Texas doctor dubbed a ‘medical terrorist’ by prosecutors sentenced to 190 years in prison, after being convicted of acts ‘tantamount to [murder], attempted murder’ of multiple patients

Dr. Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr, 60, is branded a ‘medical terrorist’ for turning patients’ IV bags into ‘poison bombs’

Ortiz Jr was caught on camera spiking IV bags with a toxic cocktail, of heart-stopping poison into patients’ IV bags

The anesthesiologist, came under suspicion after a colleague took home one of his tainted bags to treat her dehydration and suddenly died 

His medical license was revoked when he was was found guilty back in April

Dr. Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr., 60, was branded a ‘medical terrorist’ as he was caught spiking IV bags with a toxic cocktail, turning them into ‘poison bombs’, prosecutors said. A sentence of nearly two centuries followed his conviction for actions ‘tantamount to attempted murder’ 

A doctor in Texas has been sentenced to serve nearly two centuries in prison following his his conviction for injecting heart-stopping poison into patients’ IV bags.
Dr. Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr, was branded a ‘medical terrorist’ after he was he was caught on camera spiking intravenous bags meant for patients with a toxic cocktail, effectively turning them into ‘poison bombs’ waiting to be attached to a patient, prosecutors said. 
The disgraced doctor was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 2,280 months, which the judge ordered he serve consecutively.

Raynaldo Riviera Ortiz Jr. seen in chilling footage showing him spiking patients’ IV bags in hospital, has been sentenced to 190 years in prison. He targeted at least ten patients, with several more suspected after they suffered random and unexpected cardiac emergencies 

Ortiz, a 60-year-old anesthesiologist, came under suspicion after his colleague, Dr. Melanie Kaspar, who took home one of his tainted bags to treat her dehydration suddenly died. 
Investigators uncovered that Ortiz had previously targeted at least nine other patients.
Several more cases came under suspicion after patients suffered random and unexpected cardiac emergencies. 

Medically certified evil: Video shown in court, showed Dr Ortiz watching a 57-year-old patient being wheeled out by paramedics in the midst of her medical emergency, after he’d tainted one of her IV bags

More evidence shown at trial include surveillance footage showing Ortiz filling syringes with multiple drugs, with a fellow anesthesiologist testifying there is no reasonable explanation for defendant’s actions, as seen in the video. 
He was found guilty in April, and at his sentencing this week, U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton said his crimes were ‘no better than an armed assailant spraying bullets indiscriminately into a crowd.’ 
‘Dr. Ortiz tampered with random IV bags, apparently unconcerned with who he hurt. He wielded an invisible weapon, a cocktail of heart-stopping drugs, concealed inside an IV bag designed to help patients heal,’ Simonton said. 
He was convicted of tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily injury and intentional adulteration of a drug, with his significant prison term decided as a judge determined his crimes were ‘tantamount to attempted murder.’ 
Professional colleagues who had worked with Ortiz at SurgiCare North Dallas hospital testified their suspicions were raised when their patients’ blood pressures were anomalously spiking. 

The evil of Ortiz did not spare his colleagues either. Dr. Melanie Kaspar, [photo], was the only fatality after she treated herself for dehydration with one of Ortiz’s spiked IV bags 

A review hospital records, uncovered the same common denominator with each incident – spate of respiratory crises, cardiac arrests, etc. would kick off after fresh IV bags had been hung. 
The incidents, occurring between May and August 2022, were complex, as the victims were targeted during a variety of medical procedures under various doctors. 
Around a month after the unexplained medical emergencies began, one of Ortiz’s colleagues, Dr. Melanie Kaspar, fell ill and decided to treat herself for dehydration. 
She took one of the IV bags that Ortiz had injected with a powerful cocktail home with her, before she tragically died later that day. 
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 that killed Kaspar was one that had been handled by Ortiz. 

Melanie Kasper’s husband Dr. John Kaspar, seen [photo], with her, testified that he is still haunted by watching his wife’s ‘lifeless eyes’, and he said Melanie was ‘my life’ and the ‘strongest woman’ he’d ever met. The the IV bag that killed her had been handled by Ortiz 

Her husband, Dr. John Kaspar, told the court that he is still haunted by watching his wife’s ‘lifeless eyes’, and he said Melanie was ‘my life’ and the ‘strongest woman’ he’d ever met. 
Ortiz who waived his rights, was not present at his sentencing hearing. 
Not long after Kaspar’s death, in August 2022 doctors began to suspect spiked IV bags were the cause of the repeat emergencies, particularly after Jack Adlerstein, now 20, had to be rushed to the intensive care unit during sinus surgery. 
Jack Alderstein, who was 18 at the time of the incident, went into cardiac arrest during routine nose surgery at Baylor Scott and White SurgiCare in August 2022.

18-year-old Jack Alderstein went into went into cardiac arrest during routine nose surgery at Baylor Scott and White SurgiCare in August 2022 – another victim of the evil doctor’s ‘IV bags turned into poison bomb’, scheme

He was left in intensive care and his parents were told he had just a 50/50 chance of survival, although thankfully Alderstein survived the ordeal. 
Analysis of fluid from the IV bag used in the teen’s surgery, found a toxic cocktail of bupivacaine – a nerve blocking agent – the stimulant epinephrine, and the anesthetic lidocaine. 
The DOJ said this combination can cause ‘very high blood pressure, cardiac dysfunction and pulmonary edema.’ 

Dr. Ortiz Jr., [photo], was not in court when he was sentenced to a nearly two centuries in prison this week. His crimes were ‘tantamount to attempted murder’, the judge said. His medical license was revoked when he was was found guilty back in April

Adlerstein, now 20, seen leaving the Dallas courtroom, was supposed to undergo a routine nose surgery, before Dr. Ortiz allegedly tainted his IV bag. Fortunately he survived. His parents were told he had just a 50/50 chance of surviving

The lab also discovered a puncture in the plastic shell of the IV bag, evidence that someone had been injecting substances into it with a syringe. 
Along with the footage of Ortiz preparing syringes, prosecutors also played video of him mixing vials of medication at the same time emergency responders raced past him with his victims. 
After Ortiz was found guilty in April, Kaspar’s husband addressed him in court, telling him that because of his actions ‘my best friend is gone.’ 
‘I don’t think he ever looked me in the eye… It’s almost like you have so many emotions you can’t sift them out, you get flooded.’ 
At the time of the cardiac emergencies, Ortiz was facing disciplinary action for ‘an alleged medical mistake made in one of his own surgeries,’ and faced losing his license, the prosecutor’s office said in April, citing evidence presented at trial.
The Texas Medical Board suspended Ortiz’s license in September 2022, ‘after determining his continuation in the practice of medicine poses a continuing threat to public welfare.’