Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971) is a neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. D. and Dr. Death for gross malpractice resulting in the death and maiming of several patients while working at Baylor Plano and Dallas Medical Center. Duntsch was convicted of various crimes on Monday, February 20, 2017, and sentenced to life in prison.
Video Christopher Duntsch
Education
Duntsch did his MD and neurosurgery residency at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and subsequently was an assistant professor there.
Maps Christopher Duntsch
Career
Duntsch then moved to Dallas to work at Baylor Plano. After several botched surgeries, he left for Dallas Medical Center, where he was employed for less than a week before he was dismissed by administrators after the death of another patient. There is no information available indicating what investigation the state licensing agency did, or if the hospital notified the Texas Medical Board.
According to court documents, he was suspected of being under the influence of cocaine while operating during his fourth year of residency. He was sent to an impaired physicians program and then he was allowed to return to his residency program.
Duntsch began operating in Texas in 2010 and his medical license was revoked in 2013. He was accused and later convicted of maiming four patients and killing two others.
In December 2011, according to court proceedings, he emailed a colleague, saying "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."
Medical license revocation and criminal conviction
In 2017, he was convicted of a first degree felony in the maiming of Mary Efurd during a spinal fusion surgery.
He had drilled a screw into Efurd's spinal cavity, placed implants into muscle instead of on bone, and completely amputated an entire spinal nerve root. "It's as egregious as you can imagine," said Dr. Robert Henderson, the surgeon who was called on to perform emergency rescue surgery on Efurd after she had been maimed by Duntsch. Now 79, Efurd can stand for only 10 minutes at a time and spends most of her days in a wheelchair.
Life imprisonment
On February 20, 2017, Christopher Duntsch was sentenced to life in prison. His defense blamed poor training and control by the hospitals.
All the four hospitals that employed Duntsch have an ongoing civil case against them.
Reactions
The conviction of Duntsch was one of the first prison sentences given for malpractice, and has been called a precedent-setting case. The office of the district attorney prosecuting the case called it "an historic case with respect to prosecuting a doctor who had done wrong during surgery".
The director of the neurosurgery at UT Southwestern, Carlos Bagley, testifying for the defense, said that "the only way this happens is that the entire system fails the patients."
See also
- Jayant Patel
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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