Long before he faced lawsuits and criminal charges, a North Texas neurosurgeon emailed one of his employees.
“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,” Christopher Duntsch wrote.
To authorities, the chilling Dec. 11, 2011, email points to Duntsch’s mind-set in the months before he “intentionally, knowingly and recklessly” botched spinal surgeries, severely injuring four people and killing one woman, Floella Brown, who died in July 2012.
The email was among new evidence Dallas County prosecutors presented against Duntsch at a hearing Friday in which Criminal District Judge Carter Thompson refused to reduce Duntsch’s $600,000 bail.
“I am very well-pleased that he will remain in jail and that justice will eventually be served for the crimes that he has committed,” said Philip Mayfield, 45, who awoke paralyzed from the neck down in April 2013 after Duntsch performed surgery on his spine...
Dallas police said in a search warrant affidavit that he is also under investigation in the botching of at least 10 other patients’ surgeries in Plano and Dallas that occurred from November 2011 through June 2013. Duntsch “knowingly takes actions that place the patients’ lives at risk,” police said, such as causing extreme blood loss by cutting a major vein and then not taking proper steps to correct it. In one case, Duntsch left a surgical sponge inside a man's body. During that same surgery, another doctor forced him to stop operating because of his “unacceptable surgical technique,” the affidavit said....
Shughart asked Duntsch’s father if his son was trying to get his medical license reinstated.
“I guess that’s probably true,” Donald Duntsch said. “I knew that was an intention of his at some point, in light of what happened, that he would be able to practice again as a doctor.”...
Duntsch has claimed to be a victim of misunderstandings, rival surgeons and personal injury lawyers. He told The Dallas Morning News in a 2014 story about the accusations that “99 percent of everything that has been said about me is completely false.”
But in that startling 2011 email to his employee, Duntsch wrote: “how can I do anything I want and cross every disclipline boundary like it’s a playground and never ever lose.”...
Shughart, the prosecutor, sought to show Duntsch has ongoing substance abuse issues. She said Duntsch’s friend called his hospital and reported Duntsch had been up all night doing drugs the night before an operation. The hospital then sent him to rehab, she said.
Donald Duntsch testified that while his son was a college student in Tennessee, the school ordered him to go into rehab. In addition, the elder Duntsch said, his son was arrested last year in Colorado for impaired driving, and he testified that he had been concerned that his son was abusing Ritalin and alcohol.
“I know that he uses alcohol, particularly, which was an issue for us in the home, and we talked about it,” Donald Duntsch said. “The reality was, as he’s been going through this incredibly traumatic time, I think he’s probably used it some to self-medicate.”...
“He needs to be where he is right now until he gets to trial,” said Lee Passmore, 40, a former patient who reportedly suffered extreme pain and other complications as a result of a Duntsch surgery.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20150821-surgeon-who-wrote-of-becoming-killer-is-denied-bail-reduction.ece
Courtesy of: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/Ethics/53240?isalert=1&uun=g906366d4477R5793688u&xid=NL_breakingnews_2015-08-26
“It’s a completely egregious case,’’ Leigh Hopper, then head of communications for the Texas Medical Board, told The Dallas Morning News in 2013. “We’ve seen neurosurgeons get in trouble but not one such as this, in terms of the number of medical errors in such a short time.”
ReplyDeleteDuntsch arrived in Dallas in 2010 to start a neurosurgery practice. In the course of the next three years he would work at several different hospitals, earning infamy for his haphazard surgical technique wherever he went, according to the Texas Observer. His colleagues described him in the harshest superlatives: “worst surgeon I’ve ever seen,” “sociopath.”
“I couldn’t believe a trained surgeon could do this,” Robert Henderson, another surgeon at Dallas Medical Center, where Duntsch performed several operations, told the Observer. “He just had no recognition of the proper anatomy. He had no idea what he was doing. At every step of the way, you would have to know the right thing to do so you could do the wrong thing, because he did all the wrong things.”
In one case, authorities allege, Duntsch operated on his roommate and friend after a night of using cocaine. The man emerged from the operation a quadriplegic. In another, he purposefully left a surgical sponge inside a man’s body. During that surgery, a fellow doctor forced Duntsch to stop operating because of his “unacceptable” technique, the Dallas Morning News reported, citing a search warrant affidavit.
In 2012, Duntsch voluntarily left Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano, where he had surgical privileges, after a woman he was operating on reportedly bled to death, according to the Observer. Despite Duntsch’s bad reputation, Baylor hadn’t done anything to stop him from operating elsewhere. Texas law limits hospitals’ responsibility for their doctors’ actions, the Observer explained, and the only entity that can remove a doctor’s license is the Texas Medical Board, which can do so only after receiving and investigating a complaint.
It would take another year for Duntsch’s license to be suspended. In the meantime, a second woman allegedly died on his operating table and at least two others emerged from their surgeries unable to move their legs.
In 2013, Baylor doctor Randall Kirby filed a complaint about Duntsch with the Texas Medical Board after realizing that the doctor was still working in the operating room.
“The TMB must stop this sociopath Duntsch immediately or he will continue to maim and kill innocent patients,” Kirby wrote, according to the Dallas Morning News. “Dr. Duntsch is a clear and present danger to the citizens of Texas.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/25/sociopath-neurosurgeon-accused-of-intentionally-botching-operations/
But the hospitals where he worked are also facing scrutiny over their treatment of Duntsch. If so many doctors knew that he was, in one colleague’s words, a “clear and present danger” to patients, why was he allowed to continue operating for so long?
ReplyDeleteBaylor is now the target of three lawsuits from Duntsch’s former patients, according to the Dallas Morning News, with more likely on the way.
When Duntsch left Baylor and began searching for work at other hospitals, Baylor provided a letter saying that his medical record there was clean, though it was not addressed to any hospital and was not a letter of recommendation, Baylor said.
Duntsch was the subject of a lengthy 2013 Texas Observer article, which concluded that “the real tragedy of the Christopher Duntsch story is how preventable it was. Over the course of 2012 and 2013, even as the Texas Medical Board and the hospitals he worked with received repeated complaints from a half-dozen doctors and lawyers begging them to take action, Duntsch continued to practice medicine. Doctors brought in to clean up his surgeries decried his ‘surgical misadventures,’ according to hospital records. His mistakes were obvious and well-documented. And still it took the Texas Medical Board more than a year to stop Duntsch — a year in which he kept bringing into the operating room patients who ended up seriously injured or dead.”
Sidney Wolfe, a doctor who serves as a senior adviser to the nonpartisan research group Public Citizen, told the Dallas Morning News that hospitals are obligated to stop dangerous physicians. “A hospital that has evidence that a doctor is practicing bad medicine and does not take action has blood on its hands,” he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/25/sociopath-neurosurgeon-accused-of-intentionally-botching-operations/
Courtesy of Doximity
The rambling, four-page email, sent Dec. 9, 2011, to an employee with whom Duntsch had a “personal relationship,” has been submitted as evidence in Duntsch’s criminal case. Here are seven chilling statements from that email:
ReplyDelete1. “Building an empire”
“Unfortunately, you cannot understand that I really am building an empire, and I am so far outside the box that the earth is small and the sun is bright. … I have three lawsuits. I have 1M in debt, 10M invested, and 22 years of pain in misery already on the table”
2. “Between god, Einstein and the antichrist”
“Anyone close to me thinks that I likely am something between god, Einstein and the antichrist. Because how can I do anything I want and cross every discipline boundary like its a playground and never ever lose. But unfortunately, despite the fact I am winning it is not happening fast enough.”
3. “Become a cold blooded killer”
“You, my child, are the only one between me and the other side. 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.”
4. “A manner that borders on abuse”
“The sad fact is that I would go faster do better and catch more respect and honor by f***ing every one in the brain, emotionally and mentally controlling them in a manner that borders on abuse, taking no prisoners, and sending everyone in my way, and especially that f***s with me to hell for the simple fact that they thought they could much less tried”
5. “My vodka bottle and neurostimulants”
“1 week and then everything unraveled. At first I thought it was simply my world and that it was too much for you. Then it seemed that it was nothing more than boring to you…so then I thought it was my vodka bottle and neurostimulants, but I watched you closely and besides concern for my healthy you were chill and rolled with me on that.”
6. “Stone cold killer”
“What I am being is what I am, one of kind, a mother f****** stone cold killer that can buy or own or steal or ruin or build whatever he wants.”
7. “Never… argue with me”
“Never ever f***ing argue with me and banter or what the f*** ever in front of anyone. When we are alone, my love for you will let you do so because that is your nature. But not in front of my lawyers and accountants and partners and employees and friends. And never when i not standing there.
“You were a major in a military organization, and that is the only reason you can have a slight inkling of the manner in which I want you to treat me and respect me”
http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/7-chilling-thoughts-of-jailed-neurosurgeon-christopher-duntsch.html/
He had a doctorate in molecular biology as well as a medical degree from the University of Tennessee medical school, where he also had been an assistant professor in neurosurgery. And he had trained at the well-regarded Semmes-Murphey Neurologic & Spine Institute in Memphis...
ReplyDeleteBaylor Regional Medical Center at Plano now faces hard questions in court: Did it know Duntsch was not fit to practice, and did it fail to stop him?
In addition, that hospital and others are under state investigation for their roles in the matter.
While at Baylor Plano, Duntsch was accused of maiming several patients and causing the death of another. One patient — his roommate and closest friend — claimed that Duntsch operated on him after a night of using cocaine, which Duntsch denied. The roommate emerged from the surgery a quadriplegic.
Yet when Duntsch departed Baylor Plano in 2012, the hospital stated that his record was officially clean. “As of this date, there have been no summary or administrative restrictions or suspensions of Dr. Duntsch’s Medical Staff membership or clinical privileges,” a letter from Baylor said. “All investigations with respect to any areas of concern … have been closed.”
He used that declaration, Duntsch said, to secure privileges at two Dallas hospitals. There, doctors and others allege, he seriously harmed additional patients.
Duntsch has acknowledged that, contrary to the letter, he was suspended from performing surgery at Baylor Plano for about two weeks. That occurred, he told The Dallas Morning News, during an investigation — the result of the cocaine allegations — that cleared him of wrongdoing.
Baylor’s actions are now the target of three federal lawsuits by Duntsch’s former patients, with more likely on the way.
“Rather than protecting the public from harm, Baylor allowed him [Duntsch] to be passed on from hospital to hospital,” said lawyer Kay Van Wey, who has filed two of the suits. “Predictably, other people were hurt badly.”
Baylor has declined to allow its officials to be interviewed. Instead, its public relations arm issued a written statement. “Misleading to the public are the numerous allegations in these lawsuits written as facts,” the statement said. It added that Baylor “cannot get into all the specifics.”
In a tale full of strange occurrences, the strangest may be this: Baylor’s best ally could be Duntsch himself. “Baylor aggressively pursued issues in a timely manner,” he said of his credentialing. “Baylor did nothing wrong.”
http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/20140301-planos-baylor-hospital-faces-hard-questions-after-claims-against-former-neurosurgeon.ece
Duntsch lawyer maintains that the deaths and injuries were accidental and not the result of drug or alcohol abuse, although the medical board said that his substance abuse was a factor in his inability to care for patients. The board did not say that he was high or drunk at the time of surgery, which is a key part of the prosecution's case against Duntsch.
ReplyDeleteDuntsch has a history of alcohol and drug abuse and has been in and out of rehabilitation centers and clinics since he was in medical school.
Read more at http://www.newseveryday.com/articles/24165/20150825/texas-neurosurgeon-worked-high-drunk-killing-injuring-patients.htm#jtMAZK2LA0bP7YhL.99
The brief, a reply filed by plaintiff Robert Passmore and his family members, requests that the appeals court reverse a Texas federal court's order dismissing the case because the Passmores failed to timely submit a report required by state law. The Passmores say arguments made by Baylor and a hospital nurse — also named as a defendant — against Passmore’s position that dismissal of the case violated federal rules are unavailing...
ReplyDeleteThe lawsuit is one of three targeting a neurosurgeon who allegedly performed substandard operations and the hospitals that allegedly knew but allowed him to do surgeries anyway.
The trio of cases allege that the Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano knew that spinal surgeon Christopher Duntsch was dangerous but nonetheless let him perform surgeries.
The plaintiffs' lawsuits detail a reckless pattern of alleged alcohol, cocaine and prescription drug abuse by Duntsch, who they say has seriously maimed and even killed patients.
The Passmores’ suit specifically alleged that Duntsch botched a spinal surgery performed on Robert Passmore that left him totally disabled, during which time another surgeon who was assisting in the operation objected to Duntsch’s procedures and actually engaged in a physical altercation with him to prevent further harm to Passmore, according to court filings.
The suit brings claims against the hospital system for malpractice and against Morgan, who allegedly witnessed the altercation in the operating room but failed to report it to the Baylor chain of command.
Baylor attorney John A. Scully of Cooper & Scully PC said in an email to Law360 on Tuesday that he and his clients believe the district court's opinion was well-reasoned, and they expect the dismissal to be affirmed by the Fifth Circuit.
http://www.law360.com/articles/697285/5th-circ-urged-to-revive-malpractice-suit-against-hospital
In a heart-stopping case of medical malice, a deadly doctor has been jailed after allegedly leaving a trail of maimed and murdered bodies in top Texas hospitals!
ReplyDeleteA special investigation by The National ENQUIRER has revealed hospital bosses and regulators ignored warnings about Dr. Christopher Duntsch.
“A lot of really shocking things happen in hospitals but the Duntsch case tops the list,” said Jim Girards, a medical malpractice lawyer.
“I likely am something between God, Einstein and the Antichrist,” Duntsch boasted in a chilling Dec. 9, 2011, email.
“What I am being is what I am, one of a kind, a mother f--ker stone cold killer.”
Duntsch, 44, was jailed in July when prosecutors slapped him with five counts of aggravated assault and one count of injury to an elderly person. The charges cited use of deadly weapons: his “hands and surgical instruments.”...
While Baylor issued a statement saying the lawsuit allegations are misleading, Jim said: “What we do know is Duntsch was a cash cow for Baylor. He represented that he would earn a minimum of $20 million a year for them.”...
In a deposition, a pal said Duntsch binged on LSD, pain pills and cocaine, then went to work. “Duntsch is an impaired physician, a sociopath,” witness Dr. Randall Kirby said. “(He) must be stopped from practicing medicine!”
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/true-crime/outrage-hospital-cover-over-texas-surgeon-blood-his-hands
A Dallas County judge has set June 27 as the trial date for Christopher Duntsch, the former Plano neurosurgeon who remains jailed on multiple aggravated assault charges related to episodes of care that allegedly left patients maimed, paralyzed, or dead.
ReplyDeleteDuntsch, 44, was arrested on July 21 of last year on five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and one count of injuring an elderly person. He remains in custody at the Dallas County Jail on a total bond of $601,500, which includes $1,500 for a separate misdemeanor theft charge...
However, she didn’t rule out that the defense could motion to postpone that date because of the amount of discovery; she estimated that there are somewhere around 30 boxes of medical records related to the state’s case against Duntsch...
The five incidents that rendered the rare criminal charges occurred between July 2012 and June 2013, the same month that the Texas Medical Board revoked his license.
One indictment says he amputated a patient’s spinal nerve, causing paralysis. Another says he removed “an excess of bone” and cut the patient’s vertebral artery, “disregarding” the amount of blood she lost during surgery. That patient, Floella Brown, died four months later. A third indictment says Duntsch “knowingly selected and installed” a screw that was too long for the procedure, penetrating the patient’s major vein and again causing blood loss and damage to his nerve roots. The final count says Duntsch cut another patient’s esophagus, which left him struggling to eat and breathe, as well as the artery that supplies blood to the brain. He also is accused of leaving a sponge inside that patient, causing a severe infection.
In revoking his license, the Texas Medical Board ruled that he “violated the standard of care with respect to six patients.” He practiced in the Dallas area for three years, performing procedures at the Legacy Surgery Center of Frisco, Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano, and University General Hospital Dallas. A civil lawsuit filed well before the criminal indictments allege that Baylor Plano brought him on despite reports from a former employer that suggested he was “an egomaniac, mentally ill, an alcoholic, drug addict, or a combination thereof.”
That suit has been settled and a confidentiality agreement prohibits the plaintiffs from commenting. Duntsch has maintained his innocence throughout the lawsuits and the indictments...
The first attempt, in August, was a three-hour hearing that included his father, Donald Duntsch, testifying behalf of the prosecution. Donald Duntsch told the court that his son had drank alcohol while staying with the family in Colorado and acknowledged a drunken driving arrest, The Dallas Morning News reported.
http://healthcare.dmagazine.com/2016/01/29/judge-sets-a-trial-date-for-christopher-duntsch-the-jailed-plano-neurosurgeon/
The News Channel 3 Investigators looked at how failures to properly police doctors could put patients' health and safety at risk.
ReplyDeleteIt almost sounds like a made-for-TV movie.
A promising young surgeon is now sitting behind bars. Police accuse A promising young surgeon is now sitting behind bars. Police accuse Dr. Christopher Duntsch of botching surgeries and butchering patients.
The Dallas doctor hopped from hospital to hospital, all while complaints and investigations were underway.
In fact, it would be nearly two years after Duntsch's childhood friend and Memphis native Jerry Summers woke up a quadriplegic that the Texas Medical Board would revoke his license.
In between, two other patients died and others were paralyzed.
Duntsch got his training in Memphis. Court records show complaints and treatment of his drug and alcohol abuse during that time, but it was all kept quiet.
He gave up his Tennessee license right after the Texas license was stripped. However, the News Channel 3 Investigators learned state regulators don't always find out as quickly when doctors get in trouble in other states, leaving patients completely left in the dark.
"There's a lot of stuff that goes on that patients don't know," attorney Bryan Smith told WREG.
WREG found Duntsch's case while reviewing three years worth of physician discipline.
There were federal indictments and tax crimes. Doctors who loosely prescribed pain killers and those who provided substandard care to patients.
http://wreg.com/2016/02/29/failures-in-disciplining-doctors-could-put-patients-at-risk/
A Dallas County judge has set June 27 as the trial date for Christopher Duntsch, the former Plano neurosurgeon who remains jailed on multiple aggravated assault charges related to episodes of care that allegedly left patients maimed, paralyzed, or dead.
ReplyDeleteDuntsch, 44, was arrested on July 21 of last year on five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and one count of injuring an elderly person. He remains in custody at the Dallas County Jail on a total bond of $601,500, which includes $1,500 for a separate misdemeanor theft charge. Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Michelle Shughart confirmed the court date and said she expected it to stick. However, she didn’t rule out that the defense could motion to postpone that date because of the amount of discovery; she estimated that there are somewhere around 30 boxes of medical records related to the state’s case against Duntsch. Robbie McClunt, one of Duntsch’s defense attorneys, said she does not expect to motion for a delay...
Since his jailing, Duntsch has twice attempted to get a judge to lower his bond. He was unsuccessful each time. The first attempt, in August, was a three-hour hearing that included his father, Donald Duntsch, testifying behalf of the prosecution. Donald Duntsch told the court that his son had drank alcohol while staying with the family in Colorado and acknowledged a drunken driving arrest, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The judge was not convinced that Christopher Duntsch was not a flight risk, and kept the bond where it was. The second hearing was much swifter, and the state did not need to call witnesses before the judge denied the motion, Shughart said.
http://healthcare.dmagazine.com/2016/01/29/judge-sets-a-trial-date-for-christopher-duntsch-the-jailed-plano-neurosurgeon/
Jailed Plano neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch will stand trial for allegations that he maimed multiple patients seven months later than originally planned. His trial date has been moved from June 27 to January 30, 2017, a Dallas County Court clerk confirmed, at the behest of his defense.
ReplyDeleteAccording to court filings, prosecutors have entered another 2,049 pages of medical records into evidence. The defense then requested a continuance to review the new information. Last month, a judge approved the motion and pushed the trial back to 2017. Duntsch has been jailed since July 21, 2015 on five counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and one count of injuring an elderly person.
The incidents that spurred the rare criminal charges occurred between July 2012 and June 2013, which was the month the Texas Medical Board revoked his license. He practiced at the Legacy Surgery Center of Frisco, Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano, and University General Hospital Dallas. He’s accused of gross negligence among six patients, causing paralysis and death. As D Healthcare Daily reported earlier this year:
One indictment says he amputated a patient’s spinal nerve, causing paralysis. Another says he removed “an excess of bone” and cut the patient’s vertebral artery, “disregarding” the amount of blood she lost during surgery. That patient later died. A third indictment says Duntsch “knowingly selected and installed” a screw that was too long for the procedure, penetrating the patient’s major vein and again causing blood loss and damage to his nerve roots. The final count says Duntsch cut another patient’s esophagus, which left him struggling to eat and breathe, as well as the artery that supplies blood to the brain. He also is accused of leaving a sponge inside that patient, causing a severe infection.
In revoking his license, the Texas Medical Board ruled that he “violated the standard of care with respect to six patients.” He practiced in the Dallas area for three years, performing procedures at the Legacy Surgery Center of Frisco, Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano, and University General Hospital Dallas. A civil lawsuit filed well before the criminal indictments allege that Baylor Plano brought him on despite reports from a former employer that suggested he was “an egomaniac, mentally ill, an alcoholic, drug addict, or a combination thereof.”
http://healthcare.dmagazine.com/2016/06/02/trial-for-jailed-plano-neurosurgeon-christopher-duntsch-delayed-until-january/
great information in the blog and keep updating in future.
ReplyDeleteMyphen