UPDATE NOVEMBER 21, 2024: Former Dallas anesthesiologist Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz on Wednesday was sentenced to 190 years in prison for tampering with IV bags. A jury found that the former doctor’s poisoning of the bags lead to several patients experiencing cardiac emergencies, as well as the death of a fellow anesthesiologist, reports WFAA.
Ortiz received the maximum sentence.
ORIGINAL APRIL 17, 2024 ARTICLE:
DALLAS, Texas – A 12-person jury found Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz guilty last week of tampering with patient IV bags at Baylor Scott & White SurgiCare.
Ortiz injected potentially heart-stopping drugs, including bupivacaine or epinephrine into IV bags and placed them in a warming bin for medical staff, who didn’t know about the tampering, to use on patients, reports NBCDFW. Eleven patients experienced cardiac emergencies as a result of the poisoned bags, reports Fox4.
Additionally, a fellow physician, Dr. Melanie Kaspar, died in June 2022 after taking an IV bag home to rehydrate herself. Her autopsy found a lethal dose of bupivacaine in her system.
Security Cameras Caught Ortiz Placing IV Bags in Warming Bin
Video surveillance cameras captured Ortiz placing the poisoned IV bags into the warming bin shortly before nurses took the bags out to use on patients. Only a few minutes after the bags were used, patients experienced cardiac emergencies.
Most of the crimes happened in August 2022, and the victims ranged in age from 18 to 78. The victims were at Baylor Scott & White SurgiCare for low-risk procedures. One 18-year-old victim was there for a rhinoplasty to repair his broken nose. He went into cardiac arrest and almost died after being administered a poisoned IV bag.
Ortiz is also suspected of being involved in 13 other unexplained medical emergencies at Baylor Scott & White from May to August of 2022 but was not charged. He did not testify at the trial.
Prosecutors argued that Ortiz tampered with the IV bags in retaliation for being disciplined in 2018, 2021, and 2022.
The jury found Ortiz guilty on all 10 counts of tampering with a consumer product and adulteration of a drug. He could face life in prison.
