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A North Texas doctor linked to a surgical center at the center of a criminal investigation has had his medical license suspended because of “imminent peril” to public health.
The Texas Medical Board temporarily suspended Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr., 59, on Friday. The suspension is effective immediately and will remain in effect until the board takes further action.
Ortiz, an anesthesiologist, is part of an ongoing criminal investigation into serious cardiac complications suffered by one patient at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas and the death of Dr. Melanie Kaspar, 55, another anesthesiologist at the facility.
Authorities were called the evening of June 21 to Kaspar’s home in Lakewood, where paramedics were unable to revive her. According to a police incident report, Kaspar’s husband said she wasn’t feeling well and had given herself an IV, then complained of severe pain about half an hour later before collapsing.
Kaspar used an IV bag from the facility, the board said.
Although she was initially thought to have died from a heart attack, the Dallas County medical examiner’s office later determined her cause of death was the toxic effects of bupivacaine, a local anesthetic.
In a report on the suspension, the Texas Medical Board wrote that Ortiz was seen on surveillance footage placing IV bags into a warmer outside operating rooms. Patients suffered cardiac complications after using those bags, the board wrote.
In one case, an 18-year-old man went into severe respiratory distress during a surgery to repair a deviated septum.
Lab tests of IV bags from the warmer showed they had been tampered with and were not labeled to indicate they contained bupivacaine. Tests on the contents of a bag given to an otherwise healthy patient who suffered a “severe cardiac event” during surgery revealed similar drugs that should not have been in the bag, the board found.
“Such drugs could and would be fatal when administered unknowingly and intravenously,” the board wrote.
The board learned of Kaspar’s death on Sept. 2 and was contacted by federal authorities Thursday about the criminal investigation.
There is an “imminent peril to public health, safety or welfare,” if Ortiz continues to practice medicine, the board wrote.
Ortiz has previously been disciplined by the state medical board. In 2018, he was reprimanded for failing to report his arrest on an animal-cruelty charge.
He was disciplined this August over a 2020 procedure during which he performed anesthesia and the patient required CPR. His punishment included having another physician monitor his practice, additional education and a $3,000 penalty.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot confirmed that a criminal investigation is underway, but law-enforcement officials have not released additional information.
Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas is temporarily closed. Baylor Scott & White said recent patients are being contacted and patients with questions may call 214-818-2794.
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September 10, 2022 at 08:00AM
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North Texas doctor's license suspended following colleague's death - The Dallas Morning News
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