"Medical terrorist" who allegedly tampered with IV bags indicted

A Dallas County anesthesiologist dubbed a "medical terrorist" by the U.S. Attorney's Office has been indicted on 10 counts, CBS DFW reports. 

The indictment spells out five instances in August when Dr. Ray Ortiz is accused of tampering with IV bags and five when he was allegedly involved in the "adulteration" of drugs.

The indictment says patients were seriously injured in four of those cases.

Federal investigators believe Ortiz began spiking IV bags with dangerous drugs in May, but haven't been able to retrieve surveillance video from that far back. 

Ortiz will be back in court Friday, when he's expected to plead not guilty to the charges.

CBS DFW reported on Sept. 9 that the Texas Medical Board had temporarily suspended Ortiz' medical license after getting information from federal law enforcement on an ongoing investigation. 

In a news release, the board said it was determined that Ortiz' continuing to practice medicine would pose "a continuing threat to public welfare." The suspension will remain in place until the board takes further action.

According to court documents, the board was told the probe related to serious cardiac complications during routine surgeries and one patient's death connected with Ortiz' time at Baylor Scott & White Surgicare's North Dallas facility from May through September.

Documents say Ortiz was seen on surveillance footage in the facility depositing single IV bags into what's known as a warmer in the hall outside operating rooms. Warmers keep the saline fluids inside the bags at certain temperatures. Shortly after he deposited the IV bags in the warmer, according to documents, a patient would suffer a serious complication.

At the time, CBS DFW reached out to Baylor Scott & White and to Ortiz.

Baylor Scott & White released the following statement: "The safety of those we serve remains our priority. We will continue to limit our comments as we support authorities in their investigation." 

Ortiz told the station, "I'm just devastated," and that he didn't do anything.