Prosecutors, defense rest in trial of Dallas anesthesiologist Raynaldo Ortiz
DALLAS - The federal criminal trial of anesthesiologist Raynaldo Ortiz resumed Wednesday morning. Ortiz faces 10 felony counts for allegedly tampering with IV bags at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas in 2022.
The defense's first witness on Tuesday was a DPD detective who was first involved in the investigation. Attorney Marti Morgan asked a series of questions about the fingerprint reports sent to investigators which showed that the one recoverable print did not match Ortiz.
On Wednesday, the defense called expert witness BobbieJean Sweitzer, an anesthesiologist from Virginia, to weigh in on each patient's case.
Sweitzer testified that each emergency had an explanation that did not involve the IV bags, from typical surgical complications to outright medical mistakes.
It is unclear how many more witnesses the defense plans to call. Ortiz's team told the judge they have not decided whether he will take the stand. Sweitzer is expected to be on the stand for at least the rest of the morning.
On cross-examination, the prosecution questioned Sweitzer's claim that surgery is the third leading cause of death. While the attorney referred to CDC data, Sweitzer pointed out that her statistic came from a 2019 medical paper that referred to deaths worldwide, not just in the US.
The prosecution also asked her about the best practices involving labeling syringes. At one point, Sweitzer was asked if she had ever put multiple medications into an unlabeled syringe and then "wandered around" her medical facility, referring to surveillance video, showing Ortiz doing something similar. Sweitzer said she had not.
The defense called its last two witnesses Wednesday. Heather Harris is a forensic, chemistry consultant who testified about issues she found within the lab tests of the IV bags. She questioned the findings and the criteria the UNT lab used in determining the drugs found within the IV bags.
The defense also called a North Texas doctor who said he has been friends with Ortiz since the late 90s and worked with him for about 10 years. Dr. Steven Trostel told the jury in his experience, it wasn't out of the ordinary for Ortiz to get his own IV bags, help surgeons tie their gowns, or even clean blood off the floor after a procedure. He said Ortiz would go above and beyond his own duties, and that the videos of Ortiz, putting bags into the warmer, or removing them from the warmer, did not surprise him.
The defense rested at that point, with the prosecution, then putting on a short rebuttal case. Their first rebuttal witness was Paul Monaco, a surgical tech at BSW North Dallas, who said he had worked with Ortiz on a regular basis from 2016 to 2022.
The prosecution asked Monaco a series of questions, similar to the defense line of questioning with Trostel about Ortiz's actions at work.
Monaco said he had never seen Ortiz help tie a surgeon's gown, clean up the OR, or get his own bags from the warmer. He also told the jury he could think of no reason for Ortiz to check the warmer. Ortiz could be seen shaking his head slightly as he listened to Monaco's testimony.
The prosecution then recalled Ashley Burks, who gave similar answers about her time working with Ortiz, and Dr. George Erdman to rebut questions raised about possible medical mistakes made in one patient's surgery.
Closing arguments are expected to take place Thursday morning.
This is a developing story and will be updated throughout the trial.