Dallas doctor convicted of tampering with IV bags linked to coworker’s death and other emergencies

Federal prosecutors say a Dallas anesthesiologist has been convicted of injecting a nerve-blocking drug and other drugs into bags of intravenous fluid at a surgical center where he worked, leading to the death of a colleague and causing a heart attack…

DALLAS– A Dallas anesthesiologist was convicted Friday of injecting a nerve-blocking drug and other drugs into bags of intravenous fluid at a surgical center where he worked, leading to the death of a colleague and causing heart problems in several patients, federal prosecutors said.

A jury convicted 60-year-old Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr. for four counts of tampering with a consumer product resulting in serious bodily injury, one count of tampering with a consumer product and five counts of intentional adulteration of a drug, prosecutors said. No sentencing date has yet been set for Ortiz, who faces a maximum sentence of 190 years in prison.

“Dr. Ortiz wrapped himself in the white coat of a healer, but instead of healing pain, he caused pain,” U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton for the Northern District of Texas said in a video statement.

Prosecutors said evidence presented at trial showed numerous patients at Surgicare North Dallas suffered heart problems during routine medical procedures performed by various doctors between May 2022 and August 2022. During that time, an anesthesiologist who had worked at the facility earlier that day died while treating himself for dehydration using an IV bag.

Prosecutors said Ortiz, who was arrested in September 2022, surreptitiously placed the contaminated IV bags in a warming bin at the facility and waited for them to be used in his colleagues’ surgeries.

Evidence presented at trial showed Ortiz was facing disciplinary action at the time of the emergency for an alleged medical error made during one of his own surgeries, prosecutors said.