Jurors To Decide Fate Of Convicted Collin County Neurosurgeon
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - It's punishment day for a former North Texas neurosurgeon who was convicted of intentionally injuring the patients he was supposed to be helping.
Jurors will again meet at the Frank Crowley Court Building in Dallas, but this time they will how much time Christopher Duntsch should spend behind bars.
It took the jury just fours hours on Tuesday to find Duntsch guilty of intentionally causing serious bodily injury to an elderly person. Victim Mary Efurd testified in the case. Duntsch botched her spinal surgery in 2012 – a procedure that has left her wheelchair bound.
Prosecutors say Duntsch was malicious and reckless while he performed surgery. And apparently Efurd wasn't his only victim. Jurors heard from several people who shared their nightmares, saying he maimed them on purpose. Prosecutors accused Duntsch of also maiming four patients and causing the death of at least two, between July 2012 and June 2013.
Efurd said the verdict had been a long time coming. "Relief. Finally justice has been done after 4 1/2 years," she said. "And I hope I'm speaking for all the other families and their loved ones also. I think we feel real good about it. We feel like justice was done."
Efurd also said she's grateful the 45-year-old is no longer practicing medicine. "You know, when they finally got his license suspended I cried for two days. It was just relief that didn't stop." Now she wants to see the Plano surgeon, who at times during the trail was described as a sociopath, locked up for good.
Duntsch faces up to life in prison.
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