Most of the time, medical malpractice is the result of an unintended error by a caring physician. That is not always the case, however. Sometimes, medical malpractice is the result of something far more nefarious. A Dallas area neurosurgeon sits behind bars today after being convicted of willfully injuring an elderly patient. Nicknamed “Dr. Death” by the media, he has been sentenced to life in prison. The elderly patient was but one of many patients this surgeon maimed or killed. Two years after he arrived in the Dallas area, the Texas Medical Board suspended his license. The first question is, given his history, how did he ever get a license in the first place? The second question is what took them so long to suspend him? Here is a scary article from D magazine about Dr. Death, his life before Texas and after he arrived.
Before Dr. Christopher Duntsch came to Texas, he had been practicing in Memphis, Tennessee. Although there were allegations of drug and alcohol use and he is alleged to have been forced into substance abuse treatment and prohibited from operating alone, none of that was mentioned to either the Texas Medical Board or the surgical practice that was hiring him for $600,000 a year plus incentives. At this point any sane person must ask, “How does this happen?” Are doctors so protective of each other that they will not reveal what they know of a bad doctor and just let him move on to the next town and the next set of victims? The public deserves better. Dangerous doctors need to be rooted out and dealt with as soon as they are discovered. Routinely, however, bad doctors and dangerous doctors are allowed to move on with no warning to the unsuspecting patients in the next town or state. Out of sight, out of mind. Not my problem any more, buddy.
As to the second question, problems developed almost as soon as Dr. Duntsch arrived in Texas. Following his first surgery for the spine group that brought him to Texas, he allegedly left town without arranging for someone to care for his patient. He was immediately fired but it does not appear that anyone reported him to the medical board; he was just getting started injuring people. According to the D magazine article, within a month of arrival in Texas he did a spine surgery with a general surgeon. The surgery went so badly that the general surgeon intervened to prevent harm to the patient and refused to ever operate with Dr. Duntsch again. Once again, however, it does not appear that anyone made any complaints to the medical board. Many maimed patients and two deaths later, the Texas Medical Board finally took notice and suspended his license. For his part, Dr. Duntsch claims that he is the victim of misunderstandings, jealous competitors and medical malpractice lawyers.
How does this happen? How can the medical profession claim that medical malpractice suits are frivolous and that damages should be capped while at the same time allowing dangerous doctors to hurt patients over and over and over. Let us be perfectly clear, while Dr. Duntsch may be one of the few bad doctors to be criminally charged for negligently maiming or killing patients, he is not the only one to do so. They are among us now operating on unsuspecting patients. It is one of the medical profession’s dirty little secrets. The next time they and the politicians to whom they contribute ask you to give up your right to be compensated when a negligent doctor injures you, tell them to clean up their house first and then come talk to you.
