The two-week trial especially focused on Mary Efurd's testimony. What all this means is that the Texas Legislature has committed the state to a policy of medical deregulationa free-market system in which doctors can practice as they please with limited government interference. Some drag on for years. Given the graphic subject matter, if you're squeamish, keep your finger on the "fast forward" button while watching Dr. Death. Among neurosurgeons, the procedure isnt considered terribly difficult. Dr. Christopher Duntsch's patients ended up maimed and dead, but the real tragedy is that the Texas Medical Board couldn't stop him. "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.". Who Is Kimberly Morgan, 'Dr. Death' Christopher Duntsch's Assistant Duntsch hired Morgan as his assistant while he was still with the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute in August of 2011. His father, Don Duntsch, spoke with pride about how his son had once been one of the top authorities on stem cells and had done ground-breaking cancer research. Within a month of hiring Kimberly Morgan, who was a nurse practitioner, to help him run his new practice, the pair were sleeping together, according to the podcast. Office manager B.J. Until the day of the suspension, if you had looked Duntsch up on the Texas Medical Board website, you would have found him a physician in good standing. I had so much anger, because my life changed so much. Kirby, the surgeon from Baylor, was philosophical. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Brown was later found unresponsive in her hospital room and staff couldnt contact Duntsch for 90 minutes, according to those records. Of that set, two died and 31 were paralyzed or seriously injured. One woman came in for a routine operation on a herniated disc, and bled to death on the recovery table. He doesnt care what he has left in his wake.. It was that egregious. The. After his wife died, Don Martin found himself at a loss. I had so much anger, because my life changed so much. They showed photos of him as a baby, as a toddler, and as a boy getting a soccer ball for Christmas. The "deadly weapons" were his hands and surgical tools. Nevertheless, Christopher had his medical license stripped in 2013 and was eventually brought to justice after Mary took him to court. In one, Duntsch tells the story, over stock footage of an operation, of a taxing back surgery he performed on an older woman. Christopher Duntsch shattered that trust over the course of a few years, ruining countless lives. Dr. Randall Kirby was another surgeon at Baylor Plano. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Once Duntsch proved himself inept, hospitals let him resign instead of going through the legal process of firing him. Birthday boy Zverev knocked out in Munich - mid-day.com Because he had no conscience. ), Photo: He alleged that Duntsch promised to pay him in stocks and out of his own salary but failed to follow through. As they dressed for surgery, Duntsch boasted to Kirby that he was the best neurosurgeon in Dallas. While Christopher caused harm to many, it wasn't until a patient Mary Efurd that he was charged with a crime. She alsoalleged tothe magazine that he broke into her apartment, showing up one day covered in blood. Duntsch went back into the operating room and left Don waiting. Kellie Martin went into surgery on March 12, 2012. Duntschwho was just completing a prestigious spine surgery fellowship in Tennesseebought Young an appletini and the two immediately clicked. Dallas Magazine states that Duntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. August 28, 2013, 2:01 . It was just gone. Friends since they played football together in high school, Summers helped Duntsch stay organized while he worked in the lab during his residency. Dr. Death: Where Is Christopher Duntsch Today? - Grunge Jackson developed a perspective on his character. Mr. Wendy Young Photo: Anton Floquet/NBCUniversal [3] After a few calls to various Dallas-area medical societies, someone suggested he call the Medical Board. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. A charismatic, charming monster but still a monster but he saw himself as the hero of his own story. Things were rough during the state budget crisis in 2011, but now hiring is back up to normal. 'Dr. Death': Who Are the Real People in the True-Crime Drama? - Newsweek The answer, in both cases, seems to be very little. He was brilliant. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Once the case has been put together, the investigators will make a recommendation to the board itself, a group of 12 physicians and seven laypeople appointed by the governor. He was found guilty of his crimes in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison. Duntsch, 44, is the first surgeon known to be sentenced to prison for a botched surgery. His daughter, Caitlin Martin-Linduff, was relieved and tearful to know Duntsch will never hurt anyone again. (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.). 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. In 2007, he was found to be leaving presigned prescription pads with his nurse so she could prescribe controlled substances while he was away, according to Public Citizen. Hes been devastated, Don Duntsch said. 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. "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. This was the time when Dr. Christopher Duntsch started to turn into Dr. Death. 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.". I dont know what it is," she said on CNBC's American Greed. They just cant comprehend that an M.D.-Ph.D. neurosurgeon could do what Christopher Duntsch was doing. In an official statement, she wrote, The way the lawis currently written, with a high bar of evidence for the board to meet, the process can take time so that the board can build a solid case. Over the next year, the Medical Board would receive at least six more complaints from doctors who had seen Duntschs work up close. Because the credentialing process is deemed confidential under Texas Law, we are not permitted to discuss specific physicians or specific requests other than to say all policies were followed.. "He works out, he reads, he studies the Biblehell call and say goodnight to his boys. The Legislature doesnt want the Medical Board taking a doctors licenseand livelihoodunnecessarily or based on flimsy or frivolous claims. Dr. Death is a new true-crime series on Peacock about the story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch. He told Morgan that Young was just his secretary from Memphis, whose husband would be moving to the area soon, according to the podcast. 'Dr. Death' clings to the wrong part of a true story - Mic Per The Washington Post, when another surgeon named Dr. Robert Henderson went in to investigate, he was shocked to find spinal hardware left in her soft tissue, a severed nerve root, a nerve with a screw in it and several screw holes on a different area of Mary's spine. Two days later, once Efurd was stable, Henderson was assigned to do the repair surgery. Of the three in the academy, viz. 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. Christopher Duntsch, 46, was initially charged with five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and one count of injuring an elderly person, 1 but the trial focused on the last charge, which alleged that Duntsch deliberately harmed Mary Efurd, then aged 72, in a 2012 operation that left her in a wheelchair. Alexander Zverev was dumped out in the last 16 of the ATP tournament in Munich, suffering a straight sets defeat to Christopher O'Connell on Thursday. 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. Even the fact that the board is conducting an investigation remains confidential until the investigation is over. Promising Beginnings Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. Public Citizen concluded that the board moves slowly because its understaffed and underfunded. When the Medical Board suspended Duntschs license, the agencys spokespeople too seemed shocked. To become a neurosurgeon, one typically has to complete over 1000 surgeries in residency, but somehow, reporter Laura Beil discovered that Duntsch only completed 100. Every time a doctor loses clinical privileges at a hospital, or has them suspended, hospitals are required by law to notify the National Practitioner Databank. 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. For the last three days, jurors listened to testimony in the . Her spine was pockmarked with screw holes, and a screw had been lodged in another nerve root near the bottom of her spine," D Magazine describes. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. So I called them up, and they said, Will you fill out a complaint, and well probably read the complaint in about 30 days, and well start an investigation after that., I said, You dont seem to understand. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes longer than we want., What Henderson took from this, he told me, is that were dealing with people who dont do the job they are hired to do.. .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.
