Baylor Scott & White Surgicare reportedly billed an 18-year-old for an IV bag administered to him that anesthesiologist Raynaldo Ortiz Jr. had allegedly tainted, leading to a cardiac emergency during his procedure.
“My initial reaction is: this is putting salt on the wound,” said the teenage victim’s grandfather, Dr. Dan Wohlgelernter, speaking with Fox 4.
The family’s insurance company sent notice that it had received a bill for $12,903 from Baylor Scott & White Surgicare. However, the young man’s father was emailed by the North Dallas hospital on Tuesday afternoon, informing him that the bill had been waived in its entirety.
The family was nonetheless upset by the bill. “To have this heartless financial transaction that was blind to what happened here, it was painful, and I think irresponsible, to handle business as usual kind of attitude,” said Dr. Wohlgelernter.
He went on to explain that the teenager’s parents are still recovering psychologically from the incident.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Ortiz was recently indicted in federal court for allegedly spiking IV bags with nerve-blocking agents and other drugs at a Dallas surgical center owned by Baylor Scott & White. Authorities suspect Ortiz is criminally responsible for as many as 10 medical emergencies at the facility and one off-site death, that of his colleague, Dr. Melanie Kaspar.
Government prosecutor John de la Garza alleged in court that Ortiz was “nothing short of a medical terrorist” who planted “medical bombs” at the Baylor Scott & White facility he worked at in North Dallas, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Ortiz pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service awaiting trial.
“Aside from hurt and pain by this, I wish that Baylor were as efficient at assuring quality control with their patients as they are getting their bills out,” Dr. Wohlgelernter told Fox 4.
The Dallas Express reached out to Baylor Scott & White’s media relations team to confirm whether the hospital system plans on charging any of Ortiz’s other alleged victims, considering they may have been poisoned at one of its facilities by one of its employees. No one called back by press time.