Medical Discipline Record

United States (Texas) ยท Surgeon, neurosurgery

Christopher Duntsch: medical regulator decision

Decision, 6 December 2013Medical licence revoked by the Texas Medical Board on 6 December 2013, by an agreed order, following a temporary suspension ordered on 26 June 2013.3,2,4

Texas Medical Board

What the panel found

The Dallas Morning News reported that the board found he violated the standard of care in treating six patients, two of whom died, and found no evidence that he was impaired by drugs or alcohol during those six procedures. The board's executive director called revocation the "strictest available penalty."2

Related criminal case

Convicted by a jury in Criminal District Court No. 5 of Dallas County of injury to an elderly individual, relating to the July 2012 surgery on patient Mary Efurd, and sentenced by the jury to life imprisonment in February 2017. The Fifth District Court of Appeals at Dallas affirmed the conviction on 10 December 2018, with one justice dissenting.1,5,3

Response

The Dallas Morning News reported that he signed the board order without admitting or denying the findings, to avoid further investigation and litigation expenses. At his criminal trial his lawyers argued that he "wasn't a criminal, just a lousy surgeon", according to CBS News.2,5

Appeal and later events

No appeal of the board order is recorded, the order was agreed. The criminal conviction was affirmed on appeal on 10 December 2018.2,1

Status now

Licence revoked since 6 December 2013. Serving a life sentence in Texas, as reported by ProPublica in October 2018.3

This site covers only doctors whose cases were widely reported and decided in published rulings. Each record states the decision exactly as the body made it, and any appeal or later change.

Sources

  1. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas (via Justia), Christopher Daniel Duntsch v. The State of Texas, No. 05-17-00235-CR (10 December 2018)
  2. The Dallas Morning News, Texas Medical Board revokes license of Plano neurosurgeon considered menace to public health (10 January 2014)
  3. ProPublica (Laura Beil), Dr. Death: Christopher Duntsch, a surgeon so bad it was criminal (2 October 2018)
  4. The Texas Observer, Anatomy of a Tragedy (September 2013)
  5. CBS News, Former neurosurgeon sentenced for purposely maiming patients (21 February 2017)