Ex-Texas neurosurgeon sentenced to life for maiming patients

DALLAS (AP) — A jury has sentenced a former neurosurgeon to life in prison for maiming patients who had turned to him for surgery to resolve debilitating injuries.The decision came Monday, almost a week after the Dallas County jury convicted 44-year-old...

Ex-Texas neurosurgeon sentenced to life for maiming patients

DALLAS (AP) — A jury has sentenced a former neurosurgeon to life in prison for maiming patients who had turned to him for surgery to resolve debilitating injuries.

The decision came Monday, almost a week after the Dallas County jury convicted 44-year-old Christopher Duntsch of first-degree felony injury to an elderly person.

Prosecutors alleged numerous cases of malpractice against the former Plano physician, including that he improperly placed screws and plates along patients' spines, left a sponge in another patient and cut a major vein in another.

Records show he operated on the wrong part of a patient's spine and left one woman wheelchair-dependent. Two patients died.

A surgeon testifying for prosecutors said it was like letting an amateur loose in surgery.

Duntsch's attorneys argued he wasn't a criminal, just a lousy surgeon.

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This story has been corrected to show the former physician's last name is Duntsch, not Dunstch.

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.

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