The Dallas doctor accused of injecting dangerous drugs into IV bags and poisoning patients should not be let out of jail pending his trial because he poses an “intolerable risk to the public,” federal prosecutors argued in court papers filed Wednesday.
The government’s 14-page brief was in response to a motion filed by attorneys for Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz, asking a judge to reconsider an order that Ortiz remain behind bars until his trial.
Ortiz, an anesthesiologist, is charged with spiking IV bags at Baylor Scott and White Surgicare North Dallas, leading to serious complications for patients and the death of a fellow doctor who had taken an IV bag home to rehydrate when she wasn’t feeling well.
Ortiz committed “conscience-shocking, heinous crimes in which he indiscriminately poisoned patients at a medical center where he worked,” prosecutors wrote in the brief. “The unique nature of this course of conduct demonstrates, almost all by itself, that Ortiz poses an intolerable risk to the public.”
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Surveillance video caught Ortiz “red-handed” placing the spiked IVs in a warmer outside the operating room, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also noted the crime happened while Ortiz was supposed to be under “close supervision” after multiple previous episodes of misconduct.
“Ortiz has engaged in multiple incidents of erratic and hostile workplace behavior,” prosecutors wrote.
In one incident previously unreported, prosecutors said Ortiz injected anesthesia drugs into a patient while “he knew security personnel were attempting to remove him.”
The government motion also recounted Ortiz’s previous conviction for shooting a neighbor’s dog and two other arrests in 1995 and 2014 for domestic violence, which did not result in convictions.
A hearing on Ortiz’s motion to reconsider his detention is set for Friday at 10 a.m.
