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. Now, one of the several complaints against the . [7] In real life, after helping the ADA Michelle Shughart send Duntsch to jail, Dr Henderson continues to practice medicine in Texas. The nerve root had been amputated. Jurors convicted Duntsch Tuesday of injury to an elderly person in the botched July 2012 surgery that put Mary Efurd in a wheelchair. It was sent on a Friday at 4 am. He alleged that Duntsch promised to pay him in stocks and out of his own salary but failed to follow through. Jerry Summers, Duntsch's childhood friend, is now a quadriplegic. The damage is irreversible. During this time, out of three procedures, one patient died and another was partially paralyzed. Or, they should be: the scientists names are misspelled. The life in prison sentence was a deathblow to Duntsch, who, according to his father, was now a humbled man who had lost everything. Duntsch told Morgan a different story. As the eldest of four, his parents remember him as a precocious boy. It was the same with Dallas Medical Center where hedid not face any action. Portrayed in the Peacock miniseries, "Dr. Death," the Dallas spinal surgeon is responsible for helping stop Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 after leaving . "Dr. Death," which was shot earlier this year in the Albuquerque area and debuted July 15 on the Peacock streaming service, is the story of Christopher Duntsch, who is now serving a life sentence . Shes 33 now and doesnt live in Dallas anymore. 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. But on January 6, 2012, a week after the surgery, Duntsch went back in. Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. They dont want to go participate in any extraneous activities, and he was totally fine going to work.. AnnaSophia Robb, 27, portrays Michelle Shughart, the assistant district attorney on Dr. Death's case. NovoStem Therapeutics, which attempted to monetize the cancer stem cell discovery, failed after taking a funding hit during the 2008 recession. Kane dated Summers for a year. In fact, he went on to work at two more hospitals. The arrest report said he was driving on two flat tires. After Summers procedure, Morgan says Duntsch was not allowed to operate at Baylor Plano until March 2012. Christopher Duntsch didn't. Wendy has reportedly been keeping a low-profile life since ending her relationship with Duntsch and since he went to prison. She, after being in Duntsch's OR, would never walk again. The attorneys claimed she knew about the drugs and his drug-addled OR trips but did nothing to stop them. 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. (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.). According to ProPublica, Boop was aware of a complaint Duntsch used drugs before seeing patients. 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. This was the time when Dr. Christopher Duntsch started to turn intoDr. Death. Some never went to trial and had out-of-court settlements. And yet they occurred in Duntschs operating rooms over a period of just two years. 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. Hed found a few months that were not accounted for in Duntschs educational history. 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 . She says she even filed a temporary protective order against him in April 2012, after he showed up banging on her window at 2 am. Texas tort reform laws cap the amount that patients can sue physicians for malpractice at $250,000. Santa Clarita Diet's Dominic Burgess plays Jerry Summers, a former patient and best friend of Dr Death's. 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. In a video recording of her deposition, she fidgets often, angling her head to look at a jug of Stoli, shaking her head yes or no, furrowing her brow at some of the questions. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! While staying with his parents outside Denver, he was stopped for driving under the influence. Baylor asked him to resign immediately. The disc was pressing on a nerve, which caused the pain. Duntsch then joined Dallas Medical Center. And when this podcast tells you all the gory details, you become that patient. Duntsch pleaded not guilty. In an article in Texas Observer,author SaulElbein says that one of the doctors he spoke to likened Duntsch to Hannibal Lecter three times in eight minutes. 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. Duntsch, again, maintains this wasnt true. There Duntsch secured a job as a minimally invasive spine surgeon at. He cant run or swim with his children. Philip is one of more than 30 people maimed by Dr. Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Dr. Death by the media. But patient advocates and the surgeons that mobilized to rid him of his license say that Duntsch was the perfect storm. Martin was his first patient back, and it was the last operation he performed at that hospital. 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. He had blood all over him. It is during this period that Duntschs carefully built faade began showing its first cracks. 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. A grand jury returned five indictments of aggravated assault and one of harming an elderly person. She woke up with severe pain and couldnt stand. He decided to turn to clinical work. It was hearsay, he contended. 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. Dubbed angels of death, they leave a trail of damage andloss for many reasons: human fallibility, malaise, or malice. Martin was a 55-year-old woman who had lived with back pain for nearly a year after a fall in her kitchen. 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. He kept a handle of Stoli under his desk and said it was because he used to work with Russians. Why else would his daughter have sent Duntsch a card thanking him? (She says this was a misunderstanding, that she had asked him to retrieve Aiden and bring him to the hospital.) If that weren't enough, Page once happened across a drawer at Duntsch's house. And who will Dr. Death be? Duntsch had another surgery scheduled the day that Brown suffered her stroke. In many ways, Morgan was the opposite of Young. Lopez answers Henderson's frustrationin a somber tone, sayingthat while you may know a doctor is bad, gathering evidence takes time. 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.. Ignatova believes this to be deliberate. Christopher Duntsch, Known As Dr. Death, Maimed His Patients Through Routine Back Surgery. But Hoyle says an X-ray later showed it was positioned too far to the left. The 78-year-old Denton County man was then Dr. Christopher Duntsch's first patient when the surgeon started performing spinal fusions in 2011. Quality Policy. Last week, she had her third child, this one with her new partner. But its the only way to get anybody to listen. Duntsch calls thisand most other claimsnonsense. The Hippocratic Oath is sworn by all doctors and binds them to do no harm. The deal required Duntsch to gain privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. The real question is:Why couldn't anyone stop him in time? In the months following his surgery, Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work. For Duntsch, the path into medicine was unconventional and, perhaps, a reflection of his tendency to fixate on unlikely goals. On average, a neurosurgeon generates more revenue for a hospital than all other specialties but invasive cardiology and orthopedic surgery. He grew up in a middle-class suburb with a teacher mom and a missionary/physical therapist dad. He was shocked at the CT scan: the spinal fusion hardware sat in her soft tissue. Passmore was allowed to resign and still access his long-term disability insurance, which he says hed paid into for more than 10 years. He was friendly, and we had good conversation. They met as Duntsch was looking for opportunities in an operating room somewhere. But that isn't the scariest part. The notorious neurosurgeon was forced to declare bankruptcy shortly after and moved back in with his parents in Colorado. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football. 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. It was pouring out of the epidural blood vessels and pooling in the disc space. Prosecutors argued that the disgraced doctor had used his scalpel and hands as weapons to seriously injure or kill his patients. Like Boop, Dr. Robertson also gave Duntsch a great review. Slater is also known for his roles in Mr. And yet nearly all who met him said they liked him immediately. Don tried to convince the jury that his son cared for his patients. Again, he never revealed what went wrong to the other staff. They had discovered stem cells in human brain tumors. What isscarierare the 12 names that follow his. His dad is a physical therapist. It got to be too much. He signed a physician services agreement on May 24, 2011, with Rimlawi and Wons Minimally Invasive Spine Institute. Duntsch's resume shows a doctorate in microbiology from the St. Jude Children'sResearch Hospital. Passmore later discovered that, less than a week after his second surgery, Duntsch had operated on 45-year-old Barry Morguloff. He called Baylor Plano President Jerri Garison, who was clearly familiar with Duntsch and was just as clear about how little she could say on the matter: He no longer has privileges here, and I have to be very careful about what I say to you. Baylor said it was unable to provide its executives for interviews because of Passmores pending lawsuit. 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. Then it just started to all unravel.. 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 . 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. While applying to Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano, TX, Duntsch also provided Dr. Jon Robertson as a reference. By 2011, Duntsch had been sued by Discgenics former chief operating officer, a high school pal who joined when it was founded. But Duntsch soldiered on. Duntsch was taken to jail for what Young referred to as a time out but his erratic behavior wouldnt end there. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing how easy. Unlike Summers, Brown, 63, suffered from hypertension and was a stroke risk. Dr. Christopher Duntsch 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 Center's Department of. 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. 33 of his 37 surgeries were botched, with two dead and 31 injured for life. Sort of. I cried when they said life imprisonment, Young said of the verdict. In one particularly disturbing episode, in March 2015, she said she arrived home to her front door had been locked with a deadbolt from the inside. Jackson stars as Christopher Duntsch, the titular nicknamed neurosurgeon, in Peacock's limited series based on the Wondery podcast of the same name (and of course the real-life former doctor's. He hadnt seen it with his own eyes. He told Morgan that Young, who was pregnant at the time with their first son, was his close friend and secretary. Young says hed been breaking into her apartment, and one day she came home to find him inside, covered in blood. There is no face to the monster you are hearing about, the one destroying lives. Its hard to find good conversation with a random person, Young says. By this time, Summers, the childhood friend, had come to live with Duntsch, too. In the two years he practiced as a spine surgeon across four Dallas institutions, Duntsch operated on 37 people. Duntschs patient outcomes would draw lots of attention over the years. And what stops another physicianfrom turning into the next Dr. Death? The University of Tennessee refused to comment on grounds of confidentiality, but neurosurgeon Dr. Frederick Boop, under whom Duntsch completed his residency, knew. This would be the first and last time Hoyle worked next to Duntsch. To fellow surgeon Mark Hoyle, he said, "Everybody's doing it wrong. Seven more doctors voiced complaints before TMB finally canceled Dr. Death's license. 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. Wendy Renee Young met Duntsch at a bar in Memphis. Young was evicted at least twice. No spam, ever. If a person died in the fourth-floor apartment of a complex in Collin County, Passmore was the one who hiked up those four flights with somewhere around 20 pounds of gear on his back and got that body back down. At The University of Tennessee, his supervisors were also investors in Duntsch's company, Discgenics. 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. "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. Dallas, Texas 75201. We moved in together within three months, and then I became pregnant.. There was Duntschs childhood friend, Jerry Summers, who woke up from a procedure unable to move his arms and legs. For the last three days, jurors listened to testimony in the . (He also appears in no yearbooks from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at the time in which he says he earned his Ph.D., and the school declined to verify his claims, citing afederal privacy law.) Hoyle stepped in front of Duntsch to block his way. Death: The Undoctored Story, available to stream now. By November, he had surgical privileges to operate on patients. Next week marks the five-year anniversary of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch being sentenced to life in prison. Nerve pain now fires through his back, the result of a screw lodged in a nerve bundle. The Dallas County DA, along with fighting against these very laws, was also running out of time. Also present, according to Kane, was Jerry Summers, the childhood friend who would later wake up a quadriplegic after a Duntsch operation. She had brown hair, parted near the middle, that fell just below her shoulders. She needed drug tests. The evidence said otherwise. On April 20, Duntsch submitted a letter to Baylor Planos medical staff services director, Patricia Sproles, saying he was moving his practice and resigning his clinical privileges. Mary Efurd, 74, was to have two vertebrae fused, linked by a metal plate. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. Around May 2013, Henderson got a call from Foley, the fellowship supervisor. No autopsy was done (at the familys request) but it is well-documented that the stroke was due to a left vertebral artery injury due to Dr. Duntschs horrendous surgical technique, wrote surgeon Randall Kirby in a letter to the Texas Medical Board. Hell tell you as much. Who else is left? I dont want my name out there. His childhood was seemingly great. 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. In September, according to police reports . He wanted to find who Duntsch trained under, who his supervisors were. He always had a plan, always had a pitch, always had a way to fix you. 53, and Andre Agassi, 52, are proud parents as they . Duntschcrammed a surgical sponge into the wound, then sewed it up. Prodigal Son actress Molly Griggs takes on the role of Wendy Young, who was Duntsch's girlfriend and is the mother of his kids. 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. A few days later, Glidewelldeveloped a serious infection due to the sponge left in his throat. Duntsch grew up in a middle-class family. It wasnt until lawsuits were filed that the alleged drug use became public. Talking to the Dallas Morning News in 2014, Duntsch said he provided the test and was clean. In actuality, Duntschhad severely deformed Mayfield's spinal column and left him immobilized from mid-chest down to his toes. Kirby reported having direct knowledge of seven patients that Dr. His fellow neurosurgeons found him to be fast-talking and cocksure, a bit of a loner. Soon, when Duntsch was requesting privileges at Baylor Plano, Robertson sent a letter to the hospital verifying Duntschs training. He secured investments in Discgenics from local spine surgeons, including Robertson and Dr. Kevin Foley, a prominent Memphis neurosurgeon under whom Duntsch would spend a year training as part of a minimally invasive spine surgery fellowship at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic, one of the largest neurosurgery practices in the United States. Duntsch filed patents for each discovery, and two companies were soon created. We are committed to achieving this mission by delivering high-quality products that meet or exceed customer requirements. I have lost both companies. He would file for bankruptcy years later, and the filings show that Duntsch has had no managerial role with Discgenics since 2012, when he was removed as a board member and as chief science officer. The hospital called Rimlawi when it couldnt reach his colleague. July 15, 2021 Scott McDermott/Peacock Peacock's new crime drama Dr. Death dramatizes the true story of Christopher Duntsch, a former Dallas-based neurosurgeon who was sentenced to life in. Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couples son. She enlisted Duntsch to help fix it. I dont want to be in your magazine, sir, I apologize, Passmore told me. On Jan. 10, 2014, Denver police arrested him for driving under the influence. Dallas most important news stories of the week, delivered to your inbox each Sunday. Its accessible only to hospitals, and facilities are federally mandated to report their delinquents. 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. Likely due to Duntsch'sattemptto staunch the blood loss, Brown suffered a buildup of pressure in her brain. Due to his actions, Brown suffered a stroke that night, but Duntsch didn't responded to hospital pages. His pain management specialist advised against an operation. Young was 27 when they met; Duntsch was 40. Summers died a few months ago, in February 2021, after getting an infection connected to the botched surgery from Duntsch that left him a quadriplegic. Henderson actually checked if Duntsch was a real doctor with The University of Tennessee, appalled at the damage to Efurd's spine. Nobody can recognize whether it was ours or not! Ignatova says. Young puts Morgan there, too, although Morgan denied it in her deposition. She was also present for Summers operation. Robot, True Romance, Very Bad Things, and Robot Chicken. I agree completely with Dr. Hoyles complaint to the board when he stated that Dr. Duntsch is the most careless, clueless, and dangerous spine surgeon either of us has ever seen, Kirby wrote. A veteran investigative reporter in the medical field, her voice enthralls. We ended up getting into this really big fight, and he slapped me and threw a remote and hit me with the remotes and he was yelling profanities very loud where everyone could hear and saying prostitute and whore, she said, adding he also started calling her mother names. 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. The hospital saved face and avoided any lawsuits. 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. 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! In reality, he makes everything so, so much worse. Since receiving his life sentence, Dr Death is currently housed in the O.B. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana and spent most of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee. 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. If he wasnt doing research, he was out with Jerry Summers, partying, Morgan said in the deposition. Theres no blank here for that.. Her bright blond hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and shes wearing a tank top with yoga pants. In 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty. Nobody stopped him soon enough. According to Dallas Magazine, a woman named Megan Kane remembered how Duntsch partied with her onhis birthday. A longtime field agent for the Collin County Medical Examiner, Passmore needed knowledge from his training at scenes. The original patent still holds, and hopefully, Discgenics would be able to break out of the Dr. Death shadow todo some real anti-cancer work instead. But for his victims, the judgment was a big relief. "A few weeks later I took my first son to visit him for Christmas and then I became pregnant," Young said. Hoyles job was to cut Passmore open and sew him up, and on December 30, 2011, he made a small incision just above the 36-year-olds groin and moved the blood vessels and organs out of the way, allowing Duntsch clear access to the lower spine to remove a herniated disc. His investors took him to court. Duntsch was described asa precocious boy and a bright student. But it was growing increasingly clear that his opportunities were running out. Hes alive. But Duntsch kept going, as if he were fishing in a pond at night, saying he was working by feel, not sight. Brown had a massive stroke overnight that left her in a vegetative state, and her family chose to remove life support days later. It wasnt his invention, Kukekov says. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. For the DA though she proved to be a good witness. At that point, the administration revoked his privileges. In the deposition, she states that Duntsch snorted cocaine from a handy pile he kept on a dresser at his home. But hed make troubling, bizarre pronouncements, like Everybodys doing it wrong. I have taken one selfie in my lifeon a dare. Young and Duntsch have two sons. Even the hospitals that he worked for kept enabling him, according to a report by the Dallas County prosecutors.