Duntsch has maimed or killed. Hoyle, the surgeon who exposed the incision in Passmore, had also filed a complaint with the board. To fellow surgeon Mark Hoyle, he said, "Everybody's doing it wrong. I have taken one selfie in my lifeon a dare. Why Did Dr. Death Do It? 'Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story - Distractify The procedure was routine and involved removing bone tissue in the spine to alleviate pressure on afflicted nerves. 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. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! DR. DEATHTHE KILLER SURGEON - HOME - Dying Words The world at large may have never heard of Dr. Death but for Laura Beil. And when this podcast tells you all the gory details, you become that patient. Dawsons Creek heartthrob Jackson stars as the titular character of Dr Death, which ended up becoming Duntschs nickname after the accusations came out. Dr. Death Tells the Horrifying True Story of Christopher Duntsch Wendy Young Now: Where is Mother of Christopher Duntsch's Kids Today Slater is also known for his roles in Mr. And what stops another physicianfrom turning into the next Dr. Death? Many shake and tremble, some have unimaginable pain. Duntsch was described asa precocious boy and a bright student. Lopez answers Henderson's frustrationin a somber tone, sayingthat while you may know a doctor is bad, gathering evidence takes time. 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, aka Dr Death / Joshua Jackson 6 Investigations took patients and attorneys back to where Duntsch had had such a promising beginningin Memphis, at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, where he earned both an M.D. He announced that he would be removing the ligament that separates the disc from the spinal canal. Because how can I do anything I want and cross every discipline boundary like its [sic] a playground and never ever lose., Duntsch also said he was prepared to embrace the very darkest part of himself. He always had a plan, always had a pitch, always had a way to fix you. I have lost both companies. He would file for bankruptcy years later, and the filings show that Duntsch has had no managerial role with Discgenics since 2012, when he was removed as a board member and as chief science officer. He wanted to find who Duntsch trained under, who his supervisors were. St. Jude refuted this by saying there was no such program there at that time. Something was wrong, one lawsuit alleges, whether it be impairment from drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or a combination of all three. His first and only surgery with Minimally Invasive Spine Institute was on a Thursday at Baylor Plano. According to Dallas Magazine, Dr. Christopher Duntsch talked a big game. 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. His emails were crazy, Van Wey recalled in the docuseries. He was friendly, and we had good conversation. He was later sentenced to 120 days in jail for the attempted theft, according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. Even the hospitals that he worked for kept enabling him, according to a report by the Dallas County prosecutors. No spam, ever. With Ignatova and Kukekov in tow, he filed patents under a company he founded. The nerve root had been amputated. From the top of his class to life in prison: things did not go as he planned. Dr. Death: Season 1 - TV Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes And this was 10 months before Duntsch's last surgery. NovoStem Therapeutics, which attempted to monetize the cancer stem cell discovery, failed after taking a funding hit during the 2008 recession. In 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty. At Baylor Regional Medical Center, during a simple laminectomy, Duntsch slashed one of Martin's major arteries butrefused to admit his mistake. Duntsch had a comfortable upbringing. Duntschs reputation took another dive in April of 2015 when he was arrested for shoplifting at a local Walmart. If he wasnt doing research, he was out with Jerry Summers, partying, Morgan said in the deposition. She arrived brain-dead. The other survivors suffered damage, disability,and excruciating pain. She didnt think much of it at first. The Texas DA chose six patients to make their case to the jury: Lee Passmore, Barry Morguloff, Jerry Summers, Kellie Martin, Floella Brown, and Mary Efurd. Wendy Renee Young says she met Duntsch in 2011 at the Beauty Shopin Memphis, a bar and restaurant that borrowed its shtick from its past life as a curl-and-dye shop owned by Elvis Presleys ex-wife. But the same law also helps these very hospitals in keeping doctor credentials confidential. They would later have two children. 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 stayed in town for his undergraduate degree, emerging from the University of Memphis in 1994. When the story about Christopher Duntsch finally broke, it affected his patients, or rather, hisvictims, but many people missed 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. He has left a novels worth of defenses on the web, in PDFs, and in comments below news stories. Life After "Death": Lethal Surgeon Sentenced to PrisonWATCH NEXT: Attorney who represented Dr. Duntsch's patients discusses her cases (3 of 5) https://youtu.. She woke up with severe pain and couldnt stand. He says he showed the postoperative imaging to 16 radiologists over six months, all of whom said Morguloff was normal. In November 2011, Passmore was hooked on prescription opiates. It took the Texas Medical Board one whole year to investigate and finally revoke Duntsch's license. This way, no one recognizes them as the inventors. She enlisted Duntsch to help fix it. She assumed Morgan was only helping with research. According to Dallas Magazine, Dr. Christopher Duntsch talked a big game. They listened, judged and found Duntsch guilty, and sentenced him to life in prison, reports USA Today. It still feels as if his feet are asleep. But on January 6, 2012, a week after the surgery, Duntsch went back in. The Hippocratic Oath is sworn by all doctors and binds them to do no harm. The 78-year-old Denton County man was then Dr. Christopher Duntsch's first patient when the surgeon started performing spinal fusions in 2011. Attorney James Girards was representing Lee Passmore, one of Duntsch's victims and reached out to her. Dr. Duntsch is at number one. Young was evicted at least twice. In emails, he alleges that he was at the center of a vast conspiracy to bilk money from the hospitals where he practiced. Neurosurgeon residents need to complete 1,000 surgeries as training requirements. Hes alive. And not just Dallas CountyI dont recall hearing about it anywhere.. The first of these had been college football. During this time, out of three procedures, one patient died and another was partially paralyzed. This led to another 20 patients suffering. The monster in the white coat is all too real. 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. 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. She was also present for Summers operation. But Duntsch soldiered on. According to Dallas Magazine, a woman named Megan Kane remembered how Duntsch partied with her onhis birthday. Duntsch's resume shows a doctorate in microbiology from the St. Jude Children'sResearch Hospital. Or at least a morally upright one. "Dr. Death," which was shot earlier this year in the Albuquerque area and debuted July 15 on the Peacock streaming service, is the story of Christopher Duntsch, who is now serving a life sentence . Young lived there, too, and she says Morgan was a frequent visitor. Thus, his license was revoked for good on December 6, 2013. Some never went to trial and had out-of-court settlements. Strangely enough, Dr. Boop also mentioned, "I have not operated with Chris." After his arrest, he still had those loving parents. Passmore was allowed to resign and still access his long-term disability insurance, which he says hed paid into for more than 10 years. He was taller than 6 feet, with a stubby nose and neatly cropped hair above bright blue eyes, and he had crafted a strategy that endeared him to patients and to referring physicians: Im the best, hed tell them. Duntsch soon appeared and tried to calm them, assuring them that Passmore would be fine in one or two days. The full story of Duntsch's actions can be read in Matt Goodman's D Magazine feature from 2016, when the magazine first coined him "Dr. Death.". "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. It might be Baylor, it might be somebody down in Austin, it might be somebody somewhere, but its the only way you can get your voice out there. Not a single doctor, surgeon, staff, or the pathologist of the autopsy every [sic] stated that I surgically caused vascular injury, he wrote. He rode the desk until he couldnt, when things in the county got too busy and all the examiners were required to take calls away from the office to cover the 200-odd scene visits. 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.". 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. The arrest report says that he was driving on two flat tires, and one was completely gone and was on the rim. Officers found an empty bottle of Mikes Hard Lemonade on the floorboard and a full one in the console. Was Wendy Renee Young Dr. Death's Wife? - Heavy.com He said somebody had been there and they had hit him on the head, she said. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. Morgan didnt follow Duntsch after Baylor Plano. In 2005, about a third of the way through the six-year program, department chairman Dr. Jon Robertson appointed him program director of the schools tissue bank, where hed supply samples to scientists and oversee two labs. According to him, Duntsch had a "great work ethic" and no areas of weakness. Then he also took prescription painkillers and ate a paper blotter of LSD. Duntsch'sfinal patient, Jeffrey Glidewell, entered the operating room in2013 to undergo minimally invasive surgery to fix his long-term neck pain. Dr. Death Actors vs. Their Real-Life Characters - E! Online Unlike a TV series where you get to see the character,a podcast is darker. Plano's Baylor hospital faces hard questions after claims against However, in the Peacock series, the couple is parents to only one child. She fell pregnant with their first son, Aiden, not long after that. His right leg is as stiff as his pressed blue jeans, and when he walks, he appears to use his hips to heave it forward. Finally, in July 2015, the Dallas County District Attorneys Office followed through. 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. Finally, it was the Texas Medical Board (TMB) that acted too late, too little. Days after Duntsch returned, he was fired. Duntsch wrote that he accepted he was a cold-blooded killer. At University General Hospital, Kirby had been granted emergency privileges to operate on a Duntsch patient named Jeffery Glidewell. 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. Where is Christopher Duntsch now? Lee Passmores friends and family heard him before they saw him. He grew up in a middle-class suburb with a teacher mom and a missionary/physical therapist dad. In February 2017, Duntsch, 50, was convicted of a first-degree felony for intentionally injuring an elderly victim. Christopher Duntsch, now known as "Dr. Death," had his medical license revoked in 2013 (more on that below), per Pro Publica.He subsequently moved back in with his parents in Colorado and was . Brings new meaning to the phrase Sunday Funday. In March 2012, Duntsch performed alaminectomy on Kellie Martin to reduce her back pain after afallat home. Dallas most important news stories of the week, delivered to your inbox each Sunday. Duntsch began cheating on. The Staircase (The O.G.). 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. Prodigal Son actress Molly Griggs takes on the role of Wendy Young, who was Duntsch's girlfriend and is the mother of his kids. Morgan was present in the operating room during Passmores surgery. But that isn't the scariest part. Duntsch had only been in the Dallas area for a few months. Governor Greg Abbott, then the attorney general, even waded into the whole mess, filing a brief in Passmores suit in support of the law. Duntsch landed in jail on a $600,000 bond and waited for the trial to begin. He harmed the very people who trusted him. A veteran investigative reporter in the medical field, her voice enthralls. It is during this period that Duntschs carefully built faade began showing its first cracks. 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. Yet they let him resign and passed the bill along for someone else to pay. Dr. Death now: Where is Christopher Duntsch now? Despite receiving complaints dating back to 2012, the Texas Medical Board didnt revoke Duntschs privileges until June 2013. I'd call him a sociopath." By the time the Dallas County district attorney's office got involved and brought criminal charges against. 12 Unnerving Facts About Dr. Death Christopher Duntsch - Ranker He had a lot of animus to me personally. And yet nearly all who met him said they liked him immediately. Somebody knocks back and I am like Who in the f---is in my house, Young recalled in the four-part Peacock docuseries Dr. 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. Martin was his first patient back, and it was the last operation he performed at that hospital. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Christopher Duntsch's medical license was suspended by the State Board after heavy lobbying from his former colleagues and wounded patients on June 26, 2013. He was shocked at the CT scan: the spinal fusion hardware sat in her soft tissue. A string of arrests for DWI, shoplifting, and more followed. 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.. The attorneys claimed she knew about the drugs and his drug-addled OR trips but did nothing to stop them. (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.). He didnt contact a lawyer, although he wrestled with the decision. 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. After graduating as a physician with above-average grades, he had his whole life ahead of him. His pain management specialist advised against an operation. Dr Christopher Duntsch is accused of causing agony to countless patients or worse during the three years he practiced medicine in Dallas. Kane dated Summers for a year. The evidence collected by the DA's office by subpoenaing every hospital on his CVshows Duntsch completes a fraction of these. Its less than a millimeter from the spinal canal. Nobody can recognize whether it was ours or not! Ignatova says. He secured investments in Discgenics from local spine surgeons, including Robertson and Dr. Kevin Foley, a prominent Memphis neurosurgeon under whom Duntsch would spend a year training as part of a minimally invasive spine surgery fellowship at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic, one of the largest neurosurgery practices in the United States. Summers declined an interview in Memphis and would not answer questions on the phone. We talked about marriage pretty quickly. Out of his 38 surgeries, only three had no complications. The university said, We cant let you see his personnel file. And there were plenty of other signs as well. The hospital called Rimlawi when it couldnt reach his colleague. But hed make troubling, bizarre pronouncements, like Everybodys doing it wrong. At this point, Im like freaking out, and I just, I leave.. He alleged that Duntsch promised to pay him in stocks and out of his own salary but failed to follow through. 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. Duntsch had moved from the W to Hotel Zaza and then, finally, to a five-bedroom house not far from the hospital. After another disastrous outcome, this time at University General, Kirby and malpractice attorney Kay Van Wey decided to turn to the criminal justice system. The 31 people who survived Dr. Duntsch's scalpel face a struggle for the rest of their lives. He stayed local for medical school, enrolling the next year at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. I thought he was either really, really good, or hes just really, really arrogant and thought he was good, Hoyle says now. He seemed really distraught and I was scared, she said of the father of her two children. Copyright 2023, D Magazine Partners, Inc. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Dr. Death executive producer explains how Christopher Duntsch could Christopher Daniel Duntsch was born in Montana on April 3, 1971, and raised alongside his three siblings in an affluent suburb of Memphis, Tennessee. Duntsch had allegedly tried to steal the pair of pants by changing into the new pair in a Wal-Mart dressing room and placing his own pants into the shopping cart. And yet they occurred in Duntschs operating rooms over a period of just two years. In Dallas, Duntsch developed a reputation of frequenting upscale bars and hotels where he partied with his lifelong best friend and personal assistant, Jerry Summers. 50 Best True Crime Shows & Movies Right Now (March 2023) He filed for bankruptcy in Denver, and wound up selling off the shares in Discgenics for a tenth of their value. He didnt not want to. And yet, the names of the latter are incorrect and misspelled. Wendy Young Says Christopher Duntsch Broke Into Home Covered In Blood Duntsch did his surgical residency at The University of Tennessee. She told D Magazine they named the boys Aiden and Preston. But she wasnt in the room when he woke up a quadriplegic, telling anyone with ears that Duntsch had been using cocaine the night before the procedure. 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. A couple of months later, FloellaBrown came to Duntsch for a cervical fusion to alleviate her neck and shoulder pain. She had family in Dallas and decided shed go with him if he chose that city. Our Company DiscGenics Hoyle became so disturbed by Duntsch's actions that at one point he physically restrained him. Im the only clean minimally invasive guy in the whole state. Thats according to Dr. Mark Hoyle, who was the general surgeon during Passmores surgery. She had clinical experience and often spent time with Duntsch when he was conducting research. 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. After Summers procedure, Morgan says Duntsch was not allowed to operate at Baylor Plano until March 2012. Passmore is still fighting. I dont want to be in your magazine, sir, I apologize, Passmore told me. It was the same with Dallas Medical Center where hedid not face any action. But it was growing increasingly clear that his opportunities were running out. Who Is Wendy Young, The Mother Of Christopher Duntsch's Children, And Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couple's son. Due to his actions, Brown suffered a stroke that night, but Duntsch didn't responded to hospital pages. On Jan. 10, 2014, Denver police arrested him for driving under the influence. Later, attorneys would sit on the stairwell of her Skillman Street apartment. Dubbed angels of death, they leave a trail of damage andloss for many reasons: human fallibility, malaise, or malice. He lost everything, so having to face the reality was very hard for him.. They'd requested an investigation into his matter, deeming him to be a threat to the general public. 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. Where is Christopher Duntsch aka Dr. Death Now? - The Cinemaholic Young says hed been breaking into her apartment, and one day she came home to find him inside, covered in blood. 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. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Robot, True Romance, Very Bad Things, and Robot Chicken. Instead, he thought about all those years he spent working and educating himself, all those years of paying bills on time to keep his credit high, of saving money to support his family. And, to successfully sue a hospital, they must prove that the facility acted with malicethat, in granting a physician privileges, it intended to harm the patient. The couple had two children together. But Passmore knows its his battle to fight. He wanted to ask them questions. 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 other, Discgenics, was more successful; it still owns the patent for the technology. Matt Goodman is the online editorial director for. A Surgeon So Bad It Was Criminal ProPublica Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. Passmore later discovered that, less than a week after his second surgery, Duntsch had operated on 45-year-old Barry Morguloff. The message alluded to a week where everything unraveled with their relationship. 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 . Many ofDuntsch's patient-turned-victims filed malpractice suits, according to Dallas News. The disc was pressing on a nerve, which caused the pain. Where Is Christopher Duntsch AKA Dr. Death Now? He Got A - Bustle We moved in together within three months, and then I became pregnant.. He wrote, "You will not find a harder working or more willing individual." While the show features the exes as the parents to one son, they had two kids together in real life. Martin was a 55-year-old woman who had lived with back pain for nearly a year after a fall in her kitchen. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! He kind of let himself into my apartment by climbing up my balcony, she said. A grand jury returned five indictments of aggravated assault and one of harming an elderly person. Wendy Renee Young and Christopher Duntsch were parents of two kids, Preston and Aiden. But the media definitely played its part sending Dr. Death where he rightfully belongs, life in prison. Duntsch moved to Colorado to live with his parents, while Young stayed behind in Dallas with the couples son. We are committed to achieving this mission by delivering high-quality products that meet or exceed customer requirements. Such behavior did not go unnoticed by the other doctors. 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. She was deposed over Skype since, at the time, she was stationed with the Air Force in the Middle East. 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.