They all signed nondisclosure agreements that prohibit them from discussing their cases or their monetary awards. No such thing. It was a downward spiral pretty rapidly after he lost his license, Young said in the docuseries. I knocked on my door. While the show features the exes as the parents to one son, they had two kids together in real life. Two of his patients, Floella Brown and Kellie Martin, died.. Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 28, 2021 Duntsch's resume shows a doctorate in microbiology from the St. Jude Children'sResearch Hospital. Dr. Duntsch eventually began a long-term romantic relationship with Wendy Renee Young while in Memphis. His mom was a teacher. I'm the only clean minimally invasive guy in the whole state." 'Dr Death' Stars Share Why They Think Christopher Duntsch - TheWrap She also says they snorted cocaine from a small pile that he kept on a dresser in his home office. Santa Clarita Diet's Dominic Burgess plays Jerry Summers, a former patient and best friend of Dr Death's. Duntschcrammed a surgical sponge into the wound, then sewed it up. As the eldest of four, his parents remember him as a precocious boy. Young was evicted at least twice. After his arrest, he still had those loving parents. She had clinical experience and often spent time with Duntsch when he was conducting research. Yet they let him resign and passed the bill along for someone else to pay. 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. Morgan didnt follow Duntsch after Baylor Plano. He wrote, "You will not find a harder working or more willing individual." In November 2011, Passmore was hooked on prescription opiates. According to ProPublica, Duntsch's residency and fellowship records show less than 100 surgeries. They numbed the pain radiating from his lower back, down each of his legs. 33 of his 37 surgeries were botched, with two dead and 31 injured for life. It took the Texas Medical Board one whole year to investigate and finally revoke Duntsch's license. There is no face to the monster you are hearing about, the one destroying lives. He promises to take all pain and suffering away. Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, a former Texas-based neurosurgeon, maimed dozens of his victims and killed at least two. The world at large may have never heard of Dr. Death but for Laura Beil. When he finally turned up again, he was made to attended a program for impaired physicians. I dont want to be on Channel 8, I dont want to be on Inside Edition. Young was 27 when they met; Duntsch was 40. She was dancing at a strip club then, and Duntschs business problems were growing more severe. Young puts Morgan there, too, although Morgan denied it in her deposition. Duntsch was described asa precocious boy and a bright student. (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.) 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. AnnaSophia Robb, 27, portrays Michelle Shughart, the assistant district attorney on Dr. Death's case. But Hoyle says an X-ray later showed it was positioned too far to the left. He thought surgery might give him some relief, eliminate the need for drugs, solve both problems at once. In October 2011, she registered articles of incorporation to form Duntschs practice, the Texas Neurosurgical Institute. But the same law also helps these very hospitals in keeping doctor credentials confidential. Jurors convicted Duntsch Tuesday of injury to an elderly person in the botched July 2012 surgery that put Mary Efurd in a wheelchair. It's thrilling if uncomfortable to listen. The fault also lies with the Texas law. And yet the actual tragedy is that someone could have stopped it. Henderson was brought in to operate two days later. Dallas Magazine statesthatDuntsch became key in supplying samples to scientists for research. He works out, he reads, he studies the Bible. She fell pregnant with their first son, Aiden, not long after that. Matt Goodman is the online editorial director for. He cant run or swim with his children. He said, "What I am being is what I am, one of kind, a mother f****r stone cold killer that can buy or own or steal or ruin or build whatever he wants.". I cannot recall a physician being indicted for aggravated assault for acts committed during surgery, says Toby Shook, a Dallas defense attorney who spent 23 years working as a Dallas County prosecutor. His next patient, Floella Brown was 63. 'Dr. Death' on Peacock: The True Story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch and Duntsch has a court date next month for the shoplifting case along with the unrelated matter of a criminal trespass complaint filed against him last fall. He was the eldest of four. Whatever happened, he was gone from Minimally Invasive Spine Institutebut not from Baylor Plano. Why Did Dr. Death Do It? 'Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story - Distractify Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr Death / Joshua Jackson 6 A string of arrests for DWI, shoplifting, and more followed. All we can say ishes fine.. There Duntsch secured a job as a minimally invasive spine surgeon at. 'Sociopath' Surgeon Duntsch Arrested for Shoplifting Pants The operation continued. It wasnt until lawsuits were filed that the alleged drug use became public. According to Dallas Magazine, a woman named Megan Kane remembered how Duntsch partied with her onhis birthday. Boop told Henderson that Duntsch had been sent to an impaired physician program when he refused to take a drug test after an anonymous woman called to say she had seen him use cocaine, but he had been allowed to return to finish his residency. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Plus, she was struggling financially. The Real Story Behind the Dr. Death Podcast - Christopher Duntsch 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. Where Is Christopher Duntsch's Wife Wendy Renee Young Now? He met Duntsch that day in the physician lounge at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, where the operation occurred. The arrest report said he was driving on two flat tires. Where Is Dr. Christopher Duntsch aka . Theres no blank here for that.. The doctor in the strange case is now 50 years old. He was the oldest of fourhe has two brothers, Nathan and Matt, and a sister, Lizand attended a private high school. Creating cells from a culture would eliminate the need for human extraction; there was huge potential upside. The 78-year-old Denton County man was then Dr. Christopher Duntsch's first patient when the surgeon started performing spinal fusions in 2011. Patrick Clerkin, a longtime friend, stopped at the doorway with his two kids as well as Passmores 7- and 9-year-old girls. Baldwin, 63, plays a more mature character to his onscreen partner Christian Slaters zany one, with the two pairing up in quest to end Dr Deaths medical career and bring him to justice. Now keep in mind, Morgan herself was at the wrong end of some of these suits. But before he left, he happened to see a fax come in to the medical examiners office. Within months, she says, he had offers in Dallas, San Diego, and New York. At Baylor Regional Medical Center, during a simple laminectomy, Duntsch slashed one of Martin's major arteries butrefused to admit his mistake. Those are the words that Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a Dallas neurosurgeon, wrote to his girlfriend in 2011 in the midst of a two-year period that left 33 of his 38 patients maimed, wounded or. In actuality, Duntschhad severely deformed Mayfield's spinal column and left him immobilized from mid-chest down to his toes. This would be the first and last time Hoyle worked next to Duntsch. 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. 12 Unnerving Facts About Dr. Death Christopher Duntsch - Ranker His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary, and his mother, Susan, was a schoolteacher. At The University of Tennessee, his supervisors were also investors in Duntsch's company, Discgenics. Duntsch then joined Dallas Medical Center. He says Fennells surgery went so well that he agreed to be in a commercial for Baylor Plano. Will it help patients protect their rights? Then it just started to all unravel.. When the Texas Medical Board revoked his license, Duntsch's reign of surgical terror had run its course. Christopher Duntsch, once a supremely confident neurosurgeon with a solid rsum and a wealth of potential, fled town in disgrace last year under a scalding cascade . Duntsch is now living out his life behind bars, but Young told CNBC'sAmerican Greed earlier this year that the former neurosurgeon still regularly talks with his two young sons. It was pouring out of the epidural blood vessels and pooling in the disc space. 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 . 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. Then he also took prescription painkillers and ate a paper blotter of LSD. He later told Duntsch to his face that he was dangerous. But it was growing increasingly clear that his opportunities were running out. On April 9, 2013, Mayfield underwent surgery performed by Duntsch to remove a troublesome disk from his spine. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. 'Dr. Death' tells true story about killer surgeon There were two names on the top page: Kellie Martin and Christopher Duntsch. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 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. But what Duntsch hadnt counted on was the Dallas County District Attorneys Office. What made him cause damage, trauma and even death to his patients? Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months asa practicing surgeon atmultiple Texas hospitals until hehad his license revoked in 2013. In March 2012, Duntsch performed alaminectomy on Kellie Martin to reduce her back pain after afallat home. 'Dr. Death' Peacock series: Who is Christopher Duntsch? Memphis ties Anatomy of a Tragedy: The Story Behind 'Sociopath Surgeon' Christopher If he could do 50Shades of Grey and some scandalous modeling, playing a menacing Dr. Death should be a piece of cake, right? Duntsch allegedly arrivedat the hospital three hours after the surgery wasplanned to start and began the procedure. At that point, the administration revoked his privileges. In July 2015, indictments came through. Because of a valuable patent the company owned, they let him through the gates and out into the world. He decided to turn to clinical work. He ran two labs, is listed as one of three inventors on a successful patent, raised millions of dollars in grant funding, and once gave a tour to the governor of Tennessee as he explained the stem cell research occurring at the university. Christopher Duntsch: The Remorseless Killer Surgeon Called 'Dr. Death' 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. 5 years after 'Dr. Death,' doctors still come to - KXAN Austin Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! There was a dissection of one patients esophagus, and screws that an indictment labeled far too long that caused significant blood loss in another patient. Morgan was present in the operating room during Passmores surgery. He stayed at the University of Tennessee for his surgical residency, spending the standard five years on neurosurgery and one year learning general surgery. She woke up with severe pain and couldnt stand. This despite the drug problems as well as incomplete residency training. So, I went back to Dallas. He was friendly, and we had good conversation. Doctor convicted of botched surgery gets life sentence - WFAA Morgan, in her deposition, said Duntsch called her to say he got lost going to the lab and never took the test. Michael Rimlawi and Douglas Wonthe pair then owned the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute in North Dallasrecruited him from Memphis to join the practice. Ignatova believes this to be deliberate. Death after botching 33 of38 surgeries over a two-year span, inside the apartment covered in blood, holding her gun in one hand and a knife in the other, she said. And this was 10 months before Duntsch's last surgery. Christopher Duntsch has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. I was on the third story.. Dr. Death might not have cared about being a surgeon, just the prestige that came with it. Summers declined an interview in Memphis and would not answer questions on the phone. He had blood all over him. I dont want my name out there. 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. Let's delve into what made him tick, and how the medical community failed the victims of Dr. Christopher Daniel Duntsch. And what stops another physicianfrom turning into the next Dr. Death? Becker's Hospital Review covered the 13 worst physicians of 2017, as named by Medscape. Duntsch, again, maintains this wasnt true. Such behavior did not go unnoticed by the other doctors. 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. 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. Wendy Renee Young met Duntsch at a bar in Memphis. When Duntsch tried to reposition it, he stripped a screw; the cage wasnt going anywhere. 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. Duntsch was taken to jail for what Young referred to as a time out but his erratic behavior wouldnt end there. Soon, when Duntsch was requesting privileges at Baylor Plano, Robertson sent a letter to the hospital verifying Duntschs training. Was this a way of keeping the University of Tennessee's ranking up? All Duntsch got was a slap on the wrist while his blood-soaked foray into the OR continued. 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. Lopez answers Henderson's frustrationin a somber tone, sayingthat while you may know a doctor is bad, gathering evidence takes time. Kirby reported having direct knowledge of seven patients that Dr. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. 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 . On July 1, 2011, Duntsch and Baylor Plano agreed to an inducement deal. Maybe thats how they do it in Tennessee, but according to my training, thats not how they do it here. Wendy Young Says Christopher Duntsch Broke Into Home Covered In Blood Take the case of Dr. Death, aka Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Of that set, two died and 31 were paralyzed or seriously injured. 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. The real question isn't why Dr. Duntsch did what he did. Six weeks after her death on March 12, 2012, the medical examiner ruled her fate an accident. Not a single doctor, surgeon, staff, or the pathologist of the autopsy every [sic] stated that I surgically caused vascular injury, he wrote. There are 31 people left alive today, irreparably damaged by Dr. Death's grievous malpractices. 11:15 PM on Mar 1, 2014 CST. Armed with Baylors declaration that it never amended his privileges, Duntsch found work in four months. Thats when we stumbled across the gap, Passmore says. 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. Sort of. We certainly would not knowingly allow one person to compromise the level of quality care that we have worked so hard and invested so much to achieve for our patients and our community.. Like Summers, Floella Browns vertebral artery was damaged, causing massive bleeding. He wears a gray-and-black-striped uniform, not unlike a set of scrubs. His childhood was seemingly great. They listened, judged and found Duntsch guilty, and sentenced him to life in prison, reports USA Today. I'd call him a sociopath." By the time the Dallas County district attorney's office got involved and brought criminal charges against. He recorded conversations with Foley, the head of the fellowship program, and Boop, the chairman. She was deposed over Skype since, at the time, she was stationed with the Air Force in the Middle East. Christopher Duntsch, Known As Dr. Death, Maimed His Patients Through Routine Back Surgery. That's when he moved to Colorado to live with his parents. Duntschdestroyed the lives of numerous patients who were seeking relief from back problems. It is during this period that Duntschs carefully built faade began showing its first cracks. He went back to the sourcethe University of Tennessee Health Science Center. 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. They met as Duntsch was looking for opportunities in an operating room somewhere. Year: 2004-2018 Starring: Michael Peterson Genre: Docuseries Rating: TV-MA Seasons: 1 (14 episodes) Director: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade Trailer: Watch here This doesn . She was also present for Summers operation. Dr. Death is now also going to be a TV show with Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin playing main roles. Kane came into the picture as a deposition witness. This is accomplished by: Establishing quality . Unfortunately, it became the patients' burden to bear. According to him, Duntsch had a "great work ethic" and no areas of weakness. Nurse who worked with Dr. Duntsch recalls his experiences - YouTube Meanwhile, Brown went brain dead and passed away. An incredibly difficult thing to prove. The Dallas County DA, along with fighting against these very laws, was also running out of time. Baylor calls the allegations against it extremely frustrating and difficult and reiterates that Duntsch came with references from multiple sources who worked with him in his residency and fellowship training programs., To put these misleading allegations into fair context, Baylor Plano is part of a hospital system that has made substantial investments over several decades to continuously enhance the quality of care we provide our patients, and we have gained many recognitions for these processes. 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. Dubbed angels of death, they leave a trail of damage andloss for many reasons: human fallibility, malaise, or malice. She worked with Dr Henderson and Dr Kirby to bring Duntsch to justice, talking to everyone from his life, both from after he became a doctor and from when he was still training to be one. 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 . He broke into her home a second time in the incident where he was covered in blood and also allegedly began harassing personal injury attorney Kay Van Wey, who represented many of his former patients, in a series of rambling emails. He wrote grants and secured more than $3 million in funding.