Dallas Anesthesiologist Faces Life in Prison for Injecting ‘Heart-Stopping Drugs’ into IV Bags

DEBARYLIFE – After being found guilty of poisoning IV bags at a surgery center where he worked two years prior, a Dallas anesthesiologist faces life in prison, according to federal prosecutors. The poisoning caused a coworker’s death as well as major health issues for numerous patients.

On April 12, Raynaldo Ortiz Jr. was found guilty on all ten counts against him, which included five counts of purposeful drug adulteration, one offense of tampering with a consumer product, and four counts of tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily harm.

Although Chief District Judge David Godbey has not yet set a date to commit the 60-year-old Hispanic man to a life sentence of 190 years in prison, Ortiz’s fate could be sealed.

“Instead of providing relief from pain, Dr. Ortiz inflicted it,” stated Leigha Simonton, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, in a statement.

Evidence presented during the eight-day trial revealed that numerous medical treatments, including low-risk operations, performed between May and August 2022 caused heart problems for a number of patients at Baylor Scott & White’s SurgiCare in North Dallas.

Prosecutors claimed that Ortiz implanted “heart-stopping drugs” and nerve blockers covertly into multiple bags of IV fluid over the course of four months, leaving them for his gullible comrades like “ticking time bombs.”

Then, while administering self-medication for dehydration with one of the IV bags that Ortiz had poisoned, Dr. Melanie Kaspar, another anesthesiologist employed by the clinic, passed away.

In his testimony, John Kaspar, the widower of Dr. Kaspar, stated that she passed away following a “serious cardiac event” and that he had been doing CPR on her in a vain attempt to bring her back to life.

Even though a fatal amount of bupivacaine, a local anesthetic intended to numb particular body parts, was discovered on the bags Ortiz tampered with, police never filed murder charges against Ortiz.

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After checking on the IV bags later, Ortiz was seen on security footage loading syringes with a combination of dangerous medications and injecting them into the bags. The bags were placed in a warming container at the facility.

It was claimed by the police that Ortiz intended for the tainted IV bags to be used in surgeries conducted by his colleagues, which led to his arrest and the revocation of his medical license in September 2022.

There were other health emergencies surrounding Ortiz, but he pretended everything was fine while his gullible coworkers picked up the poisoned bags one by one.

Men and women between the ages of 18 and 78 made up the other four victims, except Kaspar.

These individuals all needed to be taken to the emergency room after experiencing cardiac arrest during low-risk treatments.

While Ortiz was only accused in these four cases, in the same four months of 2022, he was a suspect in over a dozen other unexplained situations.

Earlier court records revealed Ortiz’s history of being disciplined and his complaints that the facility was attempting to “crucify” him.

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Ortiz was being investigated by the authorities at the time of the events for a possible medical mistake he made while performing surgery on himself, according to the prosecution.

Court records reveal that Ortiz once “physically waved the bag off” in response to a nurse’s request that she not use an IV bag she had taken from the warmer. The video showed Ortiz leaving his operating room with an IV bag hidden in a paper folder, changing the bag with another bag from the warmer, and then walking away, all observed by federal agents.

Shortly after using a bag from the warmer during her planned cosmetic surgery, a 54-year-old woman experienced a heart emergency.

Interestingly, Ortiz was not involved in any heart operations, nor were any cardiac incidents related to his time away from home.

Prosecutors said they believe Ortiz was furious about being probed for a surgical error and may have sought to cause trouble for other doctors in order to boost his own reputation. However, Ortiz’s motivation for the crime was not totally evident.

The medical facility’s in-progress inquiry forced the suspension of all procedures at the time of his arrest.