A doctor has been sentenced to 190 years behind bars after being convicted of tampering with IV bags.
Earlier this year, Raynaldo Ortiz, a Dallas anesthesiologist, was found guilty of injecting IV bags with Bupivacaine, an anesthetic drug. Jurors later reached an unanimous verdict and convicted him on 10 federal charges.
His sentencing was originally scheduled for July 22, however, it was later delayed to Sept. 16, and then pushed back again to Sept. 18.
In total, 10 patients were rushed to the ER after developing complications during their medical procedures. Dr. Melanie Kaspar, who was a colleague of Ortiz, also died after taking home a tampered IV bag to treat her dehydration.
Seven Victim Impact Statements
During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, seven people provided victim impact statements.
The first statement was from a letter by Jimmy Eller, one of the patients that received a tampered IV bag. According to the letter, which was read aloud, ‘[his] world has been turned upside down’ since he was poisoned by Ortiz.
He explained that the poisoning has caused a number of long-term complications including heart issues, depression, kidney stones, all of which have robbed him of his independence.
The second impact statement was given by Kelly Pfeiffer, another patient. Pfeiffer, who was present at the hearing, was emotionally distraught as she began to speak about the terrifying experience.
The next statement was given by the father of Jack Adlerstein, an 18-year-old who nearly died after being injected with dangerous drugs during a routine nose procedure. He requested that Ortiz be given maximum sentence.
Juan Martinez, who had experienced a cardiac emergency, was next to speak at the hearing. Through a translator, he stated that ‘the [poisoning] turned off his life’ and that he ‘hasn’t been the same person’ since. He had come to the sentencing wanting to see Ortiz ‘face-to-face’ but was upset that he wasn’t present at the hearing.
The rest of the impact statements were given by Nelly Naylor, who also suffered a cardic emergency, a man named Ryan whose father was poisoned by Ortiz, and the husband of Melanie Kaspar, who watched his wife die after being given an IV bag that was tampered with.
Federal Charges Against Ortiz
In 2022, Ortiz was arrested after he was found tampering with IV bags at a surgical center in North Dallas. His medical license was subsequently suspended and the facility was forced to close.
On surveillance footage, Ortiz could be seen putting IV bags into the warmer outside of surgical rooms, after which a patient would experience a severe complication during their procedure.
Subsequent lab tests discovered “tiny holes” in the plastic wrap around the IV bags. The test also revealed that the bags contained a local anesthetic drug called Bupivacaine, which was not labelled in the bags.
In addition to that, they also found that the IV bags contained epinephrine, and other drugs, which when combined, can result in ‘cardiac dysfunction, high blood pressure, and pulmonary edema’.
