The Texas Medical Board temporarily suspended a North Texas doctor’s license Friday, calling his practice a “continuing threat to the public welfare.” The anesthesiologist Dr. Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz, Jr. has been suspended from the practice of medicine until further notice. Dr. Ortiz was involved in an ongoing criminal investigation following serious cardiac complications and the death of a patient linked to Ortiz’s presence at the Baylor Scott & White Surgery North Dallas facility from May to September 2022, according to the Board. The medical board says Ortiz was seen on surveillance footage placing individual IV bags on a heater in the room outside the operating rooms. Researchers found that when a bag was placed on the heater, a patient would suffer serious complications shortly after. On June 21, 2022, a fellow doctor from the Surgicare facility took one of the IV bags home with her when she was sick to rehydrate. When he put the IV in at home, he almost immediately had a heart attack and died. Inspection of the IV bags found tiny holes in the plastic wrap around the bags. Tests on the bags found they contained the local anesthetic bupivacaine but were not labeled as such, according to the board. Tests were also done on the remaining contents from an IV bag given to an otherwise healthy patient who suffered a heart attack during routine surgery. Tests showed the IV fluid contained drugs that could and would be fatal when administered intravenously, according to the board. Baylor Scott & White Surgery North Dallas suspended operations on Sept. 2 after learning of the circumstances surrounding the doctor’s death. Ortiz’s medical license was issued in 1991. He operates Garland Anesthesia Consultants in Richardson. RELATED: Surgery halted at North Dallas Medical Center after possible IV bag tampering The temporary suspension of Dr. Ortiz will remain in place until the Board takes further action. A hearing will be held at a future date unless Ortiz waives that option.
