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 many 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Duntsch was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years before his license was revoked by the Texas Medical Board.
1995
Duntsch completed his undergraduate degree in 1995, then continued on to an ambitious MD–PhD program.
2010
In 2010, he completed the MD–PhD and neurosurgery residency programs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and subsequently completed a spine fellowship program at the Semmes-Murphey Clinic in Memphis.
Duntsch completed his residency having participated in fewer than 100 surgeries.
Typically, neurosurgery residents participate in over 1,000 surgeries in the course of their residency.
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.
He remained there for several months before being allowed to return to the residency.
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.
While in Memphis, Duntsch frequented strip clubs.
He had come to the attention of Wendy Renee Young when she was an exotic dancer at one club.
In 2010, Duntsch moved to Dallas.
He persuaded Young to come with him; Young agreed, since she had grown up in the Dallas area.
Upon applying for work, he looked extremely qualified on paper: he had spent a total of fifteen years in training (medical school, residency and fellowship), and his curriculum vitae was twelve single-spaced pages.
Duntsch also claimed to have graduated magna cum laude from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with a doctorate in microbiology – a program that the hospital did not offer at the time he allegedly attended.
Duntsch joined Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano (now Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Plano) as a minimally invasive spine surgeon with a salary of $600,000 per year, plus bonuses.
Early in his tenure at Baylor Plano, Duntsch made a poor impression on his fellow surgeons.
Veteran vascular surgeon Randall Kirby recalled that Duntsch frequently boasted about his abilities despite being so new to the area.
Kirby also recalled that Duntsch's skills in the operating room left much to be desired; as Kirby put it, "he could not wield a scalpel".
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.
The hospital initiated another peer review, but Duntsch resigned rather than face certain termination.
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.
Had Duntsch been fired, Baylor Plano would have been required to report him to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which is intended to flag problematic physicians.
Duntsch moved to Dallas Medical Center in Farmers Branch, where he was granted temporary privileges until hospital officials could obtain his records from Baylor Plano.
2011
In 2011, she approached him at a different club she was stripping at, after she noticed that "all the [other] girls were over there", making her aware that he was a doctor and that "of course, that’s where you're going to go for money".
2014
She immediately moved in with him, and they went on to have two sons together, though they had broken up just prior to the birth of their second son, in September 2014.
Initially, Duntsch focused heavily on the PhD half of his degree.
His name appeared on several papers and patents, and he took part in a number of biotech startups.
However, by the time he met Young, Duntsch was over $500,000 in debt.
He decided to turn to neurosurgery, which can be a lucrative field.
2017
In 2017, he was convicted of maiming one of his patients and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Christopher Duntsch was born in Montana and spent most of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee.
His father, Donald, was a physical therapist and Christian missionary, and his mother, Susan, was a schoolteacher.
He was the oldest of four; he has two brothers, Nathan and Matt, and a sister, Liz.
He is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in the Cordova suburb of Memphis, where he was a star football player.
Duntsch initially attended Millsaps College to play Division III college football, and later transferred to Division I Colorado State University.
Former teammates later said that, while Duntsch trained hard, he lacked talent at the game.
Duntsch returned home to attend Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis).
Having exhausted his football eligibility, Duntsch decided to switch to a career in medicine.
