The Unconscionable Crimes Of Dr. Christopher Duntsch
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01:18 Garland, Texas. November 2011. 54 year old Kelly Martin and her husband Don, like many,
01:26 were decorating the family home, ready for the festive period. Don was a police officer
01:31 and Kelly a teacher. They had been together since college and had two daughters, Lauren
01:36 and Caitlin. While grabbing boxes down from the attic, Kelly missed a step on the ladder,
01:45 slipping and falling. She instantly felt a twinge in her back. The pain was bad but she
01:51 got through the holidays hoping it was just a pulled muscle or a trapped nerve and that
01:55 it would pass. But when it became obvious it was far more than this, she made a trip
01:59 to her doctor. This small misstep on the ladder had resulted in a herniated disc in her back.
02:05 Physical therapy, painkillers, muscle relaxers weren't enough and eventually her doctor
02:10 recommended a fantastic neurosurgeon new to the area, Dr Christopher Duntsch. Incredibly
02:16 well respected, highly sought after and praised by many of the doctors, it was a no-brainer
02:21 to pay him a visit. Dr Duntsch put Kelly and Don at ease right away, saying it was no problem
02:29 at all, a very routine surgery, likely no more than 45 minutes. In fact, it was about
02:35 the simplest operation a neurosurgeon could perform, he said. "Have you ever had any bad
02:40 outcomes or deaths on your surgeries?" Kelly asked. He replied, "No, knock on wood." And
02:47 with this, her surgery was scheduled for March 2012. The day came around and Don waited patiently
02:53 in the waiting area, but the 45 minutes Dr Duntsch said it would take would soon pass.
02:59 Then it was an hour, then an hour and a half. It was almost at double the time now and Don
03:04 was starting to get worried. He asked one of the nurses to go and check and about 20
03:10 minutes later, Dr Duntsch came out. He said the surgery went well and Kelly was moving
03:14 around, but was in a lot of pain so he upped the medicine. He said she may have to go up
03:19 to the ICU and stay overnight, but she was going to be okay. Don was told he couldn't
03:24 go and see his wife as they were still working on her, a phrase that sent a shiver down his
03:29 spine. Don said something in his gut was telling him it was all off. He called Lauren and Caitlin
03:35 and said they should come up.
03:38 Two hours later, Don and his daughters were still waiting around and panicking. They suddenly
03:43 saw the ICU physician, Dr Duntsch and the anaesthesiologist walking towards them. The
03:49 looks on their faces told the story before they even opened their mouths, the words no
03:53 one wanted to hear. We did everything we could. Kelly Martin had died.
04:00 How had such a simple routine operation gone so devastatingly wrong? Don said Dr Duntsch
04:07 never said a word, not even looking at the three of them. They were told by the ICU physician
04:13 that it had been a medical miscalculation. Records later showed that during the surgery
04:17 her blood pressure had plummeted and she went a grey colour. As she regained consciousness
04:22 after the surgery, she began to hit her legs, which had turned an odd colour with splotches
04:26 on them. Kelly had become so agitated, the nurses had to sedate her. She never woke up.
04:35 Don said it was pure misery. My world just ended right then and there. He started rocking
04:40 back and forth so enraged with emotion he almost lunged at them. I knew something was
04:44 wrong and I wanted to hurt him, he said of Dr Duntsch. Caitlin said it was like being
04:49 in slow motion and as they said their goodbyes to Kelly, Don asked for some scissors so he
04:54 could keep a little piece of her hair. They all drove home in silence.
04:59 The medical examiner confirmed that Kelly had bled to death internally after one of
05:03 her arteries was completely sliced. Don, Lauren and Caitlin all had a terrible feeling they
05:08 weren't getting the full story. Something about Duntsch was not sitting well with them
05:13 and they wanted answers. But what had happened to Kelly Martin was sadly just the beginning
05:19 and soon a huge can of worms would start to open. But as always, sometimes you must go
05:25 backwards slightly to move forwards.
05:39 Born in 1971 in Montana, Christopher Daniel Duntsch had originally set his sights on playing
05:44 football. One of his team mates remembered him as not being very good at following orders
05:49 and struggling with the most basic of drills, but someone that came back every practice
05:53 trying to get it right. He made multiple transfers and moved around so much that he was told
05:59 this had taken away his eligibility to play professionally. He realised his football dream
06:03 was over and suddenly made a drastic change. He abruptly switched to a career in medicine.
06:09 In 1995 he received his undergraduate degree from the University of Memphis before getting
06:14 his MD there too. He excelled in medical school to such a point that he was allowed to join
06:19 the Alpha Omega Medical Honor Society and started working with Russian scientists on
06:24 research programmes, gaining $3 million in funding. He started his surgical residency
06:29 at the University of Tennessee and was soon running two labs. He was described as a charming,
06:35 smooth talking and witty guy with a glowing 12-page resume. He had many people speaking
06:40 highly of him and seeking him out. But despite all of his successes and accolades, things
06:45 were slowly starting to unravel and it was becoming clear that all was not as it appeared.
06:52 His resume boasted that he had earned a doctorate in microbiology from the prestigious St Jude's
06:57 Children's Research Hospital, but there was no such programme running at the hospital
07:01 at that time. He also claimed to have gotten his PhD from the University of Tennessee Health
07:07 Centre but he appears in no yearbooks from the university during that period. The school
07:12 declined to verify his claims, citing a federal privacy law. Since college he had been a drug
07:18 user and a big drinker, but during his residency was when his drug use started to escalate.
07:23 He was frequently taking LSD, cocaine and illegally getting his hands on prescription
07:28 painkillers. His ex-girlfriend Megan initially thought that this was just something he did
07:33 occasionally, but it was clearly not the case. After a full night of drug taking, drinking
07:39 vodka and no sleep, Megan said he grabbed his scrubs and walked into work ready to talk
07:44 to patients. She was horrified. His choice of drug was cocaine, although when he would
07:50 come down after binges, he would rely on OxyContin, Xanax and alcohol. Many said he would start
07:56 his days off with a vodka and orange juice and a line of cocaine. One of his friends
08:00 would later talk about just how out of control his drug use was and several nurses said they
08:05 saw him taking cocaine right before he went into surgery. But Duntsch joked about it,
08:11 calling them his 'neurostimulants', believing it made him better and more alert in theatre.
08:16 There has been LSD, there has been cocaine, there has been pills.
08:23 How long did this party, this drug party, go on that night?
08:30 All night to the next day.
08:31 Until the sun came up?
08:34 Well beyond the sun came up because Chris had to go to work the next day and he went.
08:40 After he was reported, he was asked to take a drugs test, which he refused to do. He was
08:44 subsequently sent to an impaired physician programme. In a deposition, slurring and not
08:49 really concentrating, Duntsch pleaded the fifth over and over again when asked about
08:54 using drugs whilst working with patients.
08:56 Have you ever been under the influence of cocaine while you were taking care of a patient?
09:01 I take the fifth.
09:02 I take the fifth.
09:03 I take the fifth.
09:04 I take the fifth.
09:05 Despite the complaints, refusal to participate in tests and after completing less than 100
09:11 surgeries, whereas it is typical for a resident to perform closer to 1,000, he was still allowed
09:17 to finish his residency.
09:19 In 2011 he was headhunted to join the minimally invasive Spine Institute in North Dallas with
09:25 a $600,000 advance. Not long after he was given surgical rights at the Baylor Regional
09:30 Medical Centre in Plano on a $50,000 a month salary. The recommendation that landed him
09:36 the job had read, "Chris is extremely bright and possibly the hardest working person I
09:41 have ever met," adding he had an "excellent work ethic."
09:46 For hospitals, surgeons are worth millions in revenue, on average about $2.5 million
09:51 per year and it is not uncommon to get operating privileges at other hospitals, hence the reason
09:57 Duntsch was able to get a string of these across Dallas.
10:01 Only a couple of months after he had finished his training, Duntsch met another surgeon
10:05 called Dr. Randall Kirby, a man that would play a key role in this story.
10:10 Kirby said the first conversation he had with Duntsch revolved around him telling him he
10:15 was the best surgeon in Dallas and the only one a patient could trust. He said he wanted
10:20 to clean the town up and was quite aggressive with his delivery. Kirby was taken aback with
10:24 his level of arrogance, knowing how new he was to this game. Other doctors saw the same
10:30 outbursts but put his cockiness down to the fact he was just a really talented surgeon
10:35 and he knew it.
10:37 Opinions soon changed however, when the only surgery he actually performed at the minimally
10:42 invasive spine institute resulted in him being asked to leave. After the surgery was done
10:48 he immediately went on a trip to Las Vegas to party and left no one to look after his
10:52 distressed patient.
10:55 His drug use wasn't slowing down and he would write many long emails to another ex-girlfriend
11:00 and his surgical assistant Kimberly, saying some very unhinged things, likely due to intoxication.
11:06 One email read in part, "I really am building an empire. Anyone close to me thinks that
11:11 I likely am something between God, Einstein and the Antichrist. Because how can I do everything
11:16 I want and cross every discipline boundary like it's a playground and never lose? I
11:21 am ready to leave the love and kindness and good and patience that I mix with everything
11:25 else that I am and become a cold-blooded killer."
11:30 In more emails he referenced his drug and alcohol abuse. These emails were full of swearing,
11:35 threats and rambling in abusive language. The emails themselves are too long to read
11:40 in full, but they are interesting and present a small insight into his mind, so we have
11:45 linked them in the description box if anyone wants to take a closer look.
11:50 In December 2011, shortly before Kelly Martin approached him, Christopher had operated twice
11:55 on a man called Ken Fennell. He was his first patient in North Texas. The surgery didn't
12:01 help fix his back pain, as Dunn should have operated in the wrong area, a mistake he admitted,
12:07 but one he said he would correct with a second surgery. Ken, desperate to fix his pain, agreed.
12:13 When Ken woke up the second time around, he described his legs as like a bonfire burning
12:18 him. Something had gone wrong during the second surgery, but he had no idea what, and he left
12:23 hospital relying heavily on a motorised wheelchair from that point on.
12:31 Dunn's next patient was Lee Passmore, and he was actually an investigator in the Collin
12:35 County Medical Examiner's office. He had undergone back surgery once before but his pain had
12:40 come back. Without missing a beat, Lee's pain specialist recommended Dr Dunn. The surgery
12:46 was booked right away. A vascular surgeon called Mark Hoyle assisted with the operation.
12:51 Dr Hoyle watched in horror as Dunn began to cut out a ligament around the spinal cord
12:57 that should never have been touched. Right away, Lee started bleeding so profusely, Hoyle
13:02 said the operating room was like a lake of red. Dunn not only left some hardware in Lee's
13:08 spine, he also stripped the screw so it could not be moved. Unable to watch anymore, Dr
13:14 Hoyle said he blocked the incision area to try and stop Dunn from carrying on. "We
13:18 need to talk about this," he said, locking eyes with Dunn. "That's dangerous, even
13:22 that attitude is dangerous. I've done 5,000 of these and I've never seen this done before."
13:29 For the arrogant and careless surgeon, it was not enough to stop him. Hoyle said he
13:33 left the operating room and vowed to never work with the surgeon ever again. Lee Passmore
13:39 did survive the ordeal but lives with chronic pain and has a lot of trouble walking and
13:43 balancing. The next patient to have his life irreparably changed was Barry Morguloff. Spending
13:49 his life unloading trucks, his back was now in pain all the time. The only recommendation
13:55 he got was Dr Dunn, but Barry wasn't sure, nervous about getting surgery, and he spent
14:00 hours poring over reviews about him and all his awards and accolades. Barry set up a meeting
14:06 with the surgeon and clicked with him right away. He said he felt calm seeing how confident
14:11 Dr Dunn was. He said he was a "very charming and disarming guy, a loving family man it
14:16 seemed. Phenomenal, great guy, loved him," Barry said.
14:22 In January 2012, Barry was wheeled into surgery. The vascular surgeon assisting Dunn was none
14:29 other than Dr Randall Kirby. Dr Kirby said of the operation, "In the spectrum of what
14:34 a neurosurgeon does for a living, doing this procedure is probably the easiest thing that
14:39 they do on a daily basis." Kirby watched as Dunn went right in without using the proper
14:45 tools, grabbing at things that he shouldn't have been, and haphazardly blundering around.
14:50 Kirby argued with Dunn before changing tack and politely offering to take over the surgery.
14:55 But Dunn insisted he knew what he was doing. Kirby left but he was unable to shake this
15:00 feeling that he had about Dunn, and had had since the day he first met him.
15:06 Barry woke up from the surgery in agony, a pain unlike anything he'd felt before. It
15:12 would turn out that there were bone fragments that had been left in Barry's spinal canal.
15:17 Another surgeon would later try and repair the damage, but Barry has to walk with a cane
15:21 now and his doctor said one day he will end up in a wheelchair. At one point Barry was
15:26 so depressed and sick that he contemplated taking his own life, believing it was the
15:30 only way the mental and physical pain would end. Fortunately, his wife and children were
15:36 able to pull him out of the dark place and he began some intensive therapy.
15:42 Dunn's childhood friend and now roommate, Jerry Summers, then approached him to perform
15:46 a surgery on his back too. He had a herniated disc. The pair would often go out partying
15:52 together and Jerry even had access to Dunn's credit cards. To ask his good friend to do
15:57 this simple surgery seemed like a given. The trust was already there and Dunn was often
16:01 talking about how highly in demand he was. But for Jerry, the dream situation would quickly
16:07 turn into a nightmare. In surgery, he damaged Jerry's vertebral artery and the bleeding
16:13 just wasn't stopping. Two litres of blood was soon lost. Dunn's packed the area with
16:19 so much anticoagulant that it squeezed Jerry's spine. When Jerry woke up, he said he couldn't
16:25 feel anything. He had no sensation in either of his arms or legs and was now completely
16:32 paralysed and would later require 24/7, round-the-clock care. Lying in the ICU, knowing that he was
16:39 never going to recover, he turned to his girlfriend and said "Kill me, I want to die". Dunn
16:44 never once came to see his friend, see how he was or even explain what had happened.
16:50 In a depressed rage, Jerry told the nurses that Dunn had been taking cocaine the night
16:54 before he performed the surgery. He later admitted he had just made this up. But knowing
16:59 his friend and his drug usage, he felt it was a fairly educated assumption. His claim
17:05 was taken seriously and Dunn was ordered to take a drugs test. The test would never happen,
17:10 as Dunn claimed he got lost on his way there. He did pass a separate psychological evaluation
17:16 and just three weeks later, he was allowed to start operating again but was instructed
17:20 to stick to minor procedures. But after this, we come back to Kelly Martin's case. She
17:26 would be his next patient. After Kelly died, officials ordered Dunn to take another drug
17:31 test. This time, he took it. The first screening came back as showing it had been diluted with
17:37 water and the second, a few days later, was clean. Some while later, Lee, still struggling
17:44 to work, was allowed to resign from his job at the Collin County Medical Examiner's
17:48 office. But before he left, a fax came through that stopped him in his tracks. There were
17:54 two names at the top of the first page, Kelly Martin and Dr. Christopher Dunn. He sat and
18:00 read what happened to her, shocked at what he was seeing. The cog started turning as
18:04 he connected the dots between that and his own botched surgery. He went down a rabbit
18:09 hole and found a few months that were not accounted for in Dunn's educational history.
18:14 He said you don't get to walk away from two to three years of medical training in
18:17 the middle of an internship or a residency, get to take time off and be slotted directly
18:21 in the position you left in, with no questions asked. Maybe that's how they do it in Tennessee,
18:27 but according to my training, that's not how they do it here. Then it all just started
18:31 to unravel.
18:35 Administrators at the hospital put together a comprehensive review of all of Dunn's
18:39 cases and each time the same thing had happened. Patterns were showing and other surgeons were
18:45 talking. Now, someone was dead. This could not be ignored. After going through everything
18:50 that had happened in that particular hospital alone, they determined he couldn't continue
18:55 there. To the shock of the other surgeons and patients, the hospital did not fire him.
19:00 Instead, they asked him to resign, remaining in good standing, with his last day being
19:05 in April 2012. Through a letter, Baylor Plano said, "All areas of concern with regard
19:11 to Christopher D. Dunn have been closed. As of this date, there have been no summary or
19:16 administrative restrictions or suspension of Dunn's medical staff membership or clinical
19:20 privileges during the time he has practiced at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano."
19:28 The places that had asked him to leave chose to avoid the legalities of a potential wrongful
19:32 termination and bad press of firing such a highly respected doctor and instead let him
19:38 quietly resign and move on with no repercussions. And as he technically left of his own choice,
19:45 this meant that at least two facilities did not have to report him to a database run by
19:50 the US Department of Health and Human Services. This database is supposed to log information
19:55 about problem practitioners, warning potential employers about their histories. They also
19:59 failed to report him to the Texas Medical Board. When some of his patients tried to
20:03 sue him for malpractice, most of them found it virtually impossible to find attorneys
20:08 willing to take on their cases. In 2003, Texas enacted tort reform, which reduced the amount
20:14 of damages plaintiffs could win, with the number of malpractice payouts per year dropping
20:19 by more than half. In July 2012, Duntsch moved right on to the Dallas Medical Center. The
20:26 background check they briefly ran on him came back clean. In the same month he joined, Duntsch
20:32 operated on 63-year-old Floella Brown, a banker looking forward to retirement. About 30 minutes
20:38 into the surgery, the bleeding was so bad that Duntsch said he couldn't see her spine.
20:43 "Why is it still bleeding?" he kept saying. After a few scary moments, it seemed Duntsch
20:48 had got it under control, but nurses in the room were concerned. Although Floella woke
20:53 up and seemed fine, early the following morning she lost consciousness as pressure was building
20:57 up inside her brain for reasons that no one could work out. She was in critical condition
21:03 and it wasn't looking good. While Floella lay in the intensive care unit, with doctors
21:07 fighting to save her life, Duntsch was set to go into another surgery with 71-year-old
21:12 Mary Eford. Mary was very active and loved working out, but back pain was stopping her
21:18 from living her life. The surgery was very simple, easily mastered by most first-year
21:23 residents. Before the surgery started, nurses spotted a hole in Duntsch's scrubs right
21:28 at the back, showing he wasn't wearing underwear. One nurse, Kyle Kissinger, said he had seen
21:33 the same hole for three straight days, and it was clear that Duntsch wasn't even changing
21:37 his scrubs between surgeries. As he stared into Duntsch's eyes, he said he had pinpoint
21:43 pupils and wasn't blinking. It was all very alarming.
21:47 The surgery for Duntsch was more of the same. The operating room staff questioned why he
21:52 seemed to be drilling into random areas of her back, carelessly and without paying any
21:56 attention. Soon after the surgery on Mary started, Duntsch turned to Kyle and said he
22:01 wanted to perform a procedure on Floella, called a craniotomy. This involves cutting
22:06 a hole in the skull to relieve pressure on the brain. Kyle was shocked and said Dallas
22:11 Medical Center did not perform these, as they didn't have the proper equipment to be able
22:15 to. Other people in the room were agreeing with what Kyle was saying, trying to talk
22:20 him out of it. Unfortunately, he backed down. Floella was moved to another hospital, but
22:26 she never regained consciousness, and her family withdrew her life support a few days
22:30 later.
22:31 A neurosurgeon was hired to review her case and death, and would later conclude that Duntsch
22:39 had both pierced and blocked her vertebral artery with a misplaced screw. He also found
22:44 that he had misdiagnosed the source of her pain in the first place, and was operating
22:48 in totally the wrong area. This had triggered a stroke, which had ultimately claimed her
22:54 life.
22:55 Mary Eford woke up from the surgery, the same as the others before her, in total agony.
23:01 She couldn't move her legs or feel her toes. Dr. Robert Henderson, another important person
23:06 in this story, was called in to look at her case. He was an extremely talented Dallas
23:11 spinal surgeon with three decades of experience. He pulled up her post-op x-rays, and the first
23:17 thing he said was, "Some kind of travesty occurred."
23:22 Mary was pulled back into surgery the next day with Dr. Henderson operating. There were
23:26 three holes in Mary's spinal column where Duntsch had tried and failed to insert several
23:31 screws. One screw had hit the nerves that control one leg and the bladder. Dr. Henderson
23:36 then discovered that Duntsch had amputated on one of her nerve roots, for reasons Henderson
23:41 called "inexplicable." The surgery had gone so badly and was so botched, Dr. Henderson
23:46 wondered if Duntsch was some sort of imposter, dressing up and pretending to be a surgeon.
23:52 He could think of no other reason why this had gone so wrong.
23:56 Mary Eford now relies on a wheelchair. She has never regained mobility in her legs. She
24:01 said one of her biggest loves was sewing. She used to do it all the time, but as she
24:06 can't pick up her foot, she can't do this anymore. "Pain is really my life," she said.
24:12 Dr. Henderson was horrified and took his findings to the hospital administrators, and he and
24:17 Dr. Kirby both started sharing stories. Dr. Kirby had operating privileges at over 60
24:25 hospitals across Texas, and wherever he went, someone at some point would come up to him
24:30 with a story about Dr. Duntsch. Thanks to the fuss the pair kicked up, hospital officials
24:36 told Duntsch he would no longer be able to operate at Dallas Medical Center. However,
24:41 yet again, he wasn't fired or suspended. He was allowed to leave quietly.
24:49 People were going in for the most simple, routine and standard surgeries and procedures,
24:53 and they were coming out worse than they went in. And in the case of Kelly Martin and Floella
24:58 Brown, they weren't coming out at all. It had taken months and multiple catastrophic
25:03 and fatal surgeries, but finally Dr. Duntsch was reported to the state medical board. However,
25:10 this was not the simple fix surgeons like Dr. Henderson and Dr. Kirby thought. It would
25:15 take almost a whole year for the board to investigate, all the while Duntsch was operating
25:20 elsewhere. Things went quiet for a little while, until
25:25 December 2012. Dr. Kirby was asked to assist with a woman called Jacqueline Troy. She had
25:32 had neck surgery and was now battling a severe infection. Dr. Kirby found that the surgeon
25:37 who had operated on her had cut her vocal cords and one of her arteries.
25:42 "Is it a guy named Christopher Duntsch?" he asked. He knew the answer already, and
25:47 of course the answer was yes. Duntsch was finally reported to the National
25:52 Practitioner Data Bank, but even after the report was filed, Dr. Kirby found that another
25:57 hospital had given him operating privileges. Although Duntsch didn't realise this, Jeff
26:03 Glidewell would be his last patient. Jeff, always an outdoors loving man, had had a motorbike
26:09 accident years before and his back and neck had never been the same. He had come across
26:14 Duntsch in an advert that was showing the best neurosurgeons in the Dallas area.
26:18 It's a call that's telling me I'm here to serve. It's a need to make a difference in
26:35 the world. 24 hours day or an aging life, changing lives.
26:45 And hi again everyone, Jim Knox along with Candace Krueger and welcome back to another
26:48 edition of the Best Docs Network, which of course features some of the best doctors in
26:52 the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Dr. Christopher Duntsch calls himself the
26:56 best neurosurgeon in all of Dallas. He specialises in relieving back and neck pain.
27:02 Then they come back to me to discuss surgical options.
27:08 Despite everything going wrong for Duntsch's patients, it seemed he was still the talk
27:12 of the town. As a superstitious man, Jeff saw three black
27:18 cats on the way into the hospital and said his gut told him to turn around. Reassured
27:23 by his wife, they carried on for the surgery. Hours later, Duntsch was nowhere to be found.
27:31 Three hours after the surgery was supposed to start, Duntsch finally turned up in a cab,
27:36 claiming he had a flat tyre. His jeans were frayed, he was sweaty and dishevelled and
27:40 Jeff said he didn't look at all ready for the surgery. His bad feeling grew but he kissed
27:45 his wife goodbye and went into the operating room.
27:49 At this point, unbeknownst to Jeff, the state medical board had been investigating Duntsch
27:54 for about 10 months. During the surgery, Duntsch thought that part of Jeff's neck muscle
27:59 was a tumour and stopped operating on him halfway through. He cut into Jeff's vocal
28:04 cords, punctured an artery and cut a hole in his esophagus. Duntsch used a sponge to
28:09 stop the bleeding and stitched Jeff back up, with the sponge still inside him.
28:15 Duntsch came out and told Jeff's wife Robin he had found a tumour confirmed by a quick
28:20 biopsy and therefore he couldn't possibly carry on. But there was no tumour and there
28:24 had been no biopsy. Robin went in to see Jeff in the recovery room.
28:38 Jeff was so distressed he couldn't swallow and breathlessly mumbled "Where's the doctor?
28:42 I can't move my arm or my leg. Something's wrong, what did he do to me?"
28:46 Duntsch finally showed his face and Jeff, now battling an infection as well, said "I
28:50 can't move my arms." Duntsch replied "Well, I don't know what to tell you about that"
28:55 before strolling off.
29:00 None other than Dr Randall Kirby was called in to correct the damage and at this point
29:04 he was quite literally losing his mind. How did this keep happening and when was it going
29:09 to end? On a scale of difficulty this was about a 2 out of 10 procedure. He said "This
29:15 was not an operation that was performed. This was attempted murder. It was like a crazed
29:20 maniac procedure." Dr Kirby went directly to the Texas Medical Board and Robin went to
29:26 the police. The officer she spoke to said they didn't have the resources to file criminal
29:31 charges against a doctor. She went back to Dr Kirby asking if she could contact the medical
29:36 board too and a statement was drafted.
29:40 Jeff Glidewell would leave the hospital months later, partially paralysed and with only one
29:45 vocal cord. He has nerve damage in one arm and can only eat small bites of food at a
29:51 time.
29:52 But Duntsch would, again, move elsewhere.
29:56 In May 2013 Dr Henderson and Dr Kirby opened up their emails to find an invite to a meet
30:02 the new specialist dinner. University General Hospital was throwing an event to welcome
30:07 a new neurosurgeon joining their team, Dr Christopher Duntsch. They simply couldn't
30:13 believe it. This was Duntsch's third hospital in 18 months. Dr Kirby said he picked up the
30:19 phone right away and called the hospital to, in his words, "raise holy hell". He then
30:25 sent them a six page letter which read in part "Let me be blunt, Christopher Duntsch,
30:30 Texas Medical Board License Number N8183, is an impaired physician, a sociopath, and
30:37 must be stopped from practicing medicine." In the letter Kirby told the hospital they
30:42 could either address it and do something about it or he would be calling every media outlet
30:47 in Texas.
30:48 With so much talk in the medical community and between family members, the stories were
30:52 travelling fast. An article was published about him online referring to him as "Dr
30:57 Death" and quoted Dr Kirby in all of his findings. Duntsch took to the comments section
31:03 to threaten Dr Kirby if he kept talking. But in this case there was no such thing as bad
31:09 publicity because, finally, in June 2013, Christopher Duntsch was suspended and ordered
31:15 to stop operating.
31:19 A Plano neurosurgeon has his license suspended after the medical board says his negligence
31:24 resulted in at least two patient deaths. Patients tried to get their medical records from Dr
31:30 Christopher Duntsch's office today but they were turned away.
31:33 Yeah, well Clarice, those frustrated patients were told by somebody on Dr Duntsch's staff
31:39 to show up here at his office between four and five o'clock this afternoon to pick up
31:44 those medical records. Well, those patients showed up but, as you mentioned, they didn't
31:48 walk away with anything. And so far we know that two lawsuits have been filed and at least
31:54 three more are on the way.
31:56 Carol McMillan, out of luck at Dr Duntsch's office at the Texas Neurological Institute
32:03 in Plano. Dr Duntsch, seen here on Facebook, was scheduled to perform surgery on her tomorrow.
32:10 On Wednesday, the Texas Medical Board issued a temporary suspension order of Duntsch's
32:15 license because of imminent peril to public health and cited impairment by drugs or alcohol.
32:22 Mary Eford claims in her lawsuit she has permanent nerve damage because of Dr Duntsch's negligence.
32:29 Despite being on the maximum amount of narcotics that she prayed to God to take her every single
32:36 day, she cried every single day.
32:38 Fifty-four-year-old Kelly Martin, mother of two and wife of a Garland police officer,
32:43 died from massive bleeding and is patient number two cited in the suspension order.
32:48 Duntsch has had surgical privileges at several North Texas hospitals, but most recently had
32:54 them revoked at University General Hospital in Dallas.
32:58 A temporary suspension really doesn't refer to any specific time frame. It's more of a
33:04 move that is done fairly quickly by the board when they feel that there is some sort of
33:09 imminent threat posed by a doctor. I was told that the doctor will have a chance at some
33:14 point to defend himself before the board, but that would likely happen over a series
33:19 of hearings. It could take several weeks or even longer. Clarice?
33:23 Natalie Solis live tonight in Plano. Thank you.
33:29 Duntsch was able to issue some sort of appeal through a lawyer and said he didn't have the
33:33 time to use drugs or drink, even if he wanted to because he was too busy. He said he was
33:37 a hard worker and he even threatened to sue Dr. Kirby for slander. He claimed he was at
33:43 the centre of a vast conspiracy to bilk money from the hospitals where he practiced. When
33:47 asked why it had taken so long for the suspension to happen, the head of the medical board said
33:52 at the time, "It's not uncommon for there to be complications in neurosurgery. None
33:57 of us rush to judgement, that's not fair, and in the long run, it can come back to be
34:02 incorrect. To suspend a physician's licence, there has to be a pattern of patient injury."
34:07 So that was ultimately what happened, but it took until June of 2013 to get that established,
34:13 he added.
34:16 Can you explain then what happened during those surgeries, please, sir? I talked to
34:19 a doctor who said that you were like a serial killer. Do you have a response?
34:24 Yes, I'll deal with that in a context reliable later when I've defended myself.
34:29 Are you planning to try to practice medicine again?
34:32 Yes.
34:33 For Drs. Henderson and Kirby, it wasn't good enough. Dr. Henderson said the word 'suspended'
34:40 implied he might be allowed back at some point, and they couldn't let that happen. Dr. Kirby,
34:46 Dr. Henderson and another doctor contacted the district attorney, arguing that Duntsch
34:51 was a criminal. They got a meeting, but nothing happened.
34:55 In December 2013, almost two years since Kelly Martin had died, the medical board permanently
35:01 revoked Duntsch's licence. Despite his huge salary, Duntsch was now in dire straits financially.
35:09 He had to file for bankruptcy, owing more than $1 million, and leave Texas, moving in
35:13 with his parents in Colorado. He would come back and forth to see his two young sons,
35:19 but it appeared the relationship with his girlfriend Wendy had fallen apart too.
35:24 A month after moving, he was pulled over by police in the early morning hours. He was
35:28 driving on the wrong side of the road, with two flat tyres. As soon as they spoke to him,
35:33 the smell of alcohol was strong, and empty bottles littered the car floor. Duntsch was
35:38 arrested for a DUI and ordered into rehab.
35:41 In March 2014, police were called in again to a bank in Dallas, after people saw a man
35:47 with blood on his hands and face, banging on the doors and trying to get in. It was
35:51 Duntsch. He was wearing his scrubs and was incoherent, saying something about his family
35:56 being in danger. He was swiftly taken to a psychiatric hospital.
36:07 After his father had sent him some money, he was caught in a Dallas Walmart, filling
36:11 a cart with almost $1,000 of watches, sunglasses, computer equipment and cologne. He bagged
36:17 them up to hide them, before picking out some clothes and putting them on in the dressing
36:21 room.
36:25 He then headed right for the front door but was stopped by security and arrested for shoplifting.
36:34 His life was out of control, and the wheels were starting to come off.
36:40 Later that year, Bela Plano was told a lawsuit had been lodged against them by Ken Fennell
36:44 and Lee Passmore, swiftly followed by Mary Eford and Barry Mergeloff. Bela Plano described
36:50 this as extremely frustrating and difficult, adding that a lot of what had been said about
36:54 them was misleading and that they never knowingly allowed one person to compromise the level
36:59 of quality care they pride themselves on.
37:02 Jeff Glidewell, still fighting to accept his life was now what it was, but still wanting
37:07 justice, made a call to a judge with everything he knew about Duntsch. This would finally
37:13 help bring the case back to the District Attorney's attention and get the ball moving.
37:18 We now meet someone else vital in bringing this case to a conclusion. Michelle Shughart,
37:23 the Assistant District Attorney. The case instantly piqued her interest, as in her 13
37:29 years with the Dallas DA's office, she had never prosecuted a doctor. In fact, from looking
37:34 at other cases like this, it seemed that no one had ever prosecuted a surgeon for what
37:38 they had done in the operating room. It would become a case of firsts for many reasons.
37:45 She began researching everything she could on Duntsch, and it was staggering just how
37:49 much was out there about him.
37:53 She issued 800 subpoenas and spoke to over 100 people in person.
37:58 In July 2015, 46 year old Christopher Duntsch was arrested on five aggravated assault charges,
38:05 one count of injury to an elderly person, Mary Eford. He was also accused of maiming
38:10 three patients and causing the deaths of at least two.
38:14 We start tonight with a North Texas doctor charged for what happened in his operating
38:20 room during surgery. Dr. Christopher Duntsch is a neurosurgeon and now faces charges of
38:26 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, his scalpel. Duntsch is accused of butchering
38:30 patients and botching surgeries of five Dallas area patients who either died or are now scarred
38:37 for life. News 8's Brett Schiff was among the first to expose these allegations and
38:42 you're joining us with the latest.
38:43 That's right, Shelly. We first revealed the allegations against Dr. Duntsch in 2013 of
38:48 case after case of botched surgeries, of alleged drug abuse and reckless indifference toward
38:54 his patients, patients who will now try to help put him behind bars.
38:59 Victims and their attorneys say Duntsch was building a resume of alleged botched surgeries
39:05 of paralyzed patients and in two cases, death. While Duntsch was operating on Lee Passmore
39:12 of Frisco, an assisting surgeon had to intervene. Jim Gerards is Passmore's attorney.
39:19 Dr. Duntsch had to be physically restrained by the surgeon that was operating with him
39:25 because that second surgeon recognized that Duntsch was doing things that were not explainable,
39:32 that were extremely dangerous.
39:33 Other patients have similar stories. Duntsch's former roommate, Jerry Summers, will never
39:39 walk again.
39:40 The hospital staff knew that Dr. Duntsch had a gallon jug of vodka under his desk, that
39:49 a baggie of white powder had been found in his bathroom.
39:54 Duntsch remains behind bars tonight on $600,000 bond.
39:58 He was taken into custody and denied all the allegations.
40:01 None of it's true. It's easily defendable. None of these petitions, even for these people,
40:07 they never went forward. They never litigated, they never deposed, never went to trial. I
40:11 have nothing to hide.
40:14 He was officially charged and pleaded not guilty.
40:17 In Texas, the charge of injury to an elderly person carries a potential life sentence,
40:22 but there were only four months left before the statute of limitations ran out. This was
40:27 the big charge they were pushing to take to trial. As for various reasons, if they could
40:32 obtain a conviction for this, it would be worth more in terms of years than any of the
40:36 other charges. One lawyer said it's not worth an attorney's time and energy to take on a
40:40 malpractice case. The outcome, sadly, would just not be worth it.
40:46 The prosecution knew this was a tough case, but their goal was to get a sentence long
40:50 enough to ensure he would never be able to practice medicine again. To the relief of
40:55 the prosecution, Duntsch was criminally charged in the maiming of Mary Eford. And this was
41:01 the charge that went to trial.
41:04 Former neurosurgeon who was once a rising star in his medical field is now in jail on
41:08 felony charges. Fox 4's Natalie Solis tells us how the malpractice claims against him
41:13 became a criminal investigation.
41:16 Christopher Duntsch on Facebook when he had a thriving medical practice. And Duntsch Tuesday,
41:21 just a few years later, booked into the Dallas County Jail. James Gerards represents one
41:26 of Duntsch's former patients who sued the former neurosurgeon in civil court after a
41:31 botched surgery.
41:32 It is so rare for a district attorney to prosecute a physician.
41:36 Dallas police picked him up Tuesday afternoon on the assault charges near a Richardson Motel.
41:41 Typically when a physician is targeted for a criminal prosecution, the industry rallies
41:47 around that physician. For that reason, it's a real gut check for a district attorney to
41:53 indict a physician for something that he was doing professionally.
41:57 But Duntsch stands out.
41:59 This one is so egregious that the information just couldn't be controlled.
42:03 Well, since 2013, Duntsch has been back and forth between Dallas and Colorado where he
42:08 was put on probation for DWI. But it appears Duntsch does not have legal representation
42:13 so far for these latest charges. Now, we did put in a request to do a jailhouse interview.
42:18 To get his side of the story, we have not gotten a response.
42:22 We're hearing this trial could last several weeks. It actually presents a lot of interesting
42:27 legal questions. Can a botched surgery rise to the level, you know, be more than just
42:32 malpractice? Can it rise to the level of a criminal act? And that's something this jury
42:36 will have to answer.
42:37 Duntsch opted not to testify in his own defense. Despite the fact they were only focused on
42:42 Mary's case, they still had a huge amount of people that were willing to testify against
42:47 him to prove his negligence in the years before he even met Mary.
42:51 As Randallyn Henderson took to the stand, as did Jerry via a video link from his home,
42:56 Mary herself also testified.
43:00 What are we looking at here?
43:02 The prosecution said it was obvious he had intentionally, knowingly and recklessly harmed
43:28 up to 15 of his patients, although we know there were many more people affected.
43:33 Jeff Chaney woke up from his operation to find out that Duntsch had removed part of
43:37 his spinal cord by mistake, paralyzing the entire right side of his body.
43:43 Jackie Troy found herself unable to talk as Duntsch had paralyzed her vocal cords.
43:48 Philip Mayfield paralyzed from the neck down.
43:51 Marshall Muse spiraled into addiction after relying on pain pills following his surgery.
43:56 And Pam Trusty feels lucky to be alive.
43:59 However, Duntsch's legal team claimed that he was not a criminal, just a lousy surgeon
44:04 and a lazy person.
44:05 He didn't know he was risking anything.
44:10 It was careless.
44:12 It was wrong.
44:13 But it's not to the level of criminal.
44:16 They said him committing malpractice was due to chaotic operating rooms and hospitals in
44:20 Dallas.
44:21 And as for the emails he wrote to his ex-girlfriend Kimberly saying he would become a killer,
44:25 they said it was simply sarcasm taken badly.
44:30 The jury in the Dr. Christopher Duntsch case will hear closing statements tomorrow.
44:35 Defense attorneys sought to portray him as an inexperienced, poorly trained surgeon.
44:39 Is it fair for Christopher Duntsch, who was enabled to do these surgeries, who couldn't
44:47 have done it without the help of all these big hospitals, all these other doctors, is
44:52 it right for him to go away, to be thrown away when all of them profited, all of them
45:00 have blood on their hands?
45:02 The only way that this happens is that the entire system fails the patients.
45:06 Again, there are multiple things that have to occur in order for us to be here.
45:15 The carnage he caused was not a mistake or an accident.
45:19 He did virtually everything wrong.
45:23 So to be able to do that much wrong, I felt that he must have known at some point in time
45:30 how to do it right.
45:32 It was that egregious.
45:33 Did he follow the Hippocratic Oath?
45:37 Its major tenant, first do no harm, he certainly didn't.
45:42 Dr. Robert Henderson testified he was called in to try to correct Duntsch's surgery,
45:47 calling Eford's case an atrocity and questioned Duntsch's qualifications.
45:52 I became concerned whether or not he was a physician, was a surgeon.
45:58 Duntsch's attorneys agree he made mistakes.
46:00 They just say prosecutors can't prove it was knowing, reckless or intentional.
46:06 Even his lead attorney said, you have people in walkers, you have people on crutches, you
46:10 have people that could barely move, you have people that had lost loved ones, you had all
46:14 sorts of things that had gone wrong, before we even get to Mary you can see that it's
46:18 going downhill.
46:19 I mean it's going downhill fast.
46:23 So why didn't he stop?
46:24 Michelle asked.
46:26 Because of greed, because he owed people a lot of money.
46:29 He wanted to live the high life and a neurosurgeon makes big bucks.
46:33 Why didn't he stop?
46:34 Because he had no conscience.
46:36 He doesn't care what he has left in his wake.
46:38 In court, Duntsch was calm and collected.
46:41 His lawyer later said he truly and honestly thought he was doing a good job and this all
46:45 seemed shocking to him.
46:47 He said until the expert started speaking, it seemed he was clueless as to the damage
46:51 he caused.
46:52 So this is not providing any stability at all.
46:57 There's bone fragments just laying over the exposed dura here on the left side.
47:06 The jury took just four hours to return their verdicts.
47:10 The jury unanimously decided that Christopher Daniel is guilty.
47:14 In July 2016, he was found guilty of one count of intentionally or knowingly causing serious
47:20 bodily harm to an elderly individual.
47:23 Duntsch's family begged for some mercy when it came to the sentencing.
47:27 They described him as a bright little boy who had taken care of sick birds and loved
47:30 dogs.
47:31 They acknowledged his issues, but said everything he did came from a place of wanting to help
47:36 people.
47:37 His dad Don said.
47:38 He's been devastated.
47:39 He has nothing.
47:40 He's lost everything.
47:41 He doesn't have his family.
47:42 He doesn't have his career.
47:44 He doesn't have his companies.
47:46 He doesn't have his medical license.
47:48 I think what happened is, is that as things begin to fall apart, the only thing he knew
47:53 was to try harder.
47:57 Jury having found the defendant Christopher Daniel Duntsch guilty of injury to an elderly
48:00 individual as charged in the indictment, unanimously assess his punishment and confinement in the
48:05 institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life.
48:09 In February 2017, Christopher Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum
48:14 term of 30 years.
48:18 Six o'clock, a former North Texas doctor learning that he will spend the rest of his life in
48:22 prison.
48:23 And so we're overwhelmed.
48:24 And this is my daughter.
48:27 And this is a voice for Kelly.
48:31 And we're so thankful.
48:32 And hopefully we can move on with our life.
48:34 I'm just so grateful from the bottom of my heart.
48:38 This will not bring my mother back.
48:39 But it is some sense of justice.
48:42 This is what I wanted.
48:44 This is what I've waited four and a half years for.
48:46 He believed that everyone else was just humans.
48:50 And this was his playground.
48:51 And he could build anything, sell anything, ruin anything.
48:57 And he would not suffer the consequences.
49:00 We are so elated about the life sentence that has been handed down in this case today.
49:07 There have been other filings from other patients against Duntsch.
49:11 But we hear from the district attorney's office tonight that they do not plan to seek any
49:14 criminal charges from those cases at this point.
49:18 As for Duntsch and his legal team, they did make it clear today that they plan to appeal.
49:23 He filed an appeal in 2018, but his conviction was upheld.
49:34 He's not eligible for parole until 2045, when he will be 74 years old.
49:40 This case set a huge precedent.
49:42 It is the first time in the United States that a physician has been convicted of criminal
49:47 charges for actions in the course of their medical work.
49:53 In June 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that would give the state's
49:58 medical board additional ability to protect patients from potentially dangerous doctors.
50:03 The bill, HB1998, was introduced in response to an investigation that found at least 49
50:11 doctors were practicing in Texas, despite having their licenses revoked in other states.
50:16 To think about how many people these doctors were treating is shocking.
50:20 There was no record of these actions on the Texas Medical Board's physician profile pages,
50:25 despite being required by law.
50:27 The new law includes several provisions which will better enable the board to protect patients
50:32 and boost transparency.
50:34 These include some of the following.
50:36 Lying on a medical license application will be a Class A misdemeanor.
50:41 Doctors who have had their medical licenses revoked, restricted or suspended in another
50:44 state will not be allowed to practice in Texas.
50:48 All doctors will be required to be fingerprinted as part of a criminal background check and
50:52 be monitored monthly via the National Practitioner Data Bank.
50:58 The four hospitals that employ DUNSH have ongoing civil cases against them as well.
51:03 Sadly, not reporting these things is not uncommon.
51:08 In 2011, a staggering 47% of hospitals did not report their restrictions or revocations
51:15 of doctors' clinical privileges, leaving the doors wide open for the lack of paper
51:19 trail to be taken advantage of.
51:22 Questions had to be answered, and accountability had to be taken.
51:26 It highlighted the systemic problems within the healthcare field, all the way to the top.
51:31 The hospital officials which allowed him to leave rather than firing him and having him
51:35 investigated issued a statement which read, "Our primary concern, as always, is with
51:41 patients.
51:42 Out of respect for the patients and families involved, and the privileged nature of a number
51:46 of details, we must continue to limit our comments.
51:49 There is nothing more important to us than serving our community through high-quality,
51:53 trusted healthcare."
51:55 Trying to comprehend the amount of damage and destruction that Christopher DUNSH has
52:00 caused is impossible.
52:02 Between May 2011 and June 2013, DUNSH performed surgery on 38 people.
52:08 32 of them were left with life-changing injuries, in some cases completely paralysed, and two
52:14 had died.
52:19 His case became quite a big part of mainstream media, with a hugely successful podcast being
52:24 launched about it, and it was even made into a TV show on Peacock called Doctor Death.
52:29 "Good morning, I'm Dr Christopher DUNSH, a patient presented with severe back pain
52:33 diagnosed as a herniated disc.
52:35 It is important we are in and out with as little fanfare as possible."
52:39 It was an all-star cast, with Joshua Jackson playing DUNSH, and Christian Slater playing
52:44 Dr Randall Kirby.
52:47 And this brings us to the amazing doctors that helped put an end to his career.
52:52 One has to wonder if it wasn't for the perseverance of Dr Kirby and Dr Henderson, how much longer
52:57 would DUNSH have continued?
52:59 Tragically, a third victim's life would be claimed when, in 2021, Gerry Summers, DUNSH's
53:06 patient and once dear friend, died from an infection connected to his botched surgery.
53:15 We trust that when we need them, people in Christopher DUNSH's position of authority,
53:20 knowledge and power will look after us.
53:22 They will care for us, they will make us better.
53:24 We put our faith and trust in them, that they will turn things around even when the odds
53:28 might seem stacked against us.
53:30 We hope that we are in good and safe hands.
53:33 For the families that were affected by the crimes of Christopher DUNSH, that trust will
53:37 likely forever be broken.
53:41 Kelly's husband Don Martin said, "My whole lifestyle has changed.
53:45 Everything is different now.
53:46 I look at life differently, totally differently.
53:49 Life is too precious, too short.
53:51 We can't take the little things for granted.
53:54 We are just trying to make the best of each day."
53:56 Thank you all for tuning in.
54:06 If you'd like to support our channel and help us to continue to make content, please
54:09 don't forget to like, comment, share and subscribe.
54:12 It helps us so much and we really appreciate it.
54:15 God Bless.
54:28 [BLANK_AUDIO]