Christopher Duntsch

Christopher Daniel Duntsch (born April 3, 1971) is a former American neurosurgeon who has been nicknamed Dr. Death for 33 incidents of gross neurosurgical malpractice while working at hospitals in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, which maimed 31 patients and caused 2 deaths. He was accused of injuring 33 out of 38 patients in less than two years. He was allowed to continue practicing because hospital officials and regulators found it hard to believe a surgeon could be so incompetent and dangerous. His license was finally revoked by the Texas Medical Board in 2013. In 2017, Duntsch was convicted of maiming one of his patients and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Early life

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 children; he has two brothers, Nathan and Matt, and a sister, Liz. Duntsch is a graduate of Evangelical Christian School in Cordova, Tennessee, where he was a 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 Duntsch trained hard but lacked talent. Duntsch returned home to attend Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis). Though he hoped to play football again, Duntsch had exhausted his football eligibility, and decided to switch to a career in medicine. He completed his undergraduate degree at Memphis State in 1995.