The Texas Medical Board has temporarily suspended a Dallas-based anesthesiologist's medical license after receiving information from federal law enforcement that the physician was under criminal investigation related to the death of a fellow physician.
A statement from the board released on Friday said Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz, Jr., MD, had his license suspended after a disciplinary board determined that he would pose "a continuing threat to public welfare" if allowed to continue practicing medicine. The statement said the suspension would be effective immediately, starting on September 8.
Ortiz also has a disciplinary history with the board, including incidents involving domestic and animal abuse.
According to the board's disciplinary documents, Ortiz was seen in surveillance footage putting single IV bags into a warmer outside the operating rooms at the Baylor Scott & White Health Surgicare North Dallas facility. An investigation and laboratory analysis revealed that the IV bags contained the anesthetic bupivacaine without any additional labeling to denote the change. The document also noted that small holes were found in the plastic wrap around the bag.
The board stated that, shortly after Ortiz was filmed adding the altered IV bag to the warmer in the surveillance footage, a patient suffered a serious complication.
The board also highlighted the death of Ortiz's fellow physician on June 21. The documents showed that the physician, another anesthesiologist at the facility, had taken an IV bag altered with bupivacaine home to use to rehydrate when she was feeling ill. The physician -- identified as Melanie Kaspar, MD, by Dallas news station NBC5 -- inserted the IV bag herself at home and shortly after had a serious cardiac event and died.
According to the documents, the Dallas medical examiner's autopsy report concluded that the physician's death was caused by accidental bupivacaine toxicity.
In a statement provided to MedPage Today, Baylor Scott & White Health said its Surgicare facility "contacted law enforcement after discovering that an IV bag appeared to have been compromised."
The statement also noted that the facility "elected to pause its operations" after discovery of the altered IV bags.
"The facility remains closed while we focus on assisting investigators and communicating with patients," the statement read. "We will continue to limit our comments as we support authorities in their investigation."
The board noted that "similar drugs" were found after laboratory tests were run on a used IV bag given to another patient who had a serious cardiac event during a routine surgery at the same facility.
Dallas news station CBS11 reported that Ortiz declared innocence and was "devastated" to find out his license was suspended by the board.
Ortiz has a disciplinary history with the medical board, as well as encounters with the criminal justice system, related to several domestic and animal abuse incidents.
Most recently, in 2020, Ortiz was placed on administrative supervision and forced to pay a $3,000 fine after failing to "meet the standard of care" for a patient during surgery.
Before that, a jury found Ortiz guilty of shooting his neighbor's dog with a pellet gun in April 2015, according to court filings with the Court of Appeals in the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas. The shooting was allegedly connected to dog owner’s relationship with Ortiz's female partner, who the neighbor helped move out after a 2014 incident.
After an unsuccessful appeal, the state sentenced Ortiz to 2 years of community service, a $4,000 fine, and prohibited him from owning guns, among other contingencies. In response to this incident, the state medical board ordered Ortiz to pay a $2,000 fine and enter a one-year probationary supervision period starting in 2018.
In 1995, Ortiz was arrested on misdemeanor charges for assaulting and injuring his spouse, according to the board's records. In 2005, the records said that a different woman filed for an emergency protective order against him.
In 2014, Ortiz was arrested again for misdemeanor assault involving a third woman, according to the board's records. He was suspended for 2 weeks by Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Garland for failing to notify the company of those misdemeanor charges, the board's documents showed.
A hearing will be scheduled to review the temporary suspension at an unspecified future date, until which the suspension will remain in place, according to the board's statement.
The board's disciplinary documents also noted that Ortiz was originally granted a Texas medical license in 1991 and that he operated Garland Anesthesia Consultants in Richardson, Texas, near Dallas.
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