Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz, the disgraced criminal anesthesiologist indicted for allegedly tampering with IV bags and causing at least four medical emergencies at a Dallas surgical center, filed a motion for his release on Wednesday.
He argued that he was neither a flight risk nor a continued danger to the community, according to his petition, which also stated that the federal prosecutors’ accusations against him are based on coincidences and that there is no video or eye-witness evidence that he had placed cardiotoxic drugs in any bag.
Although prosecutors claim Ortiz poisoned as many as 11 patients and one doctor, who took an IV bag home, administered it, and died of a heart attack, Ortiz was only indicted for four patients who had surgeries in August, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
Ortiz was videotaped depositing IV bags into a warmer outside an operating room. On multiple occasions, the deposited bag would be administered, and a patient would have a cardiac emergency. At least five bags were subsequently examined and found to have been tampered with.
Ortiz’s bid to await trial outside of a cell followed his recent jailhouse interview with WFAA, in which he denied all wrongdoing and claimed he was being set up.
Sitting in federal custody at Limestone County Detention Center, 30 miles east of Waco, Ortiz told the news outlet that video surveillance footage of him supposedly depositing doped IV bags into warmers outside operating rooms was just him doing his job.
He claimed that before surgeries, an anesthesia tech is responsible for setting up the operating room, which he said includes bringing IV bags into the room.
“An hour, two hours later, that bag is cold because it’s been sitting out, so I take it back [to the warmer],” Ortiz stated.
Ortiz also claimed that surgical supplies like IV bags would frequently be left out in the hallway for days. “This stuff that’s outside is not even locked away,” he stated.
Federal prosecutors, however, claimed that personnel from the Baylor Scott & White Surgicare North Dallas told them that doctors like Ortiz do not typically put IV bags in the warmer. Instead, facility staff members load the warmer, according to a criminal complaint.
“All that stuff that they said was a lie,” Ortiz told WFAA. “I’ve had no lawsuits, no malpractice in 29 years, not one.”
While it is unclear if Ortiz meant to specifically claim he has had no malpractice suits brought against him, The Dallas Express had reported previously that the Texas Medical Board disciplined Ortiz on more than one occasion and suspended his license after he was arrested in September.
Additionally, he has a criminal conviction for abusing an animal and an alleged history of terrorizing multiple women, according to court records.
Still, Ortiz maintains his innocence of the recent federal charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
“Say a prayer for my family,” said Ortiz at the end of his conversation with WFAA. “But please do what you do best. Please. I beg you.”