OAN’s Abril Elfi
1:38 PM – Wednesday, April 3, 2024
A patient has testified in the trial of a Dallas anesthesiologist who is accused of tampering with IV bags.
On Tuesday, the 57-year-old patient testified in the trial of Doctor Raynaldo Ortiz, who is accused of tampering with IV bags at the Baylor Scott & White Surgicare Center in North Dallas.
According to prosecutors, the alleged actions of Ortiz put patients at risk and even caused one death.
The woman, who has not been publicly identified, testified that she had gotten a facelift and liposuction work done at the center in August of 2022. However, she woke up from her surgery in extreme pain and at a different hospital.
She continued, stating that she had no idea what had happened but that she was intubated and “knew something was really wrong.” The patient went on to say that she was told her “blood pressure had spiked” during the surgery, so “doctors had to stop the surgery” and have her taken to a hospital where she spent four nights in the ICU.
She also said that ever since the surgery, her health has worsened and she is now on beta blockers “for life.”
Ortiz is accused of injecting nerve-blocking drugs into IV bags used during surgeries, which in turn, caused cardiac emergencies.
A nurse at the facility, Ashley Burks, also testified during the trial. Prosecutors showed her a series of photos from the center as well as a floorplan where cameras were located. Burks said that the cameras had been installed in May of 2022, however, she had been working with Ortiz since 2009 and joined him on “hundreds” of surgeries.
When prosecutors asked her if Ortiz had ever put IV bags in the warmer, Burks said “no,” since “his job was to take care of patients, not stock the warmer.”
Prosecutors continued by showing Burks surveillance videos of Ortiz.
Ortiz was seen removing three IV bags from the warmer at eight in the morning on August 9, 2022. On camera, he is seen placing one bag into the warmer at 10:19 a.m., and thirty-five minutes later, another member of the medical staff visits the warmer and removes a bag to be taken into surgery. At 11:03 a.m., doctors can be seen rolling a crash cart on video.
That patient was one of the unexplained emergencies for that month, according to Burks’ testimony.
Additionally, the prosecutor showed her recordings of comparable incidents on August 16th, August 19th, and August 24th, the day of an 18-year-old’s rhinoplasty.
When Burks discussed his medical emergency during her testimony, she got emotional and said, “It’s happening again.”
Burks said that she went to the doorway and observed medical professionals performing chest compressions on him while they awaited the arrival of paramedics. At that moment, Burks received instructions from another physician, Chad Marsden, to take an IV bag straight out of its packaging.
According to Burks, Marsden instructed her to keep the bag that was in during the procedure and switch out the patient’s bag.
Burks testified that she had gathered all of the bags from the warmer and all of the bag wrappers from the operating room in preparation for a meeting she had later that day in her office.
However, that is also when she says that she noticed something strange about the last bag used.
“We found that there was a hole in it,” Burks said in her testimony.
Meanwhile, Ortiz’s defense attempted to argue that he was never seen on camera injecting the bags.
The doctor has pleaded not guilty to 20 federal charges related to tampering and altering IV bags. He is now facing life in prison if later convicted.
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