact that Duntsch had been suspended for 30 days following Summers's surgery. 'Cult mom' Lori Vallow's hair found on duct tape used to wrap son's body, Inside Jeffrey Epstein's private calendar including meeting with Noam Chomsky, Heartbroken family launch new lawsuit against Walmart over son's death, I won $188m lotto, I only got $88m after taxes but there was a bigger blow to come, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Duntsch, aka Dr Death, was sentenced to life in prison in 2017, Dr Death - Trailer for the Peacock series based on the true story of Christopher Duntsch. When I think about it, its just devastating., When I spoke to him, a year after his wifes death, he told me that they had trusted Duntsch, and that there had been no sign suggesting they do otherwise. At the end of May 2013, Kirby and Henderson received invitations to a celebratory dinner, courtesy of University General Hospital, to meet their new neurosurgeon, Dr. Christopher Duntsch, at an expensive uptown restaurant. But what is the real-life story behind Duntsch and Youngs complicated romance? 2021 The Texas Observer. "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. It would clearly be a policy decision for the Legislature to consider whether the process or the standards for evidence required for a temporary suspension need to change., Leigh Hopper, formerly the Medical Board spokesperson, put it more bluntly. Where is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr. Death now? | The US Sun - The Sun His dad is a physical therapist. While Christopher caused harm to many, it wasn't until a patient Mary Efurd that he was charged with a crime. Is it right for him go to away, to be thrown away when all of them profited? she said of the hospitals that hired him. But the Legislature hindered plaintiffs cases even more by allowing hospitals to, in most cases, keep credentialing information confidential. He alleged that Duntsch promised to pay him in stocks and out of his own salary but failed to follow through. The pair met in 2011 at a Memphis bar, known as the Beauty Shop, according toa 2016D Magazineprofile of Duntschs scandalous medical career. As a result, one patient died from a massive blood lost. The board cant revoke a license without overwhelming evidence, and investigations can take months, with months or years of costly hearings dragging on afterward. The two-week trial especially focused on Mary Efurd's testimony. When Duntsch came out, he told Don there had been some complications, and that Kellie would have to stay the night, but that the operation had gone fine. 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. 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. 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 Centers Department of Neurosurgery in Memphis. Don Martin, who was waiting outside, was told the operation wouldnt take more than 45 minutes. I dont know what it is," she said on CNBC's American Greed. (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.).

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