Texas doctor arrested for poisoning anesthesiologist to death with IV bag

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

A Texas doctor has been taken into custody for allegedly causing the death of a colleague with an IV bag.

Although charges against Dr Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz, 59, have not been released, NBC reports that he was booked into the Dallas County Jail in connection to the death of anesthesiologist Melanie Kaspar, 55.

Mr Ortiz and Ms Kaspar were colleagues at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare. She died after experiencing a cardiac arrest minutes after hooking herself to an IV bag she had brought home from work to treat her dehydration.

The investigation is being handled by the US Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Police Department told The Independent on Thursday, meaning that Mr Ortiz is facing federal charges.

The Texas Medical Board announced in a press release last week that Mr Ortiz’s license was temporarily revoked pending a criminal investigation after authorities reviewed footage that showed him allegedly tampering with IV bags.

The bags were tested following Ms Kapar’s death and at least one patient’s near-death reaction. Results showed they had tiny holes and the pain medication bupivacaine was present.

Mr Ortiz was placed under administrative supervision on 19 August and fined $3,000 after he “failed to meet the standard of care for a patient during a procedure” during a previous incident in 2020, NBC reported.

According to the board, he failed to thoroughly assess a patient’s vitals and they had to be urgently transported to another facility for CPR. An investigation wasn’t concluded because he “relinquished his privileges prior to any hearing.”

Mr Ortiz also has a lengthy criminal history of assault and violence.

Former partners have requested restraining orders or filed assault charges against him on at least four separate incidents dating back from 1995, the medical board confirmed to NBC. He was also sentenced to 25 days in jail in 2015 for shooting his neighbour’s dog.

He has been practising medicine in Texas since 1991, after graduating from the University of Texas in 1989.