(UnitedVoice.com) – Doctors take an oath promising that they will not harm people. Unfortunately, not every professional lives up to that oath. A Texas anesthesiologist was just convicted for intentionally hurting those he swore to keep safe.
On April 12, the Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs announced that 60-year-old Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr. was convicted of five counts of intentionally altering a medication and five counts of tampering with consumer products, including four counts of causing injuries.
According to the DOJ, multiple patients suffered cardiac emergencies between May and August 2022 at Surgicare North Dallas. Approximately a month after the emergencies started, an anesthesiologist treated herself with an IV bag for dehydration and later died. In August 2022, an 18-year-old was rushed into the ICU in critical condition after undergoing routine sinus surgery. Doctors then began to suspect the IV bags might be contaminated after they realized all of the complications occurred after new IV bags were hung up.
A lab analyzed the contents of a bag used during the teen’s surgery. The results found epinephrine (a stimulant), bupivacaine (a nerve-blocking agent), and lidocaine (an anesthetic) in the bag. The lab also noticed a puncture hole.
Authorities discovered Ortiz injected the IV bags of saline with the deadly cocktail. He then placed them in a warming bin at the hospital and waited for his colleagues to use them during their surgeries. Surveillance video showed him retrieving bags from the bin, and then returning them shortly after. The video also showed the bags being taken into operating rooms where patients had adverse reactions during their surgeries.
At the time of the incidents, Ortiz was facing potential disciplinary action over an unrelated mistake he made during one of his surgeries. The mistake was so bad, that his license to practice was at risk.
The jury in the case only took seven hours to convict the doctor. He’s now facing up to 190 years in prison.
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