3-Jeff Glidewell, another victim of Duntsch's. 4-Michelle Shugart, the woman who brought this all to fruition . As he lay there in agony, Duntsch was nowhere to be found. Several of Duntsch's surgeries at Baylor Plano resulted in severely maimed patients: Baylor Plano officials found that Duntsch failed to meet their standards of care and permanently revoked his surgical privileges. She witnessed Duntsch put on his lab coat and make his rounds the following morning as if nothing had happened. After interviewing dozens of Duntsch's patients and their survivors, prosecutors concluded that Duntsch's acts were indeed criminal, and nothing short of imprisonment would prevent him from practicing medicine again. Just one day after his suspension had ended, Duntsch operated on Kellie Martin. Dr. Christopher Duntsch appeared to havean impressive resume, but left a trail ofpain and devastation for those who trusted him with their health. The charismatic neurosurgeon was actually a successful researcher before he starting killing people in the operating . One day, he happened to see a fax come in to the medical examiner's office. His pain management specialist advised against an operation but referred him to a neurosurgeon named Christopher Duntsch. Duntsch pierced and blocked her vertebral artery with a misplaced screw and refused to stop despite the massive blood loss. Duntsch is a serial maimer and killer. Lee Passmore was thirty-seven and worked as a field agent for the Collin County medical examiner. It was Duntsch, babbling about his family being in danger. When Henderson opened the freshly made incisions on her, he was appalled. [11] Several of his friends recalled him going to work after a night of doing drugs, with one of them saying he would never allow Duntsch to operate on him. She was left with just one vocal cord. Since receiving his life sentence, Dr Death is currently housed in the O.B. 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 . August 28, 2013, 2:01 . On 06/26/2013 MARY EFURD filed a Personal Injury - Medical Malpractice lawsuit against CHRISTOPHER D DUNTSCH, MD. Promising Beginnings. Passmore can't feel his feet; his chest shakes, his right-hand jitters, he can't run or swim with his kids, he struggles with incontinence, and he has nerve pain that fires through his back. The case status is Disposed - Other Disposed. Kirby was shocked; he called the owner of University General and warned him that Duntsch would hurt someone, and the hospital would be over. She was moved to the ICU and died due to blood loss. In 2010, he completed the MDPhD and neurosurgery residency programs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center,[3] and subsequently completed a spine fellowship program at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic in Memphis. Dr. Death was fired before the end of his first week for the damage hed inflicted on Brown and Efurd. Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano (now Baylor Scott and White Medical Center - Plano). On April 9, 2013, Phillip Mayfield was scheduled to have a simple 45-minute operation to alleviate his back pain. Once, he stopped by to pick up some paperwork. [9], In March 2014, three former patients of Duntsch's Mary Efurd, Kenneth Fennel, and Lee Passmore filed separate federal lawsuits against Baylor Plano, alleging the hospital allowed Duntsch to perform surgeries despite knowing that he was a dangerous physician. However, part of the problem was proving that Duntsch's actions were willful as defined by Texas law. He thought it was odd that Duntsch wasn't working at Baylor Plano anymore, so he called his insurance company, who stated Christopher Duntsch was in good standing. There are a lot of explanations proposed for why the real-life subject of Peacock's "Dr. Death" limited series, neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Joshua Jackson), maimed and . According to court documents, surgeons at the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute soon grew suspicious of Duntsch. Duntschs career started off bright. Duntsch focused on his research for a while but was recruited from Memphis to join the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute in North Dallas in the summer of 2011. He was told he would never be able to walk again. Duntsch told Mayfield's wife it went well, but she instantly knew something was wrong as she walked into his room. [18] Despite this, Duntsch was retained by South Hampton when new owners bought it and renamed it University General Hospital. [23][19][24], While operating on Efurd, Duntsch severed one of her nerve roots during spinal fusion surgery while operating on the wrong portion of her back, twisted a screw into another nerve, left screw holes on the opposite side of her spine, failed to remove the disc he was supposed to remove, and left surgical hardware in her muscle tissue so loose that it moved when touched. "Something was wrong," Dr. Rimlawi said, "whether it be impairment from drugs, alcohol, mental illness, or a combination of all three." Chahadeh was worried about his facility and getting sued by Duntsch; he said to Dr. Kirby that they had already given him privileges. Duntsch did not respond to messages from the hospital for a few hours, then the next day scheduled an elective surgery on Efurd rather than care for Brown. Due to these legal hurdles and costly lawyer fees on the plaintiff's part, few hospitals end up having to pay out after facing a malpractice lawsuit. Robert Lowes. I thought he was either really, really good, or hes just really, really arrogant and thought he was good, Hoyle said. Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971)[1] is a former American neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death[2] for gross malpractice resulting in the maiming of several patients' spines and two deaths while working at hospitals in the DallasFort Worth metroplex. By this time, Duntsch was almost penniless, and the judge had to appoint a lawyer for him. Dr. Christopher Duntsch's patients ended up maimed and dead, but the real tragedy is that the Texas Medical Board couldn't stop him. Duntsch was fired after he performed a surgery and immediately left for Las Vegas, leaving no one to look after his patient. His name appeared on several papers and patents, and he took part in a number of biotech startups. My experience with this doctor has been great. The Dallas district attorney's office subpoenaed every hospital on Duntsch's CV for records of his surgeries. July 14, 2021. The night before his surgery, he read online about Kellie Martin's death just months earlier. The True Story Of Christopher Duntsch, The Killer Surgeon Known As Dr. According to D Magazine, Duntsch did so well in medical school that he was allowed to join the prestigiousAlpha Omega Medical Honor Society. The sponge triggered a severe blood-borne infection that caused Glidewell to become septic. [9] He was suspected of being under the influence of cocaine while operating during his fourth year of residency training, and was sent to a program for impaired physicians. Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971) is a former American neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death for gross malpractice resulting in the maiming of several patients' spines and two deaths while working at hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.. Duntsch was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years before his license was revoked by the . Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Hoyle called the surgery sloppy enough to cancel the remaining four operations he had scheduled with Duntsch and vowed never to work with him again. Many readers may recognize the name Christopher Duntsch, a doctor who allegedly was negligent in his practice for years before finally being stripped of his medical license. He was left with pain so debilitating he could not work any longer and now spends most of his days at home. 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. Donald Duntsch was a gridiron football standout in Montana, and . He called Duntsch's fellowship supervisor in Memphis, as well as the supervisor of Duntsch's residency; it was then that he learned about the incident that led him to be referred to the impaired physician program. Dr Deathis a new limited series about the rise and fall of Duntsch. Texas law states that hospitals are liable for damages caused by doctors in their facilities only if the plaintiff can prove that the hospital acted with "malice"that is, the hospital knew of the extreme risk and ignored itin credentialing a doctor. 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 . Unfortunately, when Morguloff woke up, he began to experience continuous pain, paresthesia, and loss of sensation in his left leg. Duntsch's next stop was at Dallas Medical Center. A spill of more than 500,000-gallons of crude oil from the Keystone Pipeline in December in Kansas was caused by a combination of a faulty weld and "bending stress fatigue" on the pipe, the . Dr. Robert Henderson was brought in on July 28, 2012, to perform a revision surgery on Efurd. The patient was Mary Efurd coming in for a second operation. Duntsch had also installed hardware into her muscle, not her bone, so loose that it moved when you touched it. I left with him and believed in him and then, you know, he just kind of fell apart.. Glidewell is still in constant pain and has undergone more than 50 procedures to correct the damage left by Duntsch. [7][28][16], Kirby wrote a detailed complaint to the Texas Medical Board, calling Duntsch a "sociopath" who was "a clear and present danger to the citizens of Texas. Brown was left in a coma for hours before Duntsch finally acquiesced to her transfer. Duntsch's defense blamed their client's actions on poor training and lack of hospital oversight. After 13 days of trial, the jury needed only four hours to convict him for the maiming of Efurd, and on February 20, 2017, he was sentenced to life in prison. Duntsch, once a neurosurgeon, is the focal point of the new streaming Peacock docuseries "Dr. Death." D Magazine gave him the nickname in its reporting in 2016. Dubbed "Dr. Death," the case gained national attention, revealing That same month, the two began an affair. Duntsch suggested drilling a hole in Brown's head to relieve the pressure, but was refused permission. Troy was left barely able to speak above a whisper, had to be sedated for weeks and had to be fed through a feeding tube for some time as food was getting into her lungs. He later recalled that he read about Martin's death on the day before the surgery, but Duntsch cursed him out when he called to ask about it. [42] The four hospitals that employed Duntsch have ongoing civil cases against him. After interviewing dozens of Duntsch's patients and their survivors, prosecutors concluded that Duntsch's actions were indeed criminal, and nothing short of imprisonment would prevent him from practicing medicine again. At the time of their meeting, Young was working as a dancer in a strip club. Summers had a credit card in his name connected to Duntsch's account and would drive him around, balance his checkbooks, and pick up his dry cleaning. The suit alleged that Baylor Plano made an average net profit of $65,000 on every spinal surgery performed by Duntsch. At the time, hospitals were not required to report doctors who only had temporary privileges. When Jerry Summers woke up, he couldn't move his arms or legs. 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 . Of those 38, 31 were leftparalyzed or seriously injured and two of them died from surgical complications. Duntsch was in a long-term relationship with Wendy Renee Young, after the pair met at a bar in Memphis when she was 27 and he was 40. Unfortunately, when Fennell woke up from surgery, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Jodi Smith. Christopher Duntsch is confirmed to have injured 31 patients and killed two . He avoided it and disappeared for several days. Base compensation was $600,000 a year for two years, beginning on June 14, 2011. She says she even filed a temporary protective order against him in April 2012, after he showed up banging on her window at 2 am. Officers said he was driving on the left side of the road with two flat tires. MISI representatives stated he would brag about his capabilities and be critical of the work of other surgeons. Former teammates later said that, while Duntsch trained hard, he lacked talent at the game. Before working with him, Dr. Hoyle said that he didnt know how to feel about his fellow surgeon. "As his victims pile up, two fellow physicians and Dallas prosecutor Michelle Shughart set out to stop him.". Kenneth Fennell, the first patient Duntsch operated on at Baylor Plano, was left with chronic pain after Duntsch operated on the wrong part of his back. Although he wasn't a talented athlete, he trained for hours on his own and made it as a linebacker on his high school football team at Evangelical Christian School in Memphis. Many of his patients suffered severe spinal cord damage, resulting in paralysis and pain severe enough to render painkillers ineffective. Peacock's Dr. Death is a chilling dramatization of the real-life story of former neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch. He earned his M.D. While Kirby was repairing Troy, he uncovered that Duntsch had pinned her esophagus under a plate near her spine and poked holes in her trachea. Even worse, some of the patients never got the chance to wake up. Jerry Summers believed that his best friend Christopher Duntsch was a talented neurosurgeon who would cure his chronic neck pain. Duntsch was suspected of having used cocaine the night before the operation. The appalling actions of the rogue surgeon and their repercussions on his unsuspecting patients were . ", "Assault trial begins for Dallas surgeon who once wrote of becoming 'cold blooded killer', "The State of Texas vs. Christopher Daniel Dunstch", "Life Sentence Upheld on Appeal For Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death", "What you need to know about 'Dr. He will not be eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74-years-old. However, during training for neurosurgery he followed a research path and did fewer operations than most trainees. Randall Kirby wrote a detailed complaint to the Texas Medical Board, calling Duntsch a "sociopath" who was "a clear and present danger to the citizens of Texas." He wrote grants and secured more than $3 million in funding. Dr. Randall Kirby, a general and vascular surgeon, assisted with Morguloff. This was the time when Dr. Christopher Duntsch started to turn into Dr. Death. Dr. Rimlawi called Baylor Plano and advised them against continuing a relationship with Christopher Duntsch, but this fell to deaf ears. They also believed that charge would be easy to prove in court; Duntsch had been told repeatedly that he was not placing the hardware in the correct position and fluoroscopy images from Efurd's surgery proved this. He was smart. Kane also recalled a cocaine- and LSD-fueled night of partying between her, her ex-boyfriend, and Duntsch where, after the end of their all-night party, she saw Duntsch put on his lab coat and go to work. Inside The Death Of Chris Benoit, The Professional Wrestler Who Killed His Family And Then Himself, Archaeologists Just Uncovered A Massive Roman Phallic Carving In Spain And It Might Be The Biggest Ever Found, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Christopher Duntsch - AKA Dr. Death - spent 18 months as a practicing surgeon at multiple Texas hospitals until he had his license revoked in 2013. This time on 53-year-old Mary Efurd. [38], Duntsch is housed at the O. Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana and spent most of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee. The criminal conviction of Christopher Duntsch, MD, PhD, holds important lessons for risk managers. Homesick, Duntsch left Colorado after a year and transferred to Memphis State University, now the University of Memphis. 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. Joshua Jackson went to the dark side to play Dr. Christopher Duntsch, who's serving a life sentence for maiming a woman during surgery, in the new Peacock series Dr. Death. According to Megan Kane, an ex-girlfriend of one of Duntschs friends, she saw him eat a paper blotter of LSD and take prescription painkillers on his birthday. He hoped to play football, but his multiple transfers revoked his eligibility. Duntsch boasted to his assistant and mistress, Kimberly Morgan, that he was " 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." Then came the fax, and he saw Duntsch's name next to Kellie Martin's. He then packed it with too much of a substance intended to stop the bleeding. He knew this couldn't have been a one-time mistake. Before the surgery, Kirby related that Duntsch said he was the best spine surgeon in Dallas and the only spine surgeon trained in minimally invasive spine surgery. Death' found guilty of maiming woman during surgery", "Former neurosurgeon sentenced for purposely maiming patients", "Doctor convicted of botched surgery gets life in prison", "Christopher Daniel Duntsch v. The State of Texas Appeal from Criminal District Court No. He called Duntsch's fellowship supervisor in Memphis and the supervisor of Duntsch's residency; it was then that he learned about the incident that led him to be referred to the impaired physician program. Duntsch earned his undergraduate degree in 1995 and enrolled at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Christopher Duntsch, the onetime Dallas neurosurgeon whose butcher-like techniques killed two patients and permanently injured more, feels made to exist at the center of a work of fiction; perhaps, They created a method for culturing the stem cells of intervertebral discs outside of the body. A neurosurgeon in Dallas, Texas, who once described himself as a "stone cold killer" was sentenced to life in prison on February 20 for maiming a woman named Mary . On top of this, he misspelled both Kukekov and Ignatova's names. To top it all off, he was operating on the wrong portion of her back. Christopher Duntsch, known as "Dr. Death" tried to explain himself in rambling emails, but he only made things worse for his criminal case. Fennell required months of rehabilitation to be able to walk with a cane, and was left unable to walk for more than 30 feet or stand for more than a few minutes without having to sit down again. Dr. Duntsch assured Muse that the pain was normal and prescribed him, strong pain killers, causing him to spiral into an addiction. For instance, he came to work wearing the same tattered scrubs for three days in a row. His resume looked brilliant on paper," journalistMatt Goodman said of Christopher Duntsch's ability to continue to gain employment at Texas hospitals despite a deadly track record. Veteran vascular surgeon Randall Kirby recalled that Duntsch frequently boasted about his abilities despite being so new to the area. In his first surgery after his suspension lifted, he nicked the vertebral artery of Kellie Martin, a 55-year-old Garland woman. His mother, Susan, was a school teacher. He died in 2021 of an infection related to complications from Duntsch's operation. Death'? Christopher Duntsch is a former neurosurgeon known by his nickname Dr. Death or Dr. D. The Montana native got his nickname for his malpractice while working at hospitals in Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The sponge triggered a severe blood-borne infection that caused Glidewell to become septic. An MRI revealed that multiple bone fragments in his spinal canal were compressing and adhering to his S1 nerve and that Duntsch had installed the hardware incorrectly. She also said they snorted cocaine from a small pile he kept on a dresser in his home office. He was nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death for malpractice resulting in the maiming of several patients and killing two of them while working at hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Why do Slipknot wear masks and what do they look like without? The story of Dr. Death, Christopher Duntsch, feels like something out of a movie or book. When he woke, he could not move anything on the right side of his body. Before his license was revoked by the Texas Medical Board, he was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 . Baylor suspended Duntsch, pictured, for a month. [19], In July 2015, approximately a year and a half after his license was revoked, Duntsch was arrested in Dallas and charged with six felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, and one count of injury to an elderly person. Your trust is important to us. A CT scan would later reveal that Efurds nerve root had been amputated, there were several screw holes nowhere near where they were supposed to be, and one screw had been lodged in another nerve root. Young let him buy her an appletini, and they felt a connection; eventually, she went home with Duntsch. The hospital called Rimlawi when it couldn't reach his colleague. To stop the bleeding, he packed the space with so much anticoagulant foam that it constricted Summers' spine. Mayfield was taken to a different hospital and told his spinal cord had already been deformed, and the damage was irreversible. But when he awoke and was experiencing extreme pain, Dr. Duntsch said that surgery had been a success and there had been no complications. Caroline is a writer and Florida-transplant currently living in New York City. and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee Health Center. [18] He damaged patient Philip Mayfield's spinal cord, drilling into it and leaving him partially paralyzed from the neck down. Dr. Death in surgery. To see the rest of Dr. Christopher Duntsch's murder and maiming spree, and the fight to stop him, you'll need to purchase Peacock premium. The staff told Duntsch that Brown, his patient from the day before, was in critical condition. In 2005, about a third of the way through his residency, department chairman Dr. Jon Robertson appointed Duntsch program director of the school's tissue bank. B. Ellis Unit outside Huntsville. According to D Magazine, a doctor at the hospital where Duntsch worked said that Duntsch had been sent to an impaired physician program after he refused to take a drug test. In October 2011, she registered articles of incorporation to form Duntsch's practice, the Texas Neurosurgical Institute. His CV also conveyed he earned a Ph.D. in microbiology from St. Jude Children's Research Hospitals, graduating summa cum laude. "If he wasn't doing research, he was out with Jerry Summers, partying," Morgan said in her deposition. Finally, Dr. Kirby received a call from Hassan Chahadeh. One of the patients who suffered disastrous consequences was Jerry Summers, the boyfriend of Megan Kane and a friend of Christopher Duntsch. Board chairman Irwin Zeitzler later said that complications in neurosurgery were more common than most think. [46], Dr. Death, a TV mini-series based on the podcast, began streaming on Peacock on July 15, 2021. [9] Texas Medical Board Revocation Order. Passmore met with Dr. Duntsch and was impressed by his confidence; he would fix him. To avoid the costs of fighting and possibly losing a wrongful termination suit, hospital officials reached a deal with Duntsch's lawyers in which Duntsch was allowed to resign in return for Baylor Plano issuing a letter stating that there were no issues with him. Moving made sense for both of them. Christopher Duntsch Early Life Story, Family Background and Education. Mary Efurd: While Brown was dying, Duntsch was operating on Mary Efurd, a 71-year-old anxious to return to her treadmill after surgery to relieve her back pain. We've had a catastrophic event here. Page opened a desk drawer and saw a mirror with a pile of cocaine and a rolled-up dollar bill on top. [40][41] On May 8, 2019, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Duntschs petition for discretionary review. The two went back to Duntsch's home and danced under a disco ball he had in his office. However, Duntsch was allowed to resign, and the hospital didn't notify the National Practitioner Data Bankagain. A Texas neurosurgeon accused of intentionally botching multiple spinal surgeries, resulting in the death of two . On December 30, 2011, Duntsch operated on Lee Passmore. WFAA-TVChristopher Duntsch a.k.a. Her husband could not hold himself up; he had no support of his own and could barely speak. At the time, Duntsch was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years before the Texas Medical Board revoked his license. He was tragically mistaken. While they were in the lab working, Duntsch went to work raising money for a company he called DiscGenics. [9] Duntsch's defense blamed their client's actions on poor training and lack of oversight by the hospitals. As the trial team put it, the "scary pattern" of Duntsch's actions became apparent to the others in the office, leading the DA to give the green light to take the case to a grand jury. However, St. Jude says there was no such program at the hospital. The Judge overseeing this case is GINSBERG, CARL. She had suffered from lower back pain for years and was referred to Duntsch by her pain management doctor. His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary. Dr. Mark Hoyle, a surgeon who worked with Duntsch during one of his botched procedures, told D Magazine that he would make extremely arrogant announcements such as: Everybody is doing it wrong. Shughart countered that the 2011 email, sent after his first surgeries went wrong, proved that Duntsch knew his actions were intentional. [13] In 2010, Duntsch moved to Dallas. It was then that Christopher decided to switch his career to medicine. In March 2014, three former patients of Duntsch's Mary Efurd, Kenneth Fennel, and Lee Passmore filed separate federal lawsuits against Baylor Plano, alleging the hospital allowed Duntsch to perform surgeries despite knowing that he was a dangerous physician. The surgical disasters of neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch led to his jailing in 2017, setting a legal precedent. Jeff Glidewell came across Dr. Christopher Duntsch in 2013 while searching for a neurosurgeon . Duntsch severed his vertebral nerve, his vocal cords, cut a hole in his esophagus, sliced through an artery, and mistook part of his neck muscle as a tumor. The last charge was for the maiming and paralyzing of Efurd. I can't believe that you're accusing me of killing someone,'" Muse recounted. Lee Passmore's screams poured out from the ICU and down the hallway. He wanted to become a doctor, and not just any doctor - a neurosurgeon, operating on injured backs and necks. Christopher Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison in February 2017 for his heinous acts. Prosecutors also faulted Duntsch's employers for not reporting him. Through it all, Duntsch was able to lure patient after patient under his knife was his extreme confidence. Every victim deserves to have their story told, and unfortunately, Christopher Duntsch, aka Dr. Death, has 33. Muse spiraled into opioid addiction that cost him his wife and his job. Christopher Duntsch was just a regular guy who became Dr. Death after he decided to be a neurosurgeon. Duntsch had his surgical rights temporarily suspended after his botched surgery on Summers and his first patient back was 55-year-old Kellie Martin. In February 2012, he went under the knife for an elective spinal fusion surgery. During surgery, Duntsch damaged Summers' vertebral artery causing it to bleed uncontrollably. Fennell is in constant pain, and it took several months of rehabilitation before he could begin to walk with a cane. Following his blunders, Duntsch resigned from Baylor Plano in April 2012 before they could fire him. Death,' Dallas neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch", "Texas neurosurgeon nicknamed 'Dr. Soon afterward, he severely maimed Jeff Glidewell after mistaking part of his neck muscle for a tumor during a routine cervical fusion, severing one of his vocal cords, cutting a hole in his esophagus and slicing an artery. Death'? Death'? When Henderson saw the imaging from Duntsch's surgery, he was certain that there would be legal action, and had the salvage surgery recorded. After the operation, Brown woke up and seemed fine, but early the following day; she lost consciousness. 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. Christopher was raised along with his three younger siblings in a wealthy suburb in Memphis, Tennessee. But he yearned to play linebacker for a Division 1 team and set his sights on the Colorado State Rams. Duntsch told his friends and family that Passmore would be fine in a day or two and to not worry about it. He added that many board members found it hard to believe that a trained surgeon could be as incompetent as Duntsch appeared to be.[9]. In effect, plaintiffs have to prove a tough case without access to the necessary hospital records. According to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, a neurosurgery resident does about 1,000 operations during training.