Sentencing rescheduled for Dallas doctor convicted of poisoning IV bags
DALLAS - The sentencing has been rescheduled for a Dallas anesthesiologist who was convicted of tampering with IV bags linked to multiple cardiac emergencies and one death at a North Dallas Medical Center.
Family members of the victims showed up at the Earle Cabell Federal Building on Wednesday morning, waiting to hear Raynaldo Ortiz's punishment. Some of them even traveled to Dallas from out of town to give their impact statements.
Raynaldo Ortiz
They were disappointed to learn that the judge granted the defense a last-minute motion to continue.
The U.S. Attorney's Office is not revealing why the sentencing was canceled.
"I am ready for closure on it. But I think that we will ultimately get there. It's frustrating to have it delayed. But I think the right thing will happen," said Matthew Dawson, who drove in from Longview.
Ortiz, a former Dallas anesthesiologist, was convicted in April for injecting dangerous drugs into patients' IV bags at a North Dallas surgical center.
The drugs caused patients’ blood pressure to skyrocket, cardiac dysfunction, pulmonary edema, and more after surgical procedures.
They were linked to 11 cardiac emergencies between May and August 2022. One physician, Dr. Melanie Kasper, died after taking an IV bag home to treat dehydration.
Dallas doctor found guilty of poisoning IV bags
Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz has been found guilty of injecting dangerous drugs into IV bags at the Baylor Scott & White Surgicare in North Dallas.
After one doctor began to suspect there was something wrong with the IV bags, surveillance video captured Dr. Ortiz filling large syringes with different types of medications and then putting them in his pocket.
Other surveillance footage presented in the trial showed Ortiz repeatedly taking IV bags out of a warming drawer and putting them back.
The bags were then taken into operating rooms where the patients experienced medical emergencies.
"I'd like to have my say, not necessarily to look him in the eyes, but to say it to the judge. I want to share why I think it is important to consider all the harm he caused. I want the judge to consider how it impacted me and the medical community," said Dawson.
John Kaspar, the husband of Melanie Kaspar, was also prepared to give a statement on Wednesday.
His friend traveled from Louisiana to support him.
Prosecutors said Ortiz was retaliating for being punished on three occasions in 2018. He faced the potential of losing his medical license.
"Dr. Ortiz cloaked himself in the white coat of a healer, but instead of curing pain, he inflicted it," U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton for the Northern District of Texas said in a video statement.
After multiple days of trial, a jury convicted Ortiz 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.
He now faces a maximum penalty of 190 years in prison.
There's no word yet on when the sentencing will be rescheduled. It was already rescheduled once in July.