The doctor accused of injecting dangerous drugs into IV bags at a North Dallas surgery center was ordered detained on Monday until his trial.
Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz posed a danger to the community and was a flight risk, U.S. Magistrate David Horan decided after a hearing that lasted several hours.
“Dr. Ortiz is a medical terrorist,” assistant U.S. Attorney John de la Garza said. “A physician sworn to do no harm was planting poison bombs.”
Ortiz’s attorney, federal public defender Laura Harper, had argued Ortiz had strong ties to the community and can no longer practice medicine because his license was suspended. Harper suggested Ortiz's daughter would move in with him and notify authorities if he violated any conditions of his release.
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Ortiz was an anesthesiologist at Baylor Scott & White’s Surgicare North Dallas on Coit Road.
The surgery center is at the center of a federal investigation into tainted IV bags linked to one death and at least 10 cardiovascular emergencies.
At the detention hearing, prosecutors played surveillance video of Ortiz placing IVs in a warmer outside the operating room right before patients suffered serious complications.
It was unusual for doctors to handle the IVs themselves and usually, technicians would do the work, a criminal agent with the Food and Drug Administration testified.
The agent, Dan Allgeyer, also testified Ortiz had $7,000 cash when he was arrested in Plano last Wednesday.
Ortiz’s money clip read, “He who pays the bills makes the rules,” the agent said.
Ortiz’s attorney said the money clip was a gift from his daughter who bought it on a cruise.
A trial date has not been set but will likely be months away.
