A Texas anesthesiologist is accused of tampering with IV bags at a Dallas surgical facility, resulting in a fellow doctor’s death and multiple cardiac emergencies — and in court on Monday, prosecutors referred toDr. Raynaldo Ortiz, Jr., as a “medical terrorist.”
At the hearing, a federal judge denied Ortiz' request to be released from jail without bail,KDFW reports.
Ortiz was arrested on Sept. 14 and faces federal charges of tampering with a consumer product causing death and intentional drug adulteration. The charges stem from alleged incidents in mid-August, when Ortiz was working at Baylor Scott and White Surgicare at North Dallas.
On June 21,Dr. Melanie Kaspartook one of the tainted IV bags home to rehydrate during an illness, and suffered a fatal heart attack.
Some of the bags were found to contain bupivacaine, a drug used to treat localized pain that, when misused, can lead to cardiac arrest.
KDFW reports that prosecutors said during Monday’s hearing that Ortiz turned those IV bags into “poison bombs” that “exploded on unsuspecting patients.”
Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz.Dallas County Seriff’s Office
They also presented surveillance video in court they contend shows Ortiz placing an IV bag in a warmer outside an operation room. It was used moments later, leading a patient to have a cardiac emergency.
Before placing the bag in the warmer, Ortiz seems to look around, scanning up and down the hallway.
Prosecutors say another video shows Ortiz hiding an IV bag behind a paper folder in his arm before swapping it out for another bag.
Within an hour of that footage being filmed, prosecutors allege a patient suffered medical complications, according to KDFW.
Dr. Melanie Kaspar.Grove Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park
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Ortiz has been a doctor since 1991. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges against him,WFAA reports.
source: people.com
