Anesthesiologist goes on trial for 'tampering with IV bags' which contained lethal drugs that killed colleague who used one to treat her dehydration: May have been on revenge mission against clinic for investigating his poor performance

The Dallas anesthesiologist accused of poisoning IV bags with dangerous drugs in 2022 has hit trial in federal court.

Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr., 61, appeared at the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas Tuesday, more than a year after a fellow anesthesiologist died after taking home one of the tainted bags. 

He subsequently saw his license revoked and himself arrested - after 11 patients suffered cardiac emergencies after being treated with other tainted bags.

Among them were teenagers, with one of their parents told he had just a 50/50 chance of surviving.

He did survive, the administrator at the Baylor Scott and White Surgicare testified Tuesday - before recalling how the cardiovascular crisis, like several others, came during a routine outpatient procedure 30 minutes after an IV bag was taken into the OR.

Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr., 61, appeared at the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas Tuesday, more than a year after a fellow anesthesiologist died after taking home one of the tainted bags

During proceeding, prosecutors produced clips of Ortiz's alleged handiwork, showing him handling bags brought into an OR moments before a medical emergency broke out

'We were perplexed because the incidents were happening under different doctors and nurses,' said Ashley Burks, as prosecutors produced clips of Ortiz checking on the IV bag warmer moments before another blowup that month.

Choking back tears as she spoke, she recalled how the hospital had repeatedly had equipment tested, but could find no source for the incidents.

Citing slew of near-deaths seen between May and August 2022, she said: 'We were desperately trying to figure out what was going on.'

Burks said in that year before, there were just five transfers to hospitals for complications or emergencies.

That number, however, shot up to 14 during that stretch, she said - including  the teen's cardiac emergency.

Becoming emotional as she remembered the day involving the 18-year-old , she recalled how she told the center's governing chair at time, 'It is f**king happening again,' before cops eventually cuffed Ortiz. 

Prosecutors proceeded to have the witness walk jurors through a surveillance clip that showed Ortiz approaching where the alleged poisoned bags were put, the IV bag warmer, to either check on them or take bags in or out, prosecutors said.

After the close call, Burks testified, she and other officials looked at the IV bag and found a hole in it - a discovery that eventually led her and others to hone in on Ortiz.

'We were stunned,' she said.

In one video - one of several showed Tuesday, though not all are publicly available - Ortiz is seen watching as a 57-year-old patient is wheeled out by paramedics in the midst of her medical emergency.

Shortly before, he was filmed taking drugs out of the medicine cabinet, taking a bag out of the warmer, and then coming back and putting a bag into the warmer - where prosecutors said the poisoned bags were regularly kept

Hospital brass also testified that on August 24, staff were left even more befuddled by inexplicable cardiac episodes when an 18-year-old man's surgery also suddenly went south, similar to the woman's and a nearly a dozen others

He survived, after suffering the ordeal during a routine outpatient procedure for a nose defect

Included in her testimony was the video from August 4th, the day of another cardiac crisis event involving a 57-year-old woman who went unnamed - but still took the stand Tuesday to describe her ordeal. 

She testified that she woke up from back liposuction and lower facelift surgery that day in another facility's ICU, unable to open her eyes, intubated, and under the impression she was about to choke to death. 

Revealing her facelift wasn't complete because of the medical cardiac emergency mid-surgery she had to undergo because of the alleged bag tampering.

In the video - one of several showed Tuesday, though not all are publicly available - Ortiz is seen watching as the 57-year-old patient is wheeled out by paramedics in the midst of her medical emergency.

Ortiz, meanwhile, is seen watching that scene unfold, shortly after he was filmed taking drugs out of the medicine cabinet, taking a bag out of the warmer, and then coming back and putting a bag in the warmer. 

A few minutes later, Ortiz was seen checking the warmer twice, after which nurse was observed pulling a bag out of the warmer and bringing it into that woman's operating room.

Moments after, the medical event begins - an ordeal that the woman said has left her with heart issues for her entire life. 

An affidavit explains how following investigations there 'appears to be a likely correlation between Ortiz coming under scrutiny for medical errors and the adverse events affecting other anesthesiologists' patients' at the surgery center

She told the court she settled with Baylor Scott & White after her doctor approached her about a settlement, and that the hospital system paid for her corrective surgery. 

Defense attorneys, meanwhile, tried to poke holes in prosecutors' theory that the video constitutes proof of Ortiz's involvement, showing clips of incidents they say the government 'left out.' 

Filmed the morning of the woman's surgery and several others, they showed nurses and doctors either observing the IV warmer or taking bags out.

Burks also testified that on August 24, after staff were left befuddled by the patients having inexplicable cardiac episodes, the 18-year-old man's surgery also went south. 

She said a doctor named Chad Marsden switched out the teen's tainted IV bag with a 'clean' one, then asked her to hold onto the one that Jack had been given during his blood pressure spike for evidence.

A few months before, Dallas police opened an investigation into the death of Dr. Melanie Kaspar, 55, an anesthesiologist at the hospital who died in June from cardiac arrest minutes after administering herself with an IV bag she had taken home from work after feeling dehydrated.

A few months before, Dallas police opened an investigation into the death of Dr. Melanie Kaspar, 55, an anesthesiologist at the hospital who died in June from cardiac arrest minutes after administering herself with an IV bag she had taken home from work after feeling dehydrated 

Melanie Kaspar's Dallas home where she died in June 2022, after administering herself with an IV bag - on of the incidents that sparked the investigation. If convicted, he faces life in federal prison

A toxicology report found her body contained the same drug in the IV bags Ortiz handled, while a Medical Board's report found that the IV bag which killed Kaspar was one that had been handled by Ortiz.

Just before the incidents, Ortiz was placed under investigation and faced a disciplinary inquiry against him after a patient stopped breathing under his care during a routine procedure.

An affidavit explains how following investigations there 'appears to be a likely correlation between Ortiz coming under scrutiny for medical errors and the adverse events affecting other anesthesiologists' patients' at the surgery center.

The original investigation by the surgery began in May when a patient, identified as G.A., stopped breathing. 

The surgery explained how Ortiz 'deviated from the standard of care by failing to maintain the patient's airway and failing to document critical aspects of the incident.'

Ortiz was aware of the investigation into his handling of the incident and expressed his unhappiness telling another doctor how he believed the center was attempting to 'crucify' him.

In the affidavit seen by the Beast reveals how a fellow doctor said that Ortiz losing his job at the center 'would be financially 'devastating'.

If convicted, Ortiz faces life in federal prison.