Texas Neurosurgeon Worked High and Drunk, Killing and Injuring Patients

A Texas surgeon who operated on patients while high and drunk has been denied a request for his bail to be reduced.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon working out of North Texas, severely injured four people and killed one woman named Floella Brown in July 2012. Duntsch was petitioning the court to reduce his bail to $600,000. A key piece of evidence in the denial was an email where the disgraced neurosurgeon told a coworker he wanted to be a "cold blooded" killer.

In addition to killing Brown, Duntsch paralyzed 45-year-old Philip Mayfield during a spinal surgery. Mayfield said he was relieved that Duntsch would remain in jail.

Duntsch was arrested in July on five counts of aggravated assault for surgeries he performed while working at Dallas Medical Center, South Hampton Community Hospital and University General Hospital. The authorities are also investigating more than 10 other botched surgeries that took place in Plano and Dallas between 2011 and 2013.

Duntsch lost his license to practice medicine in 2013 after the Texas Medical Board found he had failed to properly respond to complications during surgery, leading to two deaths.

Duntsch lawyer maintains that the deaths and injuries were accidental and not the result of drug or alcohol abuse, although the medical board said that his substance abuse was a factor in his inability to care for patients. The board did not say that he was high or drunk at the time of surgery, which is a key part of the prosecution's case against Duntsch.

Duntsch has a history of alcohol and drug abuse and has been in and out of rehabilitation centers and clinics since he was in medical school.