License to Kill (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Deadly God Complex - full transcript

- Patients were injured
on the operating table.

- When they cut me open,

something went really bad,
wrong.

- The first words
out of Jeff's mouth was,

"What did he to do me?"

- It was like a crazed
maniac procedure.

- Was it an honest mistake?

- I couldn't feel my feet,
I couldn't talk,

I wanted to die.

- Or was it a warning that
a murderer was on the loose?

- I wanted to lunge at him
and shake him.



- And that's when it hit,

my world just turned
upside down.

- His deadly weapon
was his hands

and his surgical tools.

- This guy's trying to kill
people for a living.

I knew he just needed
to be stopped.

- As a doctor
and certified expert

for the California
Medical Board,

I knew first-hand that most
medical professionals

will go to any length
to help their patients.

But in some cases,

there are those with
a deranged mind

and a license to kill.

In 2011, when 55 year-old
Texas mom, Kellie Martin



decided to have surgery
to treat a minor back injury,

she thought a positive outcome
was all but guaranteed.

But on the day of her
procedure,

Kellie's family was shocked
to discover

how quickly the routine
became catastrophic.

- It sounds really cliché
and corny to say it,

but people growing up
said we were like

the Beaver Cleavers.

- My wife, Kellie,
I met her in college.

She caught my interest
and apparently I caught hers.

We dated throughout college,
got married,

and we basically started
a family.

Lauren was born first,

and Caitlin was born
few years later.

And as they grew older,

we got involved
with their school activities,

sports activities.

We had a-- we had
a wonderful time.

- We were so lucky to have
two parents

that A, were still married,
and that B, loved us so much.

- Our family was very close.

My father being
a police officer,

and my mother, you know,

she works in
the education field

as a librarian.

- She's very passionate
for her daughters

and her family as well.

You know, we did everything
together.

She's a very loving woman.

- In November of 2011,

her and my dad were taking
Christmas decorations down

from the attic,
and she fell down,

and she hurt her back.

- She felt a twinge
in her back,

and Kellie got back up.

And she walked around,
she worked it off.

But Kellie's pain continued
after the fall, kept going on.

And I could tell some days

she could do chores
around the house,

and some days she couldn't
get in and out of bed.

We had a big trip planned
to Antigua,

but she was in pain.

It just kept going on
and going on.

And we thought this is never
gonna go away,

and we need-- we need
to address this some way.

And that's when we went
to the family doctor

and told him about
what she's been experiencing.

And so, the doctor gave us
his card.

And it said,
"Doctor Christopher Dunstch."

- When you hear the schools
that he went to

and, um, how prestigious
it was

to be able to have him
as your physician,

you felt really lucky
to be able to get in.

- Dr. Duntsch seemed
very knowledgeable.

Knew exactly
what he was talking about.

He suggested that we get
an MRI.

- Dr. Duntsch showed me
the MRI.

I saw the source of the pain.

And I knew that it was causing
my mom discomfort,

and I didn't want her
to have that pain anymore.

- Kellie Martin had torn

a piece of the disc material

from between the vertebrae

and dislocated it
into the spinal canal.

And that was compressing
on nerves

and producing intense pain.

Dr. Duntsch recommended
that she undergo

a procedure to remove it.

A laminectomy is a basic
spine procedure.

This is the simplest operation

that neurosurgeons do
in the spine.

- The procedure my mom
was going to have

was explained to us
as a simple procedure.

As simple as possibly
even getting a cavity done.

- On the day of the surgery,
Kellie, she was concerned.

You could see that on her face
a little bit.

And, but, you know,
I was there to reassure her.

And then I kissed her,
and I told her, "I love you,"

and "I'll see you in an hour."

An hour goes by,
I hadn't heard anything,

nobody's come out to me,
so I went to the desk.

And I asked her if she could
give me an update.

And they just told me that
they're still in the OR,

they're still working on her,

and I said, "Okay," and,
"Just keep me posted."

More time went on,
now I'm kinda worried.

So, I asked her again,
"Can you please call?"

And she said,

"It looks like they're about
to finish it up,

"and that the doctor
will come out

and see you in a few minutes."

Dr. Duntsch came out,
took me to this little room,

and said,
"The surgery went well..."

but he said that "they may
have to keep her overnight.

But we'll see, we don't know."

They may have to take her
up to ICU to finish up.

I said, "Okay, do what
you gotta do."

- I get a phone call
from my father,

and he says, "They're gonna
take her to ICU,

"and I think that it would be
really great

"if you and Lauren could come

and that she could see you
when she wakes up."

- My sister and I walked
into the hospital.

My father was sitting
in the waiting room.

So, I went through
the double doors,

and there's a nurses' station.

And I said, "Hi, my name's
Lauren Martin,

I'm looking for my mother,
Kellie."

And she looked at me,

and her face changed
completely.

- She comes around the desk
and ushers us

and, like, shifting her body
so that we can't see

what's going on behind her.

And moves us into
the waiting room,

and that was kind of a moment
that I knew

something is not right.

They ask us to go into
the small private room.

About 15 minutes after being
stuck in that little room,

one of the ER physicians
comes in

and says, "We're still working
on her.

"There's some blood loss,
we're trying to figure out

"where it's coming out of,
and we're gonna figure it out,

"and we're gonna keep
working on her.

We're not giving up."

- And now we're 21/2 hours,
three hours into this thing.

And I had a sick feeling
in my gut

that something's wrong.

- My dad is starting to
kind of rock back and forth,

um, my stomach is really
hurting.

And then what happens is that
an ER doctor comes back

and says,
"She's in cardiac arrest,

and we're performing CPR."

And, um, at that point,

I-- there was a trash can
and I just started throwing up.

I knew even after, like,
ten, twelve minutes,

a person on-- you know,
having CPR

is not gonna be the same.

You're not getting oxygen
to your brain.

I that something was wrong,

and I knew I was losing
my mother.

- Coming up...

- Nurses, they're saying,
like,

"Randy you won't believe
what we just saw

in the operating room."

It didn't have any resemblance
to surgery

as we know on
the planet Earth.

- I'm realizing that there's
a darker side to him.

- I personally felt that

there was a killer
on the loose,

and no one could stop him.

- My husband is laying there
basically dying.

- We were at the hospital

for my mother's surgery.

We've been here now for hours,

and Dr. Duntsch came out,
I would say, at least twice.

And every single time
he came out, though,

he said,
"We're keeping her stable,

you can go in shortly."

- The surgery Kellie Martin
had that day, a laminectomy,

is a safe, outpatient
procedure,

because it involves
a small incision

to simply remove a piece
of dislocated disc material

that was pressing on nerves
and causing her pain.

But there was nothing minimal
or safe about what transpired.

- There was the
anesthesiologist,

the pulmonologist,
the ER doctor, and Dr. Duntsch.

All of them came in
very somber.

No one was smiling,
no positive energy.

- The ICU doctor...

Said, "We did everything
we could..."

But they just couldn't
save her.

- We lost her.

She didn't make it,
we lost her.

- I remember at that
moment when they said,

"Kellie is no longer
with us,"

I-- my sister lets out
this scream

that I will never forget.

And I stand up and I say,
"Why?

Why did this happen?"

- And that's when it hit.

It was real.

And...

I just knew that...my world
just-- just--

my world just turned
upside down, and my loss...

I think that's when my girls
lost it too.

- It was such a slow-motion
feeling of...

"My mom is gone."

This person, my best friend,
the rock of our family,

the center of our universe...

She's gone and I'm never
gonna get to talk to her again.

- Doctor Duntsch said nothing
during this period of time.

He looked at the floor
the entire time,

never gave me or anyone
in my family eye contact.

- He just kept looking down.

He got out of there
as quick as he could.

- When the doctors
left the room,

they asked if we wanted
to see my mother,

and we said yes.

I remember putting my hands
on her,

and thinking, like,

"Is this the last time
I'm going to touch her?"

- I needed something of her
for the memory and...

I asked for a pair of scissors

and the nurse gave me
a scissors,

and I cut some locks
of her hair,

so the girls
and I could have it.

We all had to drive home
in separate cars.

You know, you're driving home,
you're thinking,

"Good God, what now?"

- Christopher Duntsch
was born in Montana,

but his family moved
to a suburb of Memphis

when he was very young.

He was always arrogant,
sort of a salesman,

kinda-- kinda cocky.

He could talk his way out
of situations.

Duntsch had his training
from a fairly reputable

training program at

the University of Tennessee
Memphis.

- He trained with one
of the more famous

spine surgeons
in the United States.

- He was someone who
spent about 15 to 16 years

in school getting
his MD and his PhD,

which is a pretty significant
undertaking.

So, his resume looked
brilliant on paper.

And when he got to Dallas,
he finds a market in Dallas

that is very hungry for

minimally invasive
spine surgery.

And they're looking for people
like Christopher Duntsch.

- Well, I met
Christopher Duntsch

in the doctor's lounge

at Baylor Scott & White,
Plano.

He explained to me
that he was the best

spine surgeon in Dallas.

This is, like, a month into

his coming to Dallas
out of training.

He doesn't have the gravitas

or the body of work to be able
to make that kind of statement.

I thought he was crazy.

But I had no idea that things
were gonna get

as bad as they got.

- My name is

- My name is
Robert J. Henderson.

I'm a physician surgeon.

I-- I specialize
in spinal surgery.

I've trained a lot of
different surgeons,

but I've only really been
called

in to the operating room once

to take over the entire care
of a patient.

- Mary Efurd was an active
74 year-old

who went into the hospital

to have two of her vertebrae
fused.

It was a routine operation,

easily mastered by most
first-year residents.

But on the day of Efurd's
surgery,

something went horribly wrong.

- I went in to evaluate
the patient.

She had virtually no function
of her left hip-flexors

and her quadricep muscles.

She had inability to hold
her feet up at the ankles,

and she couldn't wiggle
her toes or bring her feet up.

She was in an extraordinary
amount of pain

despite medication.

She could not bear weight
on her legs.

- Bob Henderson,
a fantastic spine surgeon.

He's a Dallas legend.

And Dr. Henderson had to go in
and do the salvage surgery.

- Immediately upon opening
the patient's prior scar,

I could see a screw
penetrating that girl's sack

from the left side
at the bottom.

It was just wobbling there.

It was like somebody just threw
some Tinkertoys in there

or an Erector Set in there.

I had absolutely zero
comprehension

of how a surgeon could
think that he had done

the procedure correctly.

- Another spine surgery

in the Dallas area
had gone awry.

Was it just a coincidence?

- Dr. Henderson and I,
we see each other

in the doctor's lounge.

Doctor Henderson starts
describing

a bad interaction he had,
the Mary Efurd case,

that Dr. Henderson did
all the salvage surgery on.

I didn't know who
the surgeon was,

but eventually we found out
it was Christopher Duntsch.

And then I explained to him

Dr. Duntsch has had
a catastrophic complication

with a patient by the name of
Kellie Martin.

And then I was continuing
to hear these reports

from the nursing staffs
and the medical staffs

of all these hospitals
I work at.

I have privileges at over
60 hospitals

in Dallas, Fort Worth.

They're saying, like,
"Randy, you won't believe

"what we just saw
in the operating room.

What are we gonna do
about this?"

- I'm getting angry that
this individual

is out there perpetrating
his lack of skills

on vulnerable patients
who were going to him for help,

and in fact,
being assaulted instead.

- Christopher Duntsch
had no remorse

about bad results.

He wanted to keep operating
despite

catastrophic complication

after catastrophic
complication.

I knew he just needed
to be stopped.

- The death of Kellie Martin

and the disabling
of Mary Efurd

were completely unacceptable
and rare outcomes

of very simple procedures.

And both were carried out
by the same physician

who was considered the top
in his field.

Which is why good and brave
doctors, Kirby and Henderson,

were determined to stop
Christopher Duntsch

in his tracks and prevent him
from hurting anymore patients.

- A lot of trepidation
on my part

as to how, if ever,
Mrs. Efurd,

she would recover
from the damages

that had been perpetrated
by Dr. Duntsch.

It was apparent she was gonna
have some degree of

permanent paralysis
in her-- in her muscles.

It is apparent to me
that I'm dealing with

a surgeon who performed

an egregiously terrible
surgery.

And I was concerned about
whether or not

this is a fully trained
surgeon.

- So, I said,
"Why don't you just call

"his program director
in Memphis

and find out what
the problem is."

- I spoke to the chief
of the neurosurgery department

at University of Tennessee.

And during one of
the latter years

of his training
before his chief year,

Dr. Duntsch had been reported
by a nurse

for having ingested cocaine
and alcohol

and maybe some other drugs

the night before
he was presenting

to the hospital for surgery.

And so, they referred him

to the impaired physician
program.

After hearing this story,

I'm wondering if maybe
his brain

may have been impaired
to the point

where he can't remember

how to do these surgical
procedures.

He was making catastrophic
slipshod attempts

at performing surgeries

and has literally got
some grandiose idea

of what he can do without
the actual skills

to perform it.

- To the best of my knowledge,

no one here in Dallas
ever knew about that.

It started coming together
that this is a problem.

He couldn't operate,

he wanted to continue
operating,

which was, you know,
sociopathic.

- Christopher Duntsch had more
than just a big ego.

He had what we call
a "God complex."

This is a deadly trait
that drove his career

and potentially put
every one of his patients

in grave danger.

- We revoked his privileges
at Dallas Medical Center,

because I thought he was
a real danger to society.

And he never showed up
at the facility again.

- I personally thought
the problem was solved.

I could not conceive
of any way

that he could get a patient
in the door

or operate on another patient

after what had happened
at Baylor

and the Dallas Medical Center.

- At this point in time,

the administrator
at Dallas Medical Center

brings to my attention
an invitation

to meet the newly anointed
spine surgeon

at University General
Hospital,

Dr. Christopher Duntsch.

- I was shocked he found
another hospital to operate at.

Dr. Henderson is livid.

He called
the Texas Medical Board,

and I called the owner
of the hospital.

And the owner of the hospital
said,

"I can't remove him
from staff,

" 'cause he hasn't done
anything wrong.

"And there's no negative
comments about him

"in his letters
of recommendation,

"there's no negative comments
in his file

"from the National Practitioner
Data Bank.

"And so, if I even tried
to restrict his privileges,

he'd sue me."

- When a doctor's privileges

are revoked in connection
with substandard care

or misconduct,
hospitals are required

by law to report it to

the National Practitioner
Data Bank.

But the system
doesn't always work.

In 2011, a whopping
47% of hospitals

didn't report
their restrictions

or revocation of a doctor's
clinical privileges.

Without that paper trail,

Duntsch was able to gain
privileges at this,

his third hospital.

Leaving yet another patient
in danger.

- My name is Jeff Glidewell.

I am 54 years old,
and I live in Forney, Texas.

I am a competitive sports
junkie.

You name it, golf, bowling,
and anything outdoors.

- Jeff and I love
to be outdoors doing things.

Our yearly vacations
were at the beach.

He would bowl tournaments

and enter fishing tournaments
as well.

- August of 2004,
I had this motorcycle accident.

Going probably about
30, 35 miles an hour

and got bucked off.

Landed on my head,
knocked me unconscious.

- After he had the motor
accident,

he wasn't able to do
any of those things

that we used to love to do.

A lot of back issues,
neck issues,

and had multiple surgeries
because of that.

- I tried cortisone shots,
epidurals, therapy...

When all else failed,

then there was no way
around getting surgery.

I called my insurance company.

That's what led me to
Dr. Christopher Duntsch.

All the research I did

on Christopher Duntsch,

I could not find one bad
review.

- The Best Docs Network

featuring some of the best
physicians

in the Dallas, Fort Worth area

that are helping to change
people's lives.

- I drove out to Duntsch's
office.

He told me that he was
one of the best

minimally invasive
spine surgeons

in the state of Texas,

and he believed he could
help me.

And I was just excited that
someone was gonna fix me.

- We got to the hospital,
hooked Jeff up to the IV,

and then it was like
a waiting game.

We were waiting for the doctor.

They said they were trying
to get in touch with him.

- Two hours had passed,
no doctor.

Told them that maybe we need
to do this another time,

and we-- we took my IV out.

We're gonna leave the hospital.

- Regarding Dr. Duntsch,
I've never really encountered

this level of-- of incompetence.

My immediate fear was that

he was gonna injure somebody
else,

and that he may kill
somebody else.

And I felt that the only way
to stop him completely

was to get his medical license
revoked.

- I explained to
the Texas Medical Board

what happened at Baylor Plano
and at Dallas Medical Center,

but now he's got privileges

at University General
Hospital.

How could this happen
in our community?

He's been able to jump from
two hospitals

in less than a year.

I mean, he can find somewhere
else to operate.

I think you need to
investigate.

We had a real problem here.

- It can take months,

- It can take months,
even years

for state medical boards
to properly investigate

malpractice complaints
and decide whether or not

to revoke a physician's
medical license.

So, despite the quick action

by doctors,
Kirby and Henderson,

Dr. Duntsch, a known danger
in the operating room,

was still allowed to
continue practicing

medicine and hurting
his patients.

- Two hours had passed.

I was getting aggravated
at this point,

because no one knows where
Dr. Duntsch is.

He hasn't called the hospital.

And it was about the time
that I took my IV out,

and we're gonna leave
the hospital...

And then Duntsch showed up.

He said that he had had
a flat tire,

and, um, he showed up
in a cab.

And I thought that was strange.

I asked him why he didn't call

and let anybody know
where he was at.

He didn't answer me,
he just said,

"Have you never had
a flat tire?

You know that things happen."

- Jeff is wanting to leave,

but I was like, "No."

I really wanted Jeff
to have the surgery,

so that hopefully he could
get back to normal.

- So, they put my IV back in,
started taking me back...

I basically, um, told my wife
I'll see her in a little bit,

and we kissed and that was it.

I wake up from surgery

and I knew something
was wrong.

I couldn't feel my-- my feet.

I could not move my left arm.

I couldn't talk.

I was in more pain than
I ever thought imaginable.

And...my wife,

walked over and-- and, um,
she was crying.

My wife told me that
they had encountered a tumor

during surgery,
and it started bleeding so bad

that they had to abort
the surgery.

- It took almost four hours
to get it to quit bleeding.

They had it be cauterized,
and he did a biopsy.

Um, then proceeded to ask

if Jeff had any cancer
that ran in his family,

making me believe, my gosh,
my husband has cancer.

So, I was so distraught,

emotional, crying...

- I couldn't talk,
nothing's come out of my voice,

so finally, you know,
people are bending over,

and I'm able to whisper.

- The first words
out of Jeff's mouth was,

"What did he do to me?"

- God.

I just think that something
went really bad, wrong

in surgery,
and I wanted to die.

I did not wanna live paralyzed.

I didn't wanna think about
going through life,

you know, not being able
to walk,

with the use of just one arm,
not being able to talk.

The next thing I remember is,

um, some other doctors...

Taking a look at me.

They were fussing over
infection that I've got.

- Jeff's gown, pillow, sheets

were saturated in fluid.

It looked like somebody
had poured a Coke all over him.

It appeared to be pus
coming out of the incision.

About ten minutes after
all this is going on,

Dr. Duntsch comes in,
looks at the incision,

and all that-- and said,
"It appears to be normal."

I was furious.

I was screaming and hollering
at the doctor,

"This is not normal."

And the nurse was agreeing
with me,

shaking her head,
"Yes, that's right."

Because my husband is laying
there basically dying.

So, at that point,
I could--

knew I could not trust this
doctor.

He-- he's lying to me
for some reason.

- I do remember
Dr. Christopher Duntsch

coming into the room...

And he basically just
looked me in the eyes

and...told me-- he said,

"You know, we encountered
a tumor, did a biopsy..."

And I said,
"Well what about this arm?

Why am I-- why can't I
feel my arm?"

And he said,
"Well, I don't know

what to tell you about that."

And he turned around
and walked off,

and that's the last time
I saw Duntsch.

We never spoke again.

Yeah.

- It was about 2:00
in the afternoon,

I got a call from the CEO

of University General Hospital.

And said, "Randy,
he's done something terrible.

"Dr. Duntsch just had
a catastrophic complication

doing a simple anterior
cervical fusion procedure."

Which on a scale from
one to ten's about a two

in level of difficulty
for a neurosurgeon.

"And if someone doesn't
get down there

and take care of it,
the patient is gonna die."

So, I transferred
the patient

to the Methodist Dallas
Medical Center,

and then we took him
to the operating room.

The incision was in
the wrong place.

Dr. Duntsch, he put a hole
the size of a silver dollar

in Mr. Glidewell's
esophagus.

He'd taken out the recurrent
laryngeal nerve

and had cut
the vertebral artery--

which is a huge artery--
in half.

And then he shoved a sponge
in there

to stop the bleeding
from the artery and closed.

It was like a crazed
maniac procedure.

There's-- it didn't have
any resemblance

to surgery as we know it
on the planet Earth.

And at that point in time,

I kinda started thinking
to myself:

"This guy is trying to kill
people for a living."

And no one is stopping him.

- When I got moved

- When I got moved
to a regular room,

that's when...

Dr. Kirby comes in

explaining that, Duntsch
tried to kill me.

"You beat him," he said,
"You lived.

He tried-- he literally tried
to kill you."

I've been told that he has
cut a hole in my esophagus.

He had damaged my vocal cords

and done a lot of
nerve damage.

The doctor that did
the X-ray came back

and told my wife:

"There's not a tumor
in his throat,"

he said, "But there is
a surgical sponge

retained in his body
from the surgery."

- And I'm just blown away
by this.

This is-- crazy doctor
is trying to kill--

he tried to kill my husband.

I went to the Dallas
Police Department,

and it was a female officer,

I explained to her
what had happened.

And she said they do not
have the resources

to file criminal charges
against a doctor.

So, I filed the complaint
with the Medical Board,

and Dr. Kirby had also
sent one.

- I called the lead
investigator

of the Texas Medical Board
again.

And I told her,
"We've got a problem,

and you're either gonna
address it

or I'm gonna call
The New York Times

and Rick Perry, the Governor.

So, I got the patients' names,
social security numbers,

phone numbers, everything.

And I put together,
like, a six-page letter.

It took me about a week
to write it,

but a whistle-blower's
gotta do

what a whistle-blower's
gotta do.

- We found out that
his license

had been taken away,

and it was on the front page.

Physicians saying that
this other doctor

was basically a serial killer.

And then to turn the page
and to see your mom's face...

Was gut-wrenching.

- Now we're starting
really to think,

Kellie's surgery,
the loss of Kellie,

wasn't just an accident.

And I realized...

Yeah, this guy, quite possibly,
is doing this on purpose.

- Revoking Duntsch's license
was the one thing

that should have stopped
him from practicing medicine.

But in reality,
it only limited him.

He could still apply for
a license outside of Texas.

Which is why Dr. Kirby knew
something much more radical

needed to be done.

- I thought it was important
that we not stop

at the Texas Medical Board
level.

I thought it was extremely
important

that he was investigated
by the authorities,

because I thought that what
he was doing was criminal.

And so, I called
the District Attorney

in Dallas.

- This is not the type
of case

that is normally prosecuted.

It's not what we normally
handle.

So, when we initially
started we didn't know

whether a crime had occurred

or if these were just
malpractice cases

that they were trying to bring
into the criminal realm.

And so, what we really had
to focus on

was figuring out what
had happened to the patients

and did it amount to
any criminal act?

We started by just going
and talking to the patients

and hearing their stories.

And we sent out over 800
subpoenas,

and talked to over 100
witnesses trying to figure out

exactly what was going on.

We kept hearing about
more patients,

and so many of
the patients' stories

are heart-wrenching.

They're crying in front of us.

From there we started going
and talking to

the surgeons who later
reviewed the cases.

- I was appalled...

After I saw the Kellie Martin
case.

Kellie Martin died because
of an injury

to a blood vessel-- a large
blood vessel

that lies in front of
the spinal column.

Dr. Duntsch undoubtedly
had gone through that

and torn a hole in the vein,
she bled to death.

It became very clear
in reviewing those cases

that what Dr. Duntsch did
was so egregious

that society needs to be
assured that

he will never be able to do
anything like this again.

- A pattern is emerging
that he is hurting

most of the patients
that he touches.

And two of those people
had died.

Based on all of these events
put together,

we believe that he
intentionally

and knowingly committed
this crime.

And that's what helped
make our decision

that this was absolutely
criminal,

and he had to be stopped.

We knew that we had to take
the case.

- When we were told that
they would take it on,

I was beyond grateful.

Someone else was fighting
for my family.

I personally felt that

there was a killer
on the loose,

why hasn't this person
been stopped?

- During this period of time,

Dr. Duntsch
gets arrested

for nothing to do
with medical reasons.

He actually gets arrested
for shoplifting.

- He stole about $400
of sunglasses

and pants and things.

And he was thrown in jail,
posted bail.

- He had moved back
to Colorado

and was living
with his parents.

But he would come to Texas
periodically

to visit his children.

It was on one of those
occasions

that we issued the indictments
through the grand jury

and arrested him.

- The day Dr. Duntsch
was finally arrested,

Jeff and I were probably
the happiest

we'd been in a long time
to know that this doctor

was hopefully gonna pay
for what he had done to Jeff.

- After we arrested him
at his hotel room,

they brought him back
to the police department

to be interviewed.

- Christopher Duntsch
gets charged with

one count of injury
to an elderly person,

which was Mary Efurd.

She was left partially
paralyzed.

- We also filed five
indictments

for aggravated assault
with a deadly weapon.

These included four other
patients,

and his deadly weapon
was his hands

and his surgical tools.

- Our ultimate goal,
when we prosecuted this case,

was to get a large enough
sentence

so that he could never
practice medicine again.

- As we were strategizing
for the trial,

we really zeroed in
on Mary Efurd's case,

because it would give us
the biggest punishment range,

injury to an elderly person.

If the jury found that
he intentionally

and knowingly committed
this act against Mary Efurd,

then they would be able to
sentence him anywhere between

probation
up to a life sentence.

We also asked the judge
to allow us

to put in other patients.

Part of our theory was that
Christopher Duntsch

knew before he went
into Mary Efurd's surgery

that he was going to hurt her,

because he knew that
he had hurt

all of these other patients
before.

- The challenge
in a prosecution like this

is that you're not going
to have the surgeon

admitting that he intended
to hurt somebody.

And it's not like he,
you know,

had there a bunch of witnesses
who watched him walk into

a bank and pull a gun
and shoot somebody.

- We looked at cases
over the years

that have prosecuted
medical crimes

to see if this was something
that had been done.

We could not find a single case
like this one

where we were going to be
inferring knowledge and intent.

- I can't explain to you
the worries that I had,

the sleepless nights,
the doubts on whether we could

convince a jury that what
he did was criminal.

It was so important,
because he wanted to go

operate on and assault
more people.

The only way to stop him
was to put him in jail,

because he was not going to
stop himself.

- The first time that
I was in the courtroom,

I was violently shaking.

- My husband had to physically
put his hands on my shoulders,

and say, "Caitlin, you have to
take a deep breath."

You have to just sit there
ten feet away

from the man who took
your mother from you.

I wanted to lunge at him.

I wanted to lunge at him
and I wanted to put

my hands around him
and shake him and tell him,

"How could you take my mother
from me?"

- Duntsch sat motionless,

he stared forward nearly
the entire time.

- He looks terrible.

He's put on, like,
30, 40 pounds.

He's almost unrecognizable,

and he's got a surly look
on his face.

- I go down to

the Dallas County Courthouse
to testify.

I basically had an opportunity
to tell

what happened the day
of Kellie's surgery,

and then how the loss of Kellie

has impacted,
me and our family.

- So I walk into
the courtroom and I'm sworn in,

I start getting
kind of emotional,

because I'm still going
down and getting

my esophagus dilated 'cause
it filled in with scar tissue.

- Sitting in that room
and hearing the stories

of the other people
that he had hurt,

I realized at that point
in time

this is so much bigger-- so much
bigger than just us.

- I spent quite a bit of time
discussing my circumstances

with Mrs. Efurd,
and interpreting

some of the video
that I had taken

of the surgical procedure.

So, this is not providing

any stability at all.

There's bone fragments
just laying

over the exposed dura here
on the left side.

And I was able to point out
to the jury

where the defects were,

where the errors were
in the surgery,

where things were
mal-positioned,

where the nerve had been
amputated,

where the holes were
in the bone.

I get off the stand
and I said-- I said to myself,

"Well, did I do enough?
Did I say enough?

Did I explain it well enough?"

- Despite overwhelming
evidence

of the harm done by
Christopher Duntsch,

the crux of the case against
him depended on proving

that he intentionally
and knowingly

committed these offenses.

To do that,
prosecutors would have to

pull off the impossible.

- We needed a glimpse
into his mind.

I would say the most important
piece of evidence

that we really worked hard
to get was the email.

- The District Attorney
presented to the jury an email

that Duntsch had written
in which he said,

"I am ready to be what
I've always been,

a cold blooded killer."

- Saying that he had godlike
hands,

but he was also
the anti-Christ,

and he was freeing these people
from their body.

And it really showed that

he was intentionally
doing this.

- This was an email that
he had written

to one of his physician
assistants.

He's basically admitting that

he was hurting these patients
on purpose.

I hope that would convince
a jury

that he was guilty.

- I was at work and, um,

I was-- I was literally gripping
my phone at my desk.

My palms were sweating so hard.

I knew it was gonna happen
within that hour.

And my dad calls me...

And he tells me,

"It's guilty, it's guilty."

"We the Jury having found
the defendant,

"Christopher Daniel Duntsch,

"guilty of injury
to an elderly individual,

"unanimously assess
his punishment

"confinement of Texas
Department of Criminal Justice

for life."

- I'm literally jumping
up and down at my desk,

so happy that this
actually happened.

- I remember that day,
finally hearing...

That he had been sentenced
to life.

And just thinking...

It finally happened.

This man,

who ripped my mother
from my life...

Is finally going away.

There was this huge
sense of relief.

Finally feeling validated

for all of the pain
and the frustration

that we had been having.

- It took the jury about
an hour to decide.

Life in prison
for a doctor convicted

of maiming and killing
his patients.

- When I heard
the final verdict

against Dr. Dunstch,

I was happy but sad,
because as a husband,

I don't have my wife
and my life partner

with me anymore.

You know, we were about
to plan--

when we retire, to do things.

That's gone.
But you have to, you know--

I try to remain strong
for my girls

and, you know,
just keep the head up high.

- Thinking about what
all he had done to Jeff

and all these other patients,

I hope he rots in prison.

- I truly believe today
and I did then

that this was a serial killer

and a serial maimer.

I mean, I just did
what was right.

- He'll no longer be able to

go out and wreak havoc
in the community.

The Dallas County D.A.'s
office

put away a killer
with a God complex

for the rest of his life.

- Between May 2011
and June 2013,

Christopher Dunstch
operated on 38 patients.

Of those patients,

31 were seriously injured.

Two were, in fact, killed.

Thanks to ethical physicians

like doctors Henderson and
Kirby,

as well as a highly skilled
D.A.'s office,

justice was served

and a cold-blooded killer
is behind bars.