Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr., a Texas anesthesiologist, was arrested in Plano, Texas, on criminal charges related to allegedly injecting nerve blocking and bronchodilation drugs into patient IV bags at a local surgical center, resulting in at least one death and multiple cardiac emergencies. According to court documents, on or around June 21, a 55-year-old female coworker of Ortiz, identified in court documents as M.K., experienced a medical emergency and died immediately after treating herself for dehydration using an IV bag of saline taken from the surgical center. An autopsy report revealed that she died from a lethal dose of bupivacaine, a nerve blocking agent that is rarely abused but is often used during the administration of anesthesia. Two months later, on or around Aug. 24, an 18-year-old male patient, identified in court documents as J.A., experienced a cardiac emergency during a scheduled surgery. The teen was intubated and transferred to a local ICU. Chemical analysis of the fluid from a saline bag used during his surgery revealed the presence of epinephrine (a stimulant that could have caused the patient’s symptoms), bupicavaine, and lidocaine.
According to the complaint, surgical center personnel concluded that the incidents involving M.K. and J.A. suggested a pattern of intentional adulteration of IV bags used at the surgical center. They identified about 10 additional unexpected cardiac emergencies that occurred during otherwise unremarkable surgeries between May and August 2022 — which the complaint alleges to be an exceptionally high rate of complications over such a short period of time. In each of those cases — which investigators believe occurred on or around May 26 and 27; June 27; July 7, 15 and 18; and Aug. 1, 4, 9 and 19 — medical personnel were able to stabilize the patient only through use of emergency measures. Most of the incidents occurred during longer surgeries that used more than one IV bag, including one or more bags retrieved mid-surgery from a stainless steel bag warmer.
The complaint alleges that none of the cardiac incidents occurred during Dr. Ortiz’s surgeries, and that they began just two days after Dr. Oritz was notified of a disciplinary inquiry stemming from an incident during which he allegedly “deviated from the standard of care” during an anesthesia procedure when a patient experienced a medical emergency. The complaint alleges that all of the incidents occurred around the time Dr. Ortiz performed services at the facility, and no incidents occurred while Dr. Ortiz was on vacation.
