111. Dr. Christopher Duntsch and The Menger Hotel

May 23, 2022

Transcription

Originally wanting to be a football player, but failing at that, Christopher Duntsch spent 15 years in schools and training to become a neurosurgeon. Looking great, on paper, Dr Duntsch was hired as a minimally invasive spine surgeon at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano in July 2011, making $600,000 per year plus bonuses. What was, somehow, overlooked was that Duntsch had fewer than 100 surgeries under his belt, with the norm being that residents participate in over 1,000 surgeries. Another problem that was not discovered was that Duntsch had a drug and alcohol problem while in med school. (A problem that continued even after his stint in “an impaired physician program” while in med school). But Dr Duntsch was great at hiding and denying things and, being an egotist, also great at self proclamations, calling himself “the best spine surgeon in the US” after having been hired for only a month. Duntsch was anything but and rightfully earned the name “Dr Death”. Moving around hospitals in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area Duntsch performed 38 surgeries and out of those 38, 33 had gone horribly wrong. Two patients died, one patient left the hospital as a quadriplegic and others left with permanent, painful injuries that would be with them for the rest of their lives. Listen as I go more in depth into what Duntsch did during these surgeries and what the victim’s lives are like today, those that survived that is. I also glance into the trial, in which the jury found him guilty of 5 counts of assault and one count of harming an elderly patient. Duntsch is the first physician in the nation to be convicted for behavior inside the operating room.

Have you ever heard of the Menger Hotel and Bar in San Antonio, TX? Beth fills us in on its very interesting and colorful history. Opening in the 1850’s as a brewery, the bar is the oldest operating bar east of the Mississippi. Shortly after the bar’s success, a 50 room inn was added. Between the bar and the clean and very pleasant place to rest, the Menger Hotel and Bar thrived. Because of its age, the Menger carries with it a lot of history and stories, most happy, others very sad. Beth covers some of those stories and tells us of some of the spirits that refuse to leave the Hotel and Bar. Oh, and the alligator and Rockstar….well, you’ll just have to listen to find out about those.