Texas doctor at center of IV bag tampering investigation arrested
A Dallas doctor whose license was suspended last week has been arrested as part of a criminal investigation into alleged tampering with IV bags.
A Texas doctor with a disturbing history of domestic violence and animal cruelty has been arrested after contaminated IV bags caused the death of another physician and serious complications in at least one patient.
Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz, Jr. 59, was taken into custody Wednesday in Plano, Texas, by the Dallas Police Department, spokeswoman Kristin Lowman told Fox News Digital.
Lowman said the department is assisting the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the probe, but declined to provide further details.
This isn’t the Corvette-loving doctor’s first brush with the criminal justice system. He was convicted of shooting a neighbor’s dog with a pellet gun in 2015 and accused of assaulting at least two women.
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Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz, left, has been arrested in connection to the contamination of IV bags, which allegedly caused the death of Dr. Melanie Kaspar. (Dallas Police Depart/ Obituary)
The Texas Medical Board yanked Ortiz’s license to practice on Sept. 9, hours after federal authorities shared information with the agency about their ongoing criminal investigation, records show.
The anesthesiologist was allegedly captured on surveillance footage slipping IV bags into a warmer in the hall outside the operating rooms at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare at North Dallas, according to a suspension order issued by the board.
"When he deposited an IV bag in the warmer, shortly thereafter a patient would suffer a serious complication," the report states.
Ortiz’s colleague, beloved anesthesiologist Melanie Kaspar, took a contaminated IV bag home on June 21 to rehydrate due to an illness.
Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. is accused of tampering with IV bags that led to the death of another physician and sickened at least one patient at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare at North Dallas. (Google maps)
"She inserted the IV into her vein and almost immediately had a serious cardiac event and died," the order says.
Kaspar was fatally poisoned with bupivacaine — a numbing agent used to alleviate pain during surgery, according to an autopsy.
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The drug is meant to be injected into the spinal cord and is known to cause "severe cardio- and neurotoxicity" and death when injected into the veins, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices in Canada.
Tests were conducted on the remaining IV bags in the warmer. They had "visible tiny holes in the plastic wrap" and contained bupivacaine.
Fluids left in a used IV bag that had been given to a healthy patient during a routine surgery who suffered a serious cardiac event contained similar drugs, according to the medical board.
"Respondent’s continued practice of medicine poses a continuing threat to public welfare," the emergency suspension order states.
Ortiz, who has been practicing for 26 years, was placed on administrative supervision in August for an incident from November 2020.
A patient required CPR after Ortiz administered anesthesia, which led the facility, North Garland Surgery Center, to revoke his clinical privileges, board records show.
In December 2014, Ortiz and his then-girlfriend, the mother of his child, got into an argument in front of their neighbor, Roxanne Bogdan, and he was arrested for alleged assault.
The ex obtained a protective order against Ortiz, and Bogdan testified on her behalf. He blamed the neighbor for their split, according to prosecutors.
About four months later, in April 2015, Bogdan heard a "very loud sports car" pull into Ortiz’s driveway, then gunfire and her dog yelping.
"She ran into her backyard and saw her dog’s chest covered in blood," according to court papers. The pooch survived.
Ortiz has at least three Corvettes, whose engines have a distinct sound, according to the records. Ortiz was convicted at trial and sentenced to 25 days in jail and two years of community supervision.
A medical board record says he has a "history of violence toward women" — including a 1999 arrest for allegedly assaulting a spouse. In 2005, a different girlfriend obtained a protective order against him.
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A spokesperson for Baylor Scott & White Surgicare at North Dallas didn’t immediately return a request for comment, but told other outlets that they paused operations at the medical facility and are helping authorities with the investigation.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas didn't immediately return a request for comment.
