Duntsch's license was finally revoked in June 2013, after he had killed two patients and maimed 31 others. But hospital after hospital passed the buck. 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. Robot, True Romance, Very Bad Things, and Robot Chicken. Dr. Robert Henderson, a spine surgeon who has practiced in Dallas for more than 30 years, started digging after being assigned corrective surgery on two of Duntschs patients. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. In early 2014, he was arrested for DUI and sent to rehab, according to ProPublica. But that isn't the scariest part. Quality Policy. And scary as it may seem, it's only when we listen to podcasts like these, do we realize the reality of medical horror stories. Unequivocally, testified an expert witness, a neurosurgeon should stop practicing after incurring multiple patient deaths and severe outcomes. According to court documents, Rimlawi soon grew suspicious of Duntsch. In April 2012, just over four months removed from that initial surgery, Passmore returned to work. They numbed the pain radiating from his lower back, down each of his legs. Before he cheated, before he lied. 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. Other doctors had to perform surgery to save his life. What made him cause damage, trauma and even death to his patients? After his arrest, he still had those loving parents. Was this a way of keeping the University of Tennessee's ranking up? For Duntsch, the path into medicine was unconventional and, perhaps, a reflection of his tendency to fixate on unlikely goals. We need to talk about this, Hoyle said, locking eyes with him. St. Jude refuted this by saying there was no such program there at that time. Dallas, Texas 75201. In it, he is yelling at Maria Lopez, the medical board investigator assigned to Duntsch's case in January 2013, demanding to know why he was still practicing. They dont want to go participate in any extraneous activities, and he was totally fine going to work.. Nobody stopped him soon enough. Duntsch grew up in a middle-class family. Lee Passmores friends and family heard him before they saw him. Not a single doctor, surgeon, staff, or the pathologist of the autopsy every [sic] stated that I surgically caused vascular injury, he wrote. Slater is also known for his roles in Mr. One such recommendation came from the surgeon under whom Duntsch completed his residency, Dr. Frederick Boop. His dad is a physical therapist. That July, Duntsch was firing off panicked emails to his business partners at 4 am on a Monday morning: My reputation has been ruined, he wrote. She suffered a massive posterior circulation stroke and was transferred to UT Southwestern Medical Center. 33 of his surgeries went horribly wrong. 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. I dont know if hes there to harm me or what his true intentions were, she said in the docuseries. He was the oldest of fourhe has two brothers, Nathan and Matt, and a sister, Lizand attended a private high school. 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 told Morgan a different story. Passmore also learned about Kenneth Fennell, a 68-year-old who alleged in a lawsuit that, during a November procedure, Duntsch operated on the wrong body part. It's thrilling if uncomfortable to listen. Armed with Baylors declaration that it never amended his privileges, Duntsch found work in four months. To add to this, his so-called Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center may also be dubious. The Hippocratic Oath is sworn by all doctors and binds them to do no harm. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. Young let him buy her an appletini, and they hit it off. I look at my children, I felt like, How am I gonna explain this to them?. Dr Christopher Duntsch is accused of causing agony to countless patients or worse during the three years he practiced medicine in Dallas. The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education has strict rules about residency programs. Many shake and tremble, some have unimaginable pain. Christopher Duntsch Early Life Story, Family Background and Education. It said, Anyone close to me thinks that I likely am something between god, einstein, and the antichrist. At that point, the administration revoked his privileges. He was shocked at the CT scan: the spinal fusion hardware sat in her soft tissue. Some never went to trial and had out-of-court settlements. There was Kellie Martin, who died from massive blood loss after a surgery at Baylor Plano. Strangely enough, Dr. Boop also mentioned, "I have not operated with Chris." He announced that he would be removing the ligament that separates the disc from the spinal canal. A husband and wife pair of Russian stem cell scientists, Valery Kukekov and Tatyana Ignatova entered the picture. Passmore later discovered that, less than a week after his second surgery, Duntsch had operated on 45-year-old Barry Morguloff. Some hospitals may be reluctant toreport doctors who have allegedly caused bodily harm topatients. In reality, he makes everything so, so much worse. The attorneys claimed she knew about the drugs and his drug-addled OR trips but did nothing to stop them. 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. Prodigal Son actress Molly Griggs takes on the role of Wendy Young, who was Duntsch's girlfriend and is the mother of his kids. In it,was a mirror with cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill on top. 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 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. She was deposed over Skype since, at the time, she was stationed with the Air Force in the Middle East. Such behavior did not go unnoticed by the other doctors. Days after Duntsch returned, he was fired. We are committed to achieving this mission by delivering high-quality products that meet or exceed customer requirements. 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. 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. The shocking story of a madman with a scalpel. Not long after, Young said Duntsch broke into her apartment for the first time. It is during this period that Duntschs carefully built faade began showing its first cracks. But Morguloffs suit describes him being in excruciating pain and telling nurses that his pain was a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Mary Efurd, 74, was to have two vertebrae fused, linked by a metal plate. In real life, after helping the ADA Michelle Shughart send Duntsch to jail, Dr Henderson continues to practice medicine in Texas. It was hearsay, he contended. Texas tort reform laws cap the amount that patients can sue physicians for malpractice at $250,000. The deal required Duntsch to gain privileges at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. Or was Duntsch just good at hiding his true self? My entire house had been turned upside down.. When his patient woke up in the recovery room unable to move his extremities, Duntsch failed to perform a CAT scan or MRI. She says his favorite saying was You can kiss my black ass while Im watching black-girl porn on my monitor. Which may help explain why she didnt report the three-page email he sent on December 9, 2011. He may have figured, at first, that he was protected. She fell pregnant with their first son, Aiden, not long after that. I'd call him a sociopath." By the time the Dallas County district attorney's office got involved and brought criminal charges against. While staying with his parents outside Denver, he was stopped for driving under the influence. Soon though, red flags began to pop up. Or, they should be: the scientists names are misspelled. Santa Clarita Diet's Dominic Burgess plays Jerry Summers, a former patient and best friend of Dr Death's. Dallas most important news stories of the week, delivered to your inbox each Sunday. Most of the time, she said, their relationship was confined to his office. Digging into Christopher Duntsch's personal and professional life, Dr. Death paints a detailed portrait of a possible sociopath. Duntschcrammed a surgical sponge into the wound, then sewed it up. Governor Greg Abbott, then the attorney general, even waded into the whole mess, filing a brief in Passmores suit in support of the law. Martin paid with her lifebecause her doctor was too proud to say he screwed up. Hoyle stepped in front of Duntsch to block his way. The statute of limitations made them base their case on only six victims. 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. He was the first surgeon to do so, but not the last. 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.. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. They had discovered stem cells in human brain tumors. Beil's somber reporting on the Wondery podcast titled Dr. Death will send chills down your spine. AnnaSophia Robb, 27, portrays Michelle Shughart, the assistant district attorney on Dr. Death's case. He hadnt seen it with his own eyes. The real question is:Why couldn't anyone stop him in time? He filed for bankruptcy in Denver, and wound up selling off the shares in Discgenics for a tenth of their value. But upon seeing that name, he took it to his boss, Dr. William Rohr. To fellow surgeon Mark Hoyle, he said, "Everybody's doing it wrong. He signed a physician services agreement on May 24, 2011, with Rimlawi and Wons Minimally Invasive Spine Institute. Lopez answers Henderson's frustrationin a somber tone, sayingthat while you may know a doctor is bad, gathering evidence takes time. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana and spent most of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Christopher Duntsch, better known as Doctor Death, is serving a life sentence at a Texas prison today. 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. But then came that fax, and he saw Duntschs name next to Kellie Martins. Slater plays Dr. Randall Kirby while Baldwin is Dr. Robert Henderson. Duntsch was told to take a drug test but disappeared instead. Base compensation was $600,000 a year for two years, beginning on June 14, 2011. He also vibrateshis chest shakes, his right hand jitters. If he could do 50Shades of Grey and some scandalous modeling, playing a menacing Dr. Death should be a piece of cake, right? Hell tell you as much. The other survivors suffered damage, disability,and excruciating pain. Young and Duntsch have two sons. 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. And what stops another physicianfrom turning into the next Dr. Death? 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. Duntsch allegedly arrivedat the hospital three hours after the surgery wasplanned to start and began the procedure. Everything On His Family And Wikipedia Bio 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.