Anesthesiologist to remain in custody until trial
By Andrea Lucia, Annie Gimbel
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DALLAS (KTVT) — A federal judge has denied a request from Dallas anesthesiologist Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. for his release while he awaits trial on charges of tampering with IV bags.
The decision comes as surveillance video the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas used to tie Dr. Ortiz to the tainted bags was shown in court.
Those bags allegedly caused complications in nearly a dozen patients… as well as the death of one of Ortiz’s colleague’s, anesthesiologist Melanie Kaspar.
Recorded on Aug. 4, at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare in North Dallas, Ortiz is shown on the video holding an IV bag and walking up to what looks like a refrigerator. But it’s a warmer that warms IV bags before use in patients.
Ortiz passes it, goes back, then puts the IV bag in, before looking around and walking away.
In another video recorded on August 19, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Ortiz approaches (with an IV bag hidden behind a paper folder in his arm) before allegedly swapping it out for another.
Ortiz’s attorney argued though, in those cases, it’s not certain what (if anything) was in the patients’ IV bags that would have caused complications. She presented a witness – a friend and former attorney for Ortiz who vouched for him – saying she did not believe he poses any danger to the public at all.
Within an hour of both video recordings, patients at the surgery center suffered complications after receiving an IV bag taken from that same warmer.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also argued Ortiz poses both a flight risk and a danger to the public. But his attorney said neither accusation is true.
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