This could be path-breaking in the future ofcancer treatment andDr. Duntsch sniffed out the opportunity right away. 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. Not long after, Young said Duntsch broke into her apartment for the first time. During the 45-minute surgery, Duntsch cut through one of Martin's arteries. His fellow neurosurgeons found him to be fast-talking and cocksure, a bit of a loner. She, after being in Duntsch's OR, would never walk again. The 51-year-old recently starred in the USA true crime series, Dirty John, opposite Connie Britton. 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. She assumed Morgan was only helping with research. She was a stay-at-home mom to their two children, Preston and Aiden; her income was tied to Duntschs. We talked about marriage pretty quickly. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana and spent most of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee. 33 of his surgeries went horribly wrong. Baylor asked him to resign immediately. Dallas, Texas 75201. On April 9, 2013, Mayfield underwent surgery performed by Duntsch to remove a troublesome disk from his spine. But patient advocates and the surgeons that mobilized to rid him of his license say that Duntsch was the perfect storm. Based on Wondery's viral podcast of the same name, Stan's Dr. Death follows the sinister true story of former American neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who became known as 'Dr. Death' after he left a trail of maimed patients across various hospitals in Texas. "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. Shes 33 now and doesnt live in Dallas anymore. Currently, Discgenics has no mention of Duntsch at all, his history with the company, or that he's the massive elephant in the room. 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. For Duntsch, the path into medicine was unconventional and, perhaps, a reflection of his tendency to fixate on unlikely goals. But the unexpected reunion wasnt a happy one. He kept a handle of Stoli under his desk and said it was because he used to work with Russians. Duntsch'sfinal patient, Jeffrey Glidewell, entered the operating room in2013 to undergo minimally invasive surgery to fix his long-term neck pain. 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. And there were plenty of other signs as well. He didnt contact a lawyer, although he wrestled with the decision. According to Duntsch's colleagueDr. Randall Kirby, Glidewell's procedure was so botched that"Duntsch was forcibly restrained from continuing the surgery by the [operating room] team.". The company, Discgenics, is still going, and still holds the patents, listingDuntsch, Ignatova, and Kukekov as the inventors. Sort of. 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. Yet, instead of saving lives and using his knowledge for good, the opposite happened. 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. In the months following his surgery, Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work. Or at least a morally upright one. 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. The damage is irreversible. Christopher Duntsch was disorganized and undeliberate. In the two years he practiced as a spine surgeon across four Dallas institutions, Duntsch operated on 37 people. Medical Center at Plano.. Lopez answers Henderson's frustrationin a somber tone, sayingthat while you may know a doctor is bad, gathering evidence takes time. Morgan, in her deposition, said Duntsch called her to say he got lost going to the lab and never took the test. Nerve pain now fires through his back, the result of a screw lodged in a nerve bundle. Passmore later discovered that, less than a week after his second surgery, Duntsch had operated on 45-year-old Barry Morguloff. He also vibrateshis chest shakes, his right hand jitters. In fact, he went on to work at two more hospitals. Hes alive. She enlisted Duntsch to help fix it. After graduating as a physician with above-average grades, he had his whole life ahead of him. He wanted to find who Duntsch trained under, who his supervisors were. 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 . Duntsch ended up slicing her vertebral artery, stopping blood and oxygen flow to her brain. The autopsy had not been finished when Passmore accidentally saw the fax from Baylor Plano. Then it just started to all unravel.. After this late-night party,Duntsch went to work the next morning. 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. They listened, judged and found Duntsch guilty, and sentenced him to life in prison, reports USA Today. He would climb a ladder and take aerial photos of crime scenes to aid in the death investigation. 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. With such goings-on, Duntsch got himself kicked out of his own company. He has a job inside the prison. Dr. Death is now also going to be a TV show with Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin playing main roles. The other, Discgenics, was more successful; it still owns the patent for the technology. Unfortunately, it became the patients' burden to bear. Because of a valuable patent the company owned, they let him through the gates and out into the world. But Hoyle says an X-ray later showed it was positioned too far to the left. It wasnt until lawsuits were filed that the alleged drug use became public. That said; the 12 jurors did what the Texas Medical Board should have done. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. According to Texas Medical Board records, Summers vertebral artery was damaged, and he lost more than two liters of blood while intubated. Christopher Duntsch Early Life Story, Family Background and Education. And of course, there are many in the medical field who go above and beyond the call of duty. His CV proclaims that he earned a doctorate in microbiology from the prestigious St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, graduating summa cum laude. And this was 10 months before Duntsch's last surgery. When the Texas Medical Board revoked his license, Duntsch's reign of surgical terror had run its course. The real question is:Can this TV show bring about a change in medical law, or how hospitals treat their patients and doctors? 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. Many shake and tremble, some have unimaginable pain. Like Dr Henderson, Dr Kirby is still a practicing doctor in real life. In September, according to police reports . He couldnt help it. 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. 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. Martin, it turned out, had bled to death in the intensive care unit while undergoing a relatively common procedure known as a laminectomy, which involves removing spongy tissue between the discs to relieve pressure. The good-looking but eerie Jamie Dornan. Brown had a massive stroke overnight that left her in a vegetative state, and her family chose to remove life support days later. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News . Finally, in July 2015, the Dallas County District Attorneys Office followed through. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! The world at large may have never heard of Dr. Death but for Laura Beil. He was the first surgeon to do so, but not the last. I thought is this somebody that youve pissed off? Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch were parents of two kids, Preston and Aiden. Santa Clarita Diet's Dominic Burgess plays Jerry Summers, a former patient and best friend of Dr Death's. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Matt Goodman is the online editorial director for. We are committed to achieving this mission by delivering high-quality products that meet or exceed customer requirements. It was pouring out of the epidural blood vessels and pooling in the disc space. Neurosurgeon residents need to complete 1,000 surgeries as training requirements. His screams poured out of Baylor Planos intensive care unit and down the hallway, creating a panic in his mother. Unlike Baldwin, Slater takes on a more brash and quirky doctor role as Dr Kirby, though both work side by side to help reveal the truth about Duntsch's botched surgeries. 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.