Dr. Death: A License to Legally Mutilate

4 hospitals. 37 patients. 33 injured. 2 killed. 2 years.

Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Dr. Death for medical malpractice, is a former American neurosurgeon.

Duntsch got his undergraduate degree in 1995 and received his M.D. and Ph.D. in 2001 and 2002 from a top spinal surgery program. He then spent six years in a residency at the University of Tennessee studying neurosurgery and general surgery, where he ran two successful labs. According to TIME “...years later…the Dallas district attorney’s office discovered…that although a typical neurosurgery resident completes about 1,000 operations during their training, Duntsch had actually done fewer than 100.” This was a glaring red flag that somehow went unnoticed. This brings up the question: how could someone so underqualified be allowed to advance unchecked?

However, Duntsch soon became unhinged and started to spiral downward. Illicit drugs became his fuel and ultimately he began working while under the influence. It’s hard to fathom how someone entrusted with the lives of others could descend to such reckless and dangerous behavior. 

Neurosurgeons are worth millions in revenue for hospitals and on paper, Duntsch was a star pick for any hospital system thanks to years of research and strong recommendations from prior supervisors. He was cautious to put across the image of a hardworking, competent, caring person and doctor. So, after training, Duntsch joined a clinic in Dallas, where coworkers quickly realized he was a danger to the patients. 

During his first procedure at this clinic, “he…refused to use a scalpel to remove a disk, instead using a different instrument that ended up causing more damage (to the patient),” TIME wrote. Not too long after, Duntsch damaged a patient’s vertebral artery, causing it to bleed almost uncontrollably. To stop the bleeding, Duntsch packed the space with so much anticoagulant that it squeezed the patient’s spine, ultimately leaving the patient paralyzed. This caused Dr. Death’s surgical rights to be temporarily suspended. A medical degree and a white coat are symbols of trust and authority. Duntsch’s case proves how dangerous it is when those symbols are used by someone who doesn’t deserve them. 

Following his suspension, Duntsch’s first patient back was having surgery to fix her compressed nerve. ProPublica wrote “As she regained consciousness after the surgery, the nurses tending to (her) testified that she began to slap and claw at her legs, which had turned a splotchy, mottled color. She became so agitated the staff had to sedate her. She never reawakened. An autopsy would later find that Duntsch had cut a major vessel in her spinal cord, and within hours, (she) bled to death.” This was Dr. Death’s first casualty and in April 2012 he resigned before the clinic could fire him. Because of his voluntary exit, the clinic wasn’t required to report Duntsch’s actions, which prevented him from being tracked as he continued his career elsewhere. The lack of accountability is astonishing. Hospitals should have taken action sooner, but they chose to protect themselves rather than the lives of their patients. 

With his gruesome destruction unceasing, Dr. Death was brought on board at the Dallas Medical Center. During his first surgery there, his patient bled out on the operating table. After the operation, the woman woke up and seemed fine, but soon lost consciousness. It would later determine that Duntsch had pierced and blocked her vertebral artery with a misplaced screw. A simple mistake or gross negligence? At this point, it’s clear Duntsch’s incompetence was deadly. During another operation, Dr. Death amputated a woman’s nerve root, put spinal fusion hardware into her muscle and soft tissue instead of the bone, twisted a screw into another nerve, and left hardware so loose in her back that it moved when touched. She woke up in severe pain and unable to walk. The cruelty of his surgeries is almost unimaginable. Each procedure left a trail of suffering that could have been avoided if someone had intervened sooner. 

As stated by TIME “In 2013…Despite being known in Texas as a doctor to avoid (at least among professional peers)...Duntsch continued to be hired.” It’s as if the system was turning a blind eye to the growing list of his victims. During Duntsch’s last employment at a hospital, he botched another surgery where he made a series of errors after mistaking a portion of the patient’s neck muscle for a tumor. Several other doctors agreed that this was an attempted murder, not an operation. In June 2013, Duntsch’s medical license was suspended and fully revoked later that December. Finally, after years of malpractice, the system caught up with him. But for so many patients, this came far too late. One of the most upsetting aspects of this case is that so many patients were failed not only by Duntsch but also by the very system meant to protect them. 

In July 2015, Duntsch was arrested by Dallas prosecutors and was charged with one count of injury to an elderly person and five counts of assault, all stemming from his medical career.

Duntsch’s trial began on February 2, 2017, and focused on the charge related to injuring an elderly person. ProPublica wrote in an article “Duntsch held up remarkably well, seeming calm in the certainty that he was a good surgeon…then…experts walked the jury through a litany of Duntsch’s surgical missteps…(and) Duntsch…deflated before their eyes.” Even in the face of overwhelming evidence, he maintained a chilling confidence. His arrogance was only matched by his ineptitude.  It took the jurors just hours to find Duntsch guilty of knowingly injuring the elderly patient and others. He was then sentenced to life in prison. 

Christopher Duntsch’s story is not just a tale about one man’s horrific failures, but a stark reflection of systemic vulnerabilities within the healthcare system. His reign of terror reveals how easily a medical professional can exploit their trust, especially when oversight is lax. While Duntsch is an extreme case, it isn’t just an isolated incident. It reflects a larger problem within the healthcare system, raising the uncomfortable possibility that less extreme—but still dangerous—doctors are slipping through the cracks.