Texas doctor tampered with IV bags, leading to colleague’s death, medical board says

A Texas physician has been suspended, and federal officials are investigating him after a death and serious cardiac complications, the Texas Medical Board said.

The board found that, if Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr. continues to practice medicine, he’d pose a threat to public health and safety.

The board’s staff found out from federal law enforcement that Ortiz is part of an investigation into serious cardiac complications and one person’s death.

According to the suspension documents, Ortiz was caught on surveillance footage at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas — where he worked this year from May until earlier this month — putting IV bags in a warmer in a hallway outside operating rooms. Shortly after, a patient suffered a serious complication.

On June 21, a fellow doctor took one of the IV bags home to rehydrate. Once she inserted the IV into her vein, she almost immediately had a serious cardiac event and died, the documents say. The Dallas medical examiner ruled that her death was caused by accidental bupivacaine toxicity.

The medical board said IV bags from the lab were tested, and there were holes in the plastic wrap around the bags. They tested positive for bupivacaine, but they were not properly labeled.

An otherwise-healthy patient also suffered a serious cardiac event during routine surgery, so the remaining contents of the patient’s IV bag were tested, revealing similar drugs that shouldn’t have been there.

Ortiz was licensed in February 1991 and works as an anesthesiologist in the Dallas area, the board said. His public profile lists anesthesiology as his specialty, though he is not board-certified, and he is also part of Garland Anesthesia Consultants.