Teen speaks after doctor who injected IV bag with dangerous drugs is found guilty

DALLAS - A 19-year-old who almost died from an IV bag secretly filled with dangerous drugs is speaking to FOX 4 for the first time on camera.

Prosecutors described the IV bag tampered with by Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz as a "poison bomb."

On Friday, a jury found Dr. Ortiz guilty of all 10 counts against him.

Jack Adlerstein went in for nose surgery after he fell trying to ride his friend's dirt bike.

"After that, my nose was very crooked. I didn't really care, but my mom really cared. Also, couldn't breathe out of one nostril. It's not as bad as it seems," said Jack.

Jack, who was 18 years old at the time, decided to follow his mom's advice and went in for surgery at the Baylor Scott and White Surgicare in North Dallas, August 24, 2022.

What he and his dad, Dovi Adlerstein, didn't know is the day before Jack's surgery Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz, an anesthesiologist they did not know, was later caught on camera secretly filling large syringes with different types of drugs and putting them in his pocket.

"I thought you could just end the case then," said Jack.

"That was almost certainly the syringe that went in the bag that ended up in your arm," said his father.

Jack's simple procedure suddenly took a turn. His surgeon and anesthesiologist testified they frantically tried to figure out why his heart rate skyrocketed to 250 over 150. Numbers his doctor testified he'd never seen before.

He also had fluid in his lungs.

At one point, doctors could no longer feel his pulse.

It turns out, another doctor, Chad Marsden, had something similar happen to his patient days earlier.

He came by the Surgicare to look at records when he saw the commotion with Jack.

"The providence that was involved in his showing up at the time that he did and being able to go over to Dr. Hussain and saying I think it is the bag, change the bag, is probably what saved Jack's life," said Dovi . 

"There's not really words to thank someone who saved your life," said Jack.

Even after Jack's condition stabilized, his recovery from the ordeal took time.

"The next 24 hours were really, really hard for me," Jack said. "I wasn't able to talk, breathe. They had to put me put on a breathing mask."

"They gave me a cup of water and I was holding the cup of water and they took it away, and I wasn't able to move my hand for hours, I was frozen," he continued.

"We were told there was a real fear that there might be lasting neurological damage," said his father.

Thankfully, Jack fully recovered.

Dovi Adlertstein says it's unclear what could have happened without Dr. Marsden.

"He is the reason we have this guy around and most days we're rather fond of him. We're forever in his debt. All of his doctors really," he said.

The feeling is quite different for Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz.

"Jack, as far as we can tell, we hope doesn't really have long-lasting effects, but some of the other victims do. This has changed their lives and in Dr. Kaspar's case, this ended her life. I hope he can comprehend the magnitude of what he did and spend the rest of his life marinating in it," said Adlerstein.

Ortiz faces a potential sentence of 190 years in federal prison.

The judge will determine his sentence in about 2-3 months, after receiving a report from a pre-sentencing committee.

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