Texas doctor found guilty of poisoning patients by putting dangerous drugs in IV bags
A Texas doctor, referred to as a “medical terrorist,” has been found guilty of injecting heart-stopping poison into IVs at his former medical clinic in North Dallas.
According to FOX 4 in Dallas, a 12-person jury delivered a guilty verdict on all 10 counts against Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz after nearly seven hours of deliberation.
During the reading of the verdict, Ortiz, reportedly wearing a mask, remained expressionless.
Ortiz's actions resulted in cardiac emergencies for several patients, and Dr. Melanie Kaspar died after using one of the contaminated IV bags, prosecutors revealed.
Federal prosecutors accused the anesthesiologist of committing these shocking crimes at Baylor Scott and White Surgicare North Dallas in retaliation for a medical misconduct investigation.
The criminal complaint alleged that Ortiz injected nerve-blocking and bronchodilation drugs into patient IV bags. Surveillance footage captured him placing an IV bag in a stainless steel warmer outside an operating room on Aug. 19, 2022. Shortly after another staff member took the bag, a patient suffered a heart attack.
In another incident, Ortiz’s colleague, Dr. Melanie Kaspar, took a contaminated IV bag home on June 21 for rehydration due to an illness. After inserting the IV into her vein, she experienced a serious cardiac event and died. An autopsy revealed fatal poisoning by bupivacaine, a numbing agent commonly used during surgery.
John Kaspar, Dr. Melanie Kaspar’s widower, expressed his emotions after the verdict, stating, “There’s no closure. My best friend is gone... It’s almost like you have so many emotions you can’t sift them out. You get flooded.”
Witnesses during the trial included the anesthesiologist who discovered the tainted bags, John Kaspar, and a teenager who suffered cardiac arrest during nose surgery.
The incidents began shortly after Ortiz was notified of a disciplinary inquiry against him regarding a medical emergency.
Although there were 13 patients with similar cardiac emergencies between May and August 2022, prosecutors only charged Ortiz with causing bodily injury to four patients in August.
Before the trial, a judge ordered Ortiz's detention, citing concerns about community safety, including a 2015 incident where he shot his neighbor's dog in retaliation for her involvement in obtaining a restraining order against him after a domestic violence incident.
Ortiz was convicted on four counts of tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily injury, one count of tampering with a consumer product, and five counts of intentional adulteration of a drug. His sentencing is expected in two to three months, and he faces up to life in prison.
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