In making investments, mutual funds note that past performance is not always an indicator of future performance. Which brings us to the case of Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr., a Dallas-based anesthesiologist. On November 20, 2024, he was sentenced to 190 years in prison. Why? A jury determined he injected dangerous drugs into patient IV bags, leading to one death and numerous cardiac emergencies. Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey for the Northern District of Texas found that Dr. Ortiz caused the death of the anesthesiologist’s colleague and called his other conduct “tantamount to attempted murder.”
Intentionally.
He was charged by criminal complaint in September 2, 2022 and indicted the following month on charges related to tampering with IV bags used at a local surgical center.
In April of 2024, following an eight-day trial, a jury convicted him of 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.
Dr. Ortiz Texas medical license was suspended two years earlier in September 2022 based on the following complaint.
Board Staff was informed that Respondent is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation relating to serious cardiac complications and one patient’s death connected with Respondent’s presence at the Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas facility (Surgicare) from May through September, 2022.
Respondent was seen on surveillance footage in that Surgicare facility depositing single IV bags into the warmer in the hall outside the operating rooms. When he deposited an lV bag in the warmer, shortly thereafter a patient would suffer a serious complication.
On June 21, 2022, one fellow physician from Surgicare, Patient 1, took a tampered IV bag home with her when she was ill, to rehydrate. She inserted the IV into her vein at home and almost immediately had a serious cardiac event and died. The Dallas Medical Examiner’s autopsy report in August 2022 concluded her death was caused by accidental bupivacaine toxicity.
Laboratory tests were run on IV bags from the warmer, which displayed visible tiny holes in the plastic wrap around the bags. These tampered bags contained bupivacaine but were not labeled as such.
Tests were run on the remaining contents from an IV bag that was given to another otherwise healthy patient who had a serious cardiac event during a routine surgery. The tests indicated that the lV fluid contained similar drugs that should not have been in the IV bag.
Such drugs could and would be fatal when administered unknowingly and intravenously.
On or about September 2. 2022, through social media posts and news media reporting Board staff learned of the death of Patient 1, Respondent’s fellow physician. Which occurred under questionable circumstances.
The Board issued a summary suspension.
Ortez allegedly caused a host of cardiac emergencies in other patients. His actions were tied to a personal vendetta. Ortiz, who had faced disciplinary scrutiny for prior medical errors, began sabotaging IV bags shortly after learning he was under investigation for a recent incident where a patient suffered complications during an anesthetic procedure. Feeling targeted by his employer, Ortiz reportedly expressed anger, claiming they were trying to “crucify” him.
Between May and August 2022, patients undergoing routine surgeries at the Surgicare North Dallas facility experienced sudden and unexplained cardiac emergencies. The tampering was eventually discovered when another anesthesiologist, Ortiz’s colleague, died after using an IV bag from the surgical center to self-treat dehydration. As noted in the Texas Medical Board complaint, lab analysis revealed that the tampered IV bags contained a dangerous combination of drugs, including bupivacaine, epinephrine, and lidocaine—medications that could induce high blood pressure, cardiac dysfunction, and respiratory distress when administered improperly.
Surveillance footage showed Ortiz secretly injecting drugs into the IV bags and placing them back in warming bins for later use in surgeries. This pattern of behavior was deliberate and malicious, targeting random patients and resulting in widespread harm. His actions were described by prosecutors as comparable to an indiscriminate assault, with Ortiz weaponizing medical supplies to harm unsuspecting victims.
The tampering led to at least one death and over 10 cases of severe complications, including cardiac arrests during surgeries. None of these complications occurred while Ortiz went away on vacation.
His motive seemed rooted in retaliation and professional resentment, exacerbated by a history of disciplinary issues and a potential threat to his medical license.
Well, did he have a history of issues?
Uh huh.
Per Texas Medical Board complaint, dated 2018:
- On or about June 11, 1995, Respondent was arrested for Assault Causing Bodily Injury to a Spouse, a Class A Misdemeanor. The first female victim subsequently divorced Respondent and the two entered a settlement for an undisclosed amount of money.
- On or about September 19, 2005, a second female partner filed for an emergency protective order against Respondent alleging that he assaulted her.
- On or about December 30, 2014, Respondent was arrested for Assault Involving Domestic Violence, a Class C Misdemeanor involving a third female victim.
- In or around January 2015, the third female victim filed for an emergency protective order. The third female victim subsequently entered a settlement with Respondent for an undisclosed amount of money.
- On or about June 15, 2016, a Collin County jury found Respondent guilty of Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animals, a Class A Misdemeanor and a crime of moral turpitude.
- Respondent shot his female neighbor’s pet dog in retaliation for helping the third female victim of domestic violence escape him and testifying against him at the protective order hearing.
- Respondent was sentenced to 25 days confinement in the Collin County Jail, which was remanded to two years community service, assessed a $4,000 fine, prohibited from engaging in harassing or threatening behavior, prohibited from owning or carrying weapons, including guns, prohibited from using marijuana, alcohol, and dangerous drugs and required to submit to random drug testing, participate in an Anger Management Program, and pay for all court costs and $505 in restitution for veterinary bills.
- On January 16, 2018, in Ortiz v. State, No. 05-16-00817-CR, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 464 (Tex. App. Dallas Jan. 16, 2018) (mem. op.), the court of appeals affirmed Appellant’s conviction and sentence.
- Respondent’s conviction for Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animals, a Class A Misdemeanor and a crime of moral turpitude pursuant to 22 Tex. Admin. Code § 190.8(6)(c), and history of violence against women, violates the Act and Board Rules, specifically:
Section 164.051 (a)(l) of the Act authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against Respondent based on Respondent’s commission of an act prohibited under Section 164.052 of the Act.
Section 164.051 (a)(2) of the Act authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against Respondent based on Respondent’s conviction for a felony or a misdemeanor involving a crime of moral turpitude.
Section 164.05l(a)(4)(D) of the Act authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against Respondent based on Respondent’s inability to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to patients as a result of any mental or physical condition.
Section 164.052(a)(5) of the Act authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against Respondent based upon Respondent’s unprofessional or dishonorable conduct that is likely to deceive or defraud the public or injure the public, as further defined by Board Rules 190.8(2)(R), violation of federal and state laws whether or not there is a complaint, indictment, or conviction: ii) any offense in which assault or batter, or the attempt of either is an essential element, v) any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude as defined by paragraph (6) of this section; and, 190.8(6), discipline based on criminal conviction of a misdemeanor crime involving moral turpitude.
- On July 13, 2016, the Medical Executive Committee at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center-Garland administratively suspended Respondent’s clinical privileges for 14 days for his failure to notify the hospital of the misdemeanor criminal charges.
- The suspension of Respondent’s clinical privileges for violating hospital policy violates the Act and Board Rules, specifically:
Section 164.051 (a)(l) of the Act authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against Respondent based on Respondent’s commission of an act prohibited under Section 164.052 of the Act.
Section 164.051 (a)(7) of the Act authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against Respondent based on disciplinary action taken by Respondent’s peers, as further defined by Board Rule 190.8(4), disciplinary actions by peer groups.
Section 164.052(a)(5) of the Act authorizes the Board to take disciplinary action against Respondent based upon Respondent’s unprofessional or dishonorable conduct that is likely to deceive or defraud the public or injure the public.
The consent agreement signed on October 19, 2018, noted:
Respondent ha[d] not previously received a disciplinary order or remedial plan from the Board.
Respondent injured a dog with a pellet. A Collin County, Texas, jury convicted Respondent of Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animals, a class A Misdemeanor. Baylor Scott and White Medical Center-Garland subsequently disciplined Respondent for failing to report his criminal arrest related to the conviction.
The Texas Medical Board issued a public reprimand and fined the doctor $2k. And he agreed to stay out of trouble.
We now know how that went.
What do you think?
