Texas Doctor Dubbed 'Medical Terrorist' Found Guilty of Injecting Poison into IVs
In a recent trial covered by FOX 4 in Dallas, Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz, labeled a "medical terrorist," has been found guilty on all 10 counts by a 12-person jury. After nearly seven hours of deliberation, the verdict was delivered, with Ortiz, donned in a mask, displaying no visible emotion.
Ortiz's actions, which involved injecting heart-stopping poison into IVs at his former medical clinic in North Dallas, resulted in multiple patients experiencing cardiac emergencies. Tragically, Dr. Melanie Kaspar lost her life after using one of the tainted IV bags, according to prosecutors.
After almost seven hours of deliberation, the verdict was delivered, with Ortiz, wearing a mask, showing no visible emotion.
Ortiz's actions, which involved injecting heart-stopping poison into IVs at his former medical clinic in North Dallas, led to multiple patients experiencing cardiac emergencies. Tragically, Dr. Melanie Kaspar lost her life after using one of the tainted IV bags, according to prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz, an anesthesiologist, carried out shocking crimes at Baylor Scott and White Surgicare North Dallas as retaliation for a medical misconduct probe. A criminal complaint accused him of injecting nerve-blocking and bronchodilation drugs into patient IV bags.
After the lengthy deliberation, Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz was found guilty on all 10 counts. Surveillance footage captured Ortiz placing an IV bag in a stainless steel warmer outside an operating room on Aug. 19, 2022. Shortly after another staffer took the bag, a patient suffered a heart attack.
Beloved anesthesiologist Dr. Melanie Kaspar took a contaminated IV bag home on June 21 for rehydration due to an illness. After inserting the IV, she experienced a serious cardiac event and died. An autopsy revealed she was fatally poisoned by bupivacaine, a numbing agent rarely abused but used in surgeries to alleviate pain.
John Kaspar, Dr. Melanie Kaspar’s widower, expressed his grief, saying, “There’s no closure. My best friend is gone. I don’t think he ever looked me in the eye… It’s almost like you have so many emotions you can’t sift them out. You get flooded.”
Witnesses in the trial included the anesthesiologist who discovered the tainted bags, John Kaspar, and a teen who suffered cardiac arrest during nose surgery.
The incidents began shortly after Ortiz was notified of a disciplinary inquiry against him. Other doctors noted his complaints about the inquiry, stating the center was trying to "crucify" him.
It was reported that 13 patients between May and August 2022 experienced similar cardiac emergencies, though prosecutors only charged Ortiz with causing bodily injury to four patients in August.
Ortiz, previously involved in a 2015 incident where he shot his neighbor's dog in retaliation for the neighbor assisting his then-girlfriend in obtaining a restraining order against him after a domestic violence incident, was convicted of multiple counts, including tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily injury and intentional adulteration of a drug.
Ortiz awaits sentencing in two to three months and faces up to life in prison.
