Dallas IV tampering trial: Administrators 'desperately' sought cause of spike in patient emergencies

Dallas IV Tampering Trial: Day 2 Recap

On Tuesday, the administrator at the Baylor Scott and White Surgicare on Coit Road in North Dallas testified that they were "desperately" trying to figure out why so many patients were experiencing medical emergencies during what should have been routine procedures.

DALLAS - Witness testimony began Tuesday in the trial of a Dallas doctor accused of poisoning IV bags with heart-stopping drugs.

Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz is accused of tampering with the IV bags. 11 patients suffered cardiac emergencies after being treated with tainted IV bags, and a doctor who used one of the bags to rehydrate at home died.

"We were perplexed because the incidents were happening under different doctors and nurses," said Ashley Burks, choking back tears.

Burks testified they even had equipment tested.

"We were desperately trying to figure out what was going on," Burks said on the stand Tuesday.

In 2021, Burks said there were 5 transfers to hospitals for complications or emergencies. Between May and August 2022 that number soared to 14.

On August 24, an 18-year-old teenager was having a simple outpatient procedure for a nose defect.

30 minutes after an IV bag was taken into his operating room, he experienced a cardiovascular crisis.

Burks became emotional remembering the day, saying she called the center's governing chair and told him, "It is (expletive) happening again." She apologized to the jury for her language.

The teen's parents were told he had a 50/50 chance of surviving.

He did pull through and his grandfather, a Los Angeles cardiologist, spoke with FOX 4 in 2022.

"The toxic agents injected into the IV fluid initially made his blood pressure go sky-high, impossibly high. The kind of numbers you never see," Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter told FOX 4 in Sept. 2022.

After the teen's cardiac emergency, Burks testified they looked at the IV bag and found a hole in it.

"We were stunned," she said.

Even with that powerful testimony, there is a burden of proof on the prosecution.

Paul Coggins, a former U.S. attorney who now handles white-collar crimes, says the defense will work to raise doubt in the minds of one of two jurors about Dr. Ortiz's role.

"One thing the defense is going to try to do is cast doubt on this whole motive argument, that he was trying to shift blame on other people. He had such run-ins with the Texas Medical Board and the authorities and things like that that he was trying to take it out on others in this kind of crazy way," said Coggins. "They will try to cast doubt on that and say that he had no motive to commit this kind of crime, and try to show others had the opportunity to do this."

Prosecutors also showed a lot of videos that are not yet publicly available of Dr. Ortiz.

VIDEO: Dallas doctor allegedly swaps IV bags prior to patient suffering heart attack

Video played in court showed Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz placing an IV bag in a warmer outside of an operating room on August 19. Minutes later a patient suffered a heart attack.

In one video, he is there watching as a patient is wheeled out by paramedics while experiencing an emergency after prosecutors say she received one of the tainted bags during a simple cosmetic procedure.

That patient testified when she woke up in the hospital, she thought that she was going to die.

During opening statements, John Nicholson, the public defender for Ortiz, told the jury he is proud to represent him and that this is a case of "confirmation bias," where a person only sees where they want to see.

If convicted of tampering charges, Ortiz faces a possible life sentence in federal prison.

Dallas Crime and Public Safety