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.". If he could do 50Shades of Grey and some scandalous modeling, playing a menacing Dr. Death should be a piece of cake, right? But Duntsch soldiered on. Plus, she was struggling financially. Duntschmade the incision in the wrong place before nicking a vertebral artery, confusing the muscles in Glidewell's neck for a tumor, cutting into his vocal cords, and removing a piece of hisesophagus. Not long after, Young said Duntsch broke into her apartment for the first time. That only lasted for a short while, as he dove deep into the role to bring out the evil of the real-life character in the eight-episode series, he told New York Post. In the months following his surgery, Passmore focused on recovery and getting back to work. She told D Magazine they named the boys Aiden and Preston. Who else is left? He would climb a ladder and take aerial photos of crime scenes to aid in the death investigation. Lee Passmores friends and family heard him before they saw him. He was born in Montana, but his family settled in a suburb east of Memphis where the median household income is about $30,000 higher than the rest of the country. I am beginning to think the police are the only ones intellectually and physically capable of getting to the bottom of this matter, he wrote. Duntsch's initial presentation bowled him over. The notorious neurosurgeon was forced to declare bankruptcy shortly after and moved back in with his parents in Colorado. His emails were crazy, Van Wey recalled in the docuseries. This led to another 20 patients suffering. But patient advocates and the surgeons that mobilized to rid him of his license say that Duntsch was the perfect storm. 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. They eventually went back to his home, dancing to music under a disco ball he had in his office. For Duntsch, the path into medicine was unconventional and, perhaps, a reflection of his tendency to fixate on unlikely goals. Whatever happened, he was gone from Minimally Invasive Spine Institutebut not from Baylor Plano. 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. Joshua Jackson stars as Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a twisted neurosurgeon who goes on a malpractice rampage in the halls of the hospitals that are inattentive and neglectful enough to employ him . He lost everything, so having to face the reality was very hard for him.. You know, hell call and say goodnight to his boys, um, sometimes hell have bedtime stories and try to be as normal as possible.. He did earnhis M.D., doing so well that he was among the 12 percent of medical school graduates in his class named to the elite Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. Today, Duntsch is serving a life imprisonment term in a Texas prison, and he's now the subject of an NBC Peacock netstreaming series featuring some big-name, A . Even the hospitals that he worked for kept enabling him, according to a report by the Dallas County prosecutors. In real life, after helping the ADA Michelle Shughart send Duntsch to jail, Dr Henderson continues to practice medicine in Texas. The two met at a Memphis strip club. Let's delve into what made him tick, and how the medical community failed the victims of Dr. Christopher Daniel Duntsch. The real question is:Why couldn't anyone stop him in time? Prodigal Son actress Molly Griggs takes on the role of Wendy Young, who was Duntsch's girlfriend and is the mother of his kids. And yet the actual tragedy is that someone could have stopped it. 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. While staying with his parents outside Denver, he was stopped for driving under the influence. It was pouring out of the epidural blood vessels and pooling in the disc space. The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education has strict rules about residency programs. It was something that made us all nervous, but we never had any proof, Boop said in the phone call. His investors took him to court. According to Young, there was even a ransom note for her and her two children written in blood. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News . I think he built up this idea in his head of who he was and what he was going to do with his life and now all of that has disappeared and wasnt coming back, I think he finds himself in a state where hes struggling to figure out, who am I now? Shughart said in the series. Duntsch did his surgical residency at The University of Tennessee. 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. During this time, out of three procedures, one patient died and another was partially paralyzed. Attorney James Girards was representing Lee Passmore, one of Duntsch's victims and reached out to her. Passmore, an investigator by trade and by nature, started digging. 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. Like, he wasnt scared. At that point, the administration revoked his privileges. Later, he filed for bankruptcy and moved in with his parents in Colorado. Joshua Jackson as Dr. Christopher Duntsch Asked if he had a chance to meet with Duntsch, who's now serving a life sentence for maiming Mary Efurd during what should have been routine surgery,. Its hard to find good conversation with a random person, Young says. But then came that fax, and he saw Duntschs name next to Kellie Martins. Duntschs reputation took another dive in April of 2015 when he was arrested for shoplifting at a local Walmart. He was the eldest of four. According to his lawsuit, Morguloff wound up with searing pain in his back and left leg from bone fragments lodged in his spinal canal during the operation, which were only discovered eight months later when he sought a second opinion. He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he starred in football. That venue is a civil or federal jury trial, and I would accept that if it gave the way forward to disclose, remedy, address what happened at DMC with these patients., Henderson, like Passmore, began his own investigation. 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. He wanted to find who Duntsch trained under, who his supervisors were. At The University of Tennessee, his supervisors were also investors in Duntsch's company, Discgenics. 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. Then it just started to all unravel.. Did these doctors truly not see though Duntsch? She also says they snorted cocaine from a small pile that he kept on a dresser in his home office. A couple of months later, FloellaBrown came to Duntsch for a cervical fusion to alleviate her neck and shoulder pain. They numbed the pain radiating from his lower back, down each of his legs. DR Death, Peacocks new limited series starring Joshua Jackson, is based on a true story, and we have your look at photos comparing the cast with their real-life counterparts. Such behavior did not go unnoticed by the other doctors. The 31 people who survived Dr. Duntsch's scalpel face a struggle for the rest of their lives. He was shocked at the CT scan: the spinal fusion hardware sat in her soft tissue. Prosecutors used testimony from patients and the doctors who corrected their surgeries to argue that Duntsch's outcomes were more than mere medical error. 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. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! And you are one of the lucky ones." In September 2014, after he and Young had separated, Duntsch was arrested for jumping the fence of Youngs sisters Garland home and attempting to take their child, Aiden. If he wasnt doing research, he was out with Jerry Summers, partying, Morgan said in the deposition. According to ProPublica, Boop was aware of a complaint Duntsch used drugs before seeing patients. 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. It wasnt until lawsuits were filed that the alleged drug use became public. Ultimately, Duntsch'shorrific mistakes made during surgeryand alleged drug use caught up with him. You'd think that a surgeon who was this bad would have some mud spattered on him on the internet. 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. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. A string of arrests for DWI, shoplifting, and more followed. But Hoyle says an X-ray later showed it was positioned too far to the left. During Brown's surgery, Duntsch pierced her vertebral artery. Morgan, in her deposition, said Duntsch called her to say he got lost going to the lab and never took the test. DiscGenics' mission is to improve the lives of those debilitated by degenerative diseases of the spine through development of innovative regenerative therapies. On Jan. 10, 2014, Denver police arrested him for driving under the influence. It still feels as if his feet are asleep. The fault also lies with the Texas law. Somebody knocks back and I am like Who in the f---is in my house, Young recalled in the four-part Peacock docuseries, (And if you want to dive even deeper into the story, you can also watch the scripted drama, on Peacock, starring Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin, and Christian Slater. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. He recorded conversations with Foley, the head of the fellowship program, and Boop, the chairman. GQ calls it the scariest podcast of 2019. He couldnt help it. Nobody can recognize whether it was ours or not! Ignatova says. 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. They had discovered stem cells in human brain tumors. I thought is this somebody that youve pissed off? 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. His mom was a teacher. Duntsch, again, maintains this wasnt true. He wanted to ask them questions. Hed received a letter from University General Hospital in South Dallas, verifying Duntschs training. Suite 2100 He was constantly involved in research, and, around 2006, he saw a way to commercialize discoveries by renowned Russian stem cell scientists Valery Kukekov and Tatyana Ignatova, a husband-and-wife team. Now, one of the several complaints against the . As these cases became public record, rumors circulated of late-night partying leading into early-morning rounds, and whispers of drug and alcohol abuse became shouts. It was clear to anyone whos not a complete idiot that they were a thing, he says. Foley said Duntsch was satisfactory in his fellowship, that he saw no evidence of the things he was accused of in Dallas happening in Memphis. Its less than a millimeter from the spinal canal. I was on the third story.. When the Texas Medical Board revoked his license, Duntsch's reign of surgical terror had run its course. While the school refused to verify or deny his claims, he wasn't in any of the yearbooks of that time. She says she didnt hear or see any altercation between Duntsch and Mark Hoyleher view was blocked by a microscope, and the combined hum of the EKG machine and the oxygen cylinder drowned out the sound of Hoyles pleading, if there was any. It wasnt his invention, Kukekov says. He was so appalled at the results of the procedures that he faxed a photo of Duntsch to the University of Tennessee to see if the surgeon was an impostor. The real question isn't why Dr. Duntsch did what he did. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Preston was born in September 2014 while she was living with her sister in Garland, Texas. In the Dallas medical community, Christopher Duntsch was seen as a rising star. At the time, Young was giving birth to their second boy. His CV proclaims that he earned a doctorate in microbiology from the prestigious St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, graduating summa cum laude. He was the oldest of fourhe has two brothers, Nathan and Matt, and a sister, Lizand attended a private high school. The University of Tennessee refused to comment on grounds of confidentiality, but neurosurgeon Dr. Frederick Boop, under whom Duntsch completed his residency, knew. With Ignatova and Kukekov in tow, he filed patents under a company he founded. 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. (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.). It was a downward spiral pretty rapidly after he lost his license, Young said in the docuseries. Later, attorneys would sit on the stairwell of her Skillman Street apartment. It said, Anyone close to me thinks that I likely am something between god, einstein, and the antichrist. His work ethic, character, and ability to get along with others were beyond reproach, Robertson wrote. But Dr. William Rohr did editorialize in his conclusion: The collection of blood was most likely the result of a therapeutic misadventure. Duntsch blames the death on an allergy to fentanyl, a powerful narcotic often used in intubation. Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. In the deposition, she states that Duntsch snorted cocaine from a handy pile he kept on a dresser at his home. 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. When Mary Efurd could no longer walk, Dallas Medical Center called in Dr. Henderson to salvage the botched surgery. She suffered a massive posterior circulation stroke and was transferred to UT Southwestern Medical Center. 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. 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. She enlisted Duntsch to help fix it. In July 2015, he was indicted by a Dallas County grand jury on six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (his hands and surgical tools). 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 Baylor Regional Medical Center,after botched surgeries and complaints from fellow doctors, Duntsch resigned. By December, Duntsch wrangled privileges at Legacy Surgery Center of Frisco, and Kirby, in his letter to the Texas Medical Board, narrated another grim outcome: Jacqueline Troys vocal cord was paralyzed, and her esophagus and trachea had become connected, an unheard of complication. A corrective surgery happened two weeks later, after she arrived at the emergency room of Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas, where Kirby practiced. He may have figured, at first, that he was protected. He was friendly, and we had good conversation. In a statement, the hospital said it cooperated with the Texas Medical Board when asked, and did not file its own complaint because it was aware someone else already had. This is accomplished by: Establishing quality . The seeds of greed were sown. Young was 27 when they met; Duntsch was 40. What turned Dr. Christopher Duntsch into Dr. Death? Next week marks the five-year anniversary of Texas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch being sentenced to life in prison. Anton Floquet/NBCUniversal, I knocked on my door. He harmed the very people who trusted him. Around May 2013, Henderson got a call from Foley, the fellowship supervisor. He was the first surgeon to do so, but not the last. She passedfromblood loss in the ICU. "You don't know this yet, but you will never walk again. She was a National . Or, they should be: the scientists names are misspelled. Nerve pain now fires through his back, the result of a screw lodged in a nerve bundle. Sort of. 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. He wears a gray-and-black-striped uniform, not unlike a set of scrubs. 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. I have taken one selfie in my lifeon a dare. 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 . He also vibrateshis chest shakes, his right hand jitters. Christopher Duntsch has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. Because of a valuable patent the company owned, they let him through the gates and out into the world. The procedure was routine and involved removing bone tissue in the spine to alleviate pressure on afflicted nerves. The two broke up in 2014, at which time Wendy was pregnant with their second child. He kept her on after splitting from Rimlawi and Won. Dr Death, un nuevo programa que llegar a Peacock el jueves (15 de julio), se basa en la historia de la vida real de Christopher Duntsch, un ex neurocirujano que era, como dijo un famoso titular de ProPublica, "tan malo que era criminal".. Joshua Jackson interpreta a Duntsch, que ahora tiene 50 aos y cumple cadena perpetua despus de ser condenado en 2017 por mutilar a uno de sus . Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 28, 2021 Duntsch pleaded not guilty. Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couples son. Texas tort reform laws cap the amount that patients can sue physicians for malpractice at $250,000. It's thrilling if uncomfortable to listen. We are committed to achieving this mission by delivering high-quality products that meet or exceed customer requirements. Duntsch filed patents for each discovery, and two companies were soon created. That same month, Kirby wrote, he, along with the Glidewell family, brought the case to prosecutors and asked to press charges. Duntsch calls thisand most other claimsnonsense. Duntsch placed a surgical cage where the disc was, to widen the opening around the nerve roots and relieve the pressure that was causing Passmores pain. 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. Dubbed angels of death, they leave a trail of damage andloss for many reasons: human fallibility, malaise, or malice. When he finally turned up again, he was made to attended a program for impaired physicians. In it,was a mirror with cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill on top. Meanwhile, his patients kept suffering, and dying, in his OR. It is during this period that Duntschs carefully built faade began showing its first cracks. The other, Discgenics, was more successful; it still owns the patent for the technology. There are some who believe that he never wanted to be in the ORat all. Every patient mentioned in this story who has sued, except for Passmore, has settled. But what Duntsch hadnt counted on was the Dallas County District Attorneys Office. Young said Duntschfollowed her and told her he could explain the bizarre scene. When the story about Christopher Duntsch finally broke, it affected his patients, or rather, hisvictims, but many people missed it. His dad is a physical therapist. Duntsch ended up slicing her vertebral artery, stopping blood and oxygen flow to her brain. The life in prison sentence was a deathblow to Duntsch, who, according to his father, was now a humbled man who had lost everything. Hes jailed on a $600,000 bond, and his trial is set for January 31, 2017. Christopher Duntsch didn't. Duntsch, Kukekov, and Ignatova are listed as its inventors. Lee Passmore cant feel his feet. 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. is a beautiful and populous city located in Montana U.S. . By this time, Summers, the childhood friend, had come to live with Duntsch, too. Becker's Hospital Review covered the 13 worst physicians of 2017, as named by Medscape. I dont know if hes there to harm me or what his true intentions were, she said in the docuseries. Duntsch also received 40 percent of all revenue he generated beyond $800,000 each year. We talked about marriage pretty quickly. He has left a novels worth of defenses on the web, in PDFs, and in comments below news stories. I dont want my name out there. Passmore says the space above a disc in his lower spine had been blown out in the first surgery, and Duntsch returned to pick out the pieces. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Meanwhile, Brown went brain dead and passed away. His license gone, Duntsch went off the rails. I was just like Whatever, Im out of here, Young recalled. She was also present for Summers operation. In 2005, partway through the six-year program,he became the director of the tissue bank. Some never went to trial and had out-of-court settlements. Young was evicted at least twice. All we can say ishes fine.. Also present, according to Kane, was Jerry Summers, the childhood friend who would later wake up a quadriplegic after a Duntsch operation. Peacock's new grisly drama tells the real-life story of Dallas-area neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who killed or maimed more than 30 patients in the 2010s. You, my child, are the only one between me and the other side, he wrote. The hospital called Rimlawi when it couldnt reach his colleague. Maybe thats how they do it in Tennessee, but according to my training, thats not how they do it here. It was a revision of a patient whom he originally operated on at Baylor Plano. 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. Philip Mayfield experienced back pain and chronic conditions related to his longtime career driving tractor-trailers. And yet they occurred in Duntschs operating rooms over a period of just two years. For years, hed focused on research. Young elaborated in a 2016 D Magazine story on Duntschs troubled career that Duntsch told her his attacker had been an investigator hired by an attorney representing his angry patients, but that account was never verified. Duntsch made a major miscalculation when he ventured south into Dallas to practice. Duntsch has maimed or killed. Hoyle, the surgeon who exposed the incision in Passmore, had also filed a complaint with the board. 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 . She was deposed over Skype since, at the time, she was stationed with the Air Force in the Middle East. Many shake and tremble, some have unimaginable pain. Will it help patients protect their rights? He had blood all over him. He filed for bankruptcy in Denver, and wound up selling off the shares in Discgenics for a tenth of their value. Her bright blond hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and shes wearing a tank top with yoga pants. 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. These medical professionals do irreparable harm to their patients. The deal required Duntsch to gain privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. To add to this, his so-called Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center may also be dubious. Thus, his license was revoked for good on December 6, 2013. But she smiles softly as she talks about those early days with Duntsch, when they were still learning about each others lives. In April 2012, just over four months removed from that initial surgery, Passmore returned to work. On average, a neurosurgeon generates more revenue for a hospital than all other specialties but invasive cardiology and orthopedic surgery. 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. Beil's somber reporting on the Wondery podcast titled Dr. Death will send chills down your spine. Duntsch suspected that this had something to do with his vodka bottle and neurostimulants. It said he was $1 million in debt. A few months after the shoplifting arrest, Duntsch was charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault and injuring an elderly person for the damage he did on the operating table. But they were also, presumably, two consenting adults, and both were, presumably, qualified to fix the pain that was wrecking his lower body. Take the case of Dr. Death, aka Dr. Christopher Duntsch. Morgan was present in the operating room during Passmores surgery. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Duntsch also said he was prepared to embrace the very darkest part of himself. But then he gave Passmore the card of a neurosurgeon named Christopher Duntsch. But hospital after hospital passed the buck. 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. Was it you? Young said in the docuseries. Neurosurgeon Duntsch Found Guilty, Faces Life in Prison, In Duntschs Assault Trial, Questions About His Role After Patient Deaths, In Second Day of Testimony, Doctor Calls Neurosurgeon Duntschs Outcomes Catastrophic. Duntsch filed for bankruptcy and was arrested in Denver for driving under the influence on Jan. 10, 2014, according to local station KCNC-TV. He was gone until Monday. He decided to turn to clinical work. Philip is one of more than 30 people maimed by Dr. Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Dr. Death by the media. To fellow surgeon Mark Hoyle, he said, "Everybody's doing it wrong. But he was apprehended trying to leave the store. This posterior longitudinal ligament is one of the spines two major stabilizers. He was ultimately convicted of injuring an elderly person in connection with Mary Efurds case and was sentenced to life behind bars. On April 9, 2013, Mayfield underwent surgery performed by Duntsch to remove a troublesome disk from his spine. Robot, True Romance, Very Bad Things, and Robot Chicken. She needed drug tests. Armed with Baylors declaration that it never amended his privileges, Duntsch found work in four months. Kukekov and Ignatova say Duntsch took more credit than he deserved for the discoveries. The good-looking but eerie Jamie Dornan. 33 of his 37 surgeries were botched, with two dead and 31 injured for life. 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. Duntsch had a comfortable upbringing.