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US Doctor Found Guilty Of Poisoning Patients

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A doctor in Texas has been found guilty of injecting heart-stopping poison into IVs at his former medical clinic in North Dallas.

FOX 4 in Dallas reported that a 12-person jury found Dr. Raynaldo Ortiz guilty on all 10 counts after nearly seven hours of deliberation.

When the verdict was read, Ortiz showed no emotion for the crimes he had committed.

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As a result of Ortiz’s action, several patients suffered cardiac emergencies and Dr. Melanie Kaspar died after using one of the IV bags, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors said the anesthesiologist committed the shocking crimes at Baylor Scott and White Surgicare North Dallas in retaliation for a medical misconduct probe.

READ ALSO: Doctor Visits, Examines Nnamdi Kanu In DSS Custody – Ejimakor

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A criminal complaint accused Ortiz of injecting nerve-blocking and bronchodilation drugs into patient IV bags.

Surveillance video showed the doctor placing an IV bag in a stainless steel warmer outside an operating room on Aug. 19, 2022.

Minutes later, another staffer took the bag, and a patient soon after reportedly suffered a heart attack.

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Ortiz’s colleague, beloved anesthesiologist Melanie Kaspar, took a contaminated IV bag home on June 21 to rehydrate due to an illness.

Almost immediately after inserting the IV into her vein, she suffered a serious cardiac event and died.

READ ALSO: Japa: 16000 Doctors Left Nigeria In Five Years – Minister

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An autopsy showed she was fatally poisoned by bupivacaine, a numbing agent that the Justice Department said “is rarely abused” but used to alleviate pain during surgery.

“There’s no closure. My best friend is gone,” John Kaspar, Dr. Melanie Kaspar’s widower reportedly said shortly after the verdict. “I don’t think he ever looked me in the eye… It’s almost like you have so many emotions you can’t sift them out. You get flooded.”

The station reported that the witnesses called to the stand during the trial included the anesthesiologist who discovered the bags were tainted, John Kaspar, and a teen who suffered cardiac arrest during nose surgery.

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The incidents first began two days after Oritz was notified of a disciplinary inquiry against him over his handling of a medical emergency.

READ ALSO: Nigeria May Adopt Chinese Water Transport System

Other doctors noted he complained the center was trying to “crucify” him.

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FOX 4 reported that there were 13 patients between May and August 2022 who experienced similar cardiac emergencies, though prosecutors only charged the doctor with causing bodily injury to four of the patients in August.

A judge had ordered Ortiz be held before trial after prosecutors argued that he was a danger to the community by citing, in part, a 2015 incident in which he shot his neighbor’s dog in retaliation for the woman helping his then-girlfriend obtain a restraining order against him after a domestic violence incident.

Ortiz was convicted of four counts of tampering with consumer products resulting in serious bodily injury, one count of tampering with a consumer product, and five counts of intentional adulteration of a drug, prosecutors said.

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Ortiz is expected to be sentenced in two to three months in prison.

 

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US Opposes Palestinian State Recognition, Says It’s Reward For Hamas

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United States President Donald Trump and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, where they discussed differing views on the future of Gaza and Palestinian statehood.

CNN reports that Trump rejected the two-state solution to the crisis in Gaza, saying the idea portrays “reward” for Hamas.

France recently joined the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal to officially recognise the Palestinian state.

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Trump opened the Tuesday bilateral meeting by praising Macron’s diplomatic efforts, claiming the French leader had helped him prevent global conflicts.

“Emmanuel has actually helped me with a couple of the wars,” Trump said, in response to Macron’s recent remark that if the US president wants a Nobel Peace Prize, he should “put an end to the war in Gaza.”

READ ALSO Fresh World Trouble Looms As Netanyahu Tells Western Leaders ‘There Will Be No Palestinian State’

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When asked about Palestinian statehood, and his latest remarks, it would be a “gift to Hamas,” Trump again pushed back strongly.

Well, I think it honors Hamas, and you can’t do that because of October 7. You can’t do that. But we want our hostages back,” Trump said.

You always have to remember, people forget October 7 was one of the most savage days in the history of the world,” the US president said.

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In response, Macron, seated beside Trump, emphasised that recognising a Palestinian state does not mean ignoring Hamas’ October 2023 attacks on Israel.

The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought since October 7, 2023, when the Hamas militant group attacked Israel, which has since launched offensive in the Gaza Strip in retaliation.

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Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead

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The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz, has died at the age of 82.

According to a statement from the Royal Court, the revered cleric passed away on Tuesday morning.

Born in Mecca in November 1943, Sheikh Abdulaziz rose to become one of the most influential religious authorities in the Kingdom.

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He served as head of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, as well as the Supreme Council of the Muslim World League.

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He was the third cleric to occupy the office of Grand Mufti after Sheikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Shaikh and Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Baz.

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In its tribute, the Royal Court said King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had extended condolences to the Sheikh’s family, the people of Saudi Arabia, and the wider Muslim world.

“With his passing, the Kingdom and the Islamic world have lost a distinguished scholar who made significant contributions to the service of science, Islam, and Muslims,” the statement read.

READ ALSO:Brazilian Jazz Legend, Hermeto Pascoal, Is Dead

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A funeral prayer is scheduled to be held at the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh after the Asr prayer on Tuesday.

King Salman has also directed that funeral prayers be observed simultaneously at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, and in all mosques across the Kingdom.

The Grand Mufti is regarded as Saudi Arabia’s most senior and authoritative religious figure. Appointed by the King, the officeholder also chairs the Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas.

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Antitrust Trial: US Asks Court To Break Up Google’s Ad Business

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Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year, following a similar government demand to split up its empire that was shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

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In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.

READ ALSO:Google Fined $36m In Australia Over Anticompetitive Search Deals

Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

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According to filings, the US government will argue that Google should spin off its ad publisher and exchange operations. The DOJ will also ask that after the divestitures are complete, Google be banned from operating an ad exchange for 10 years.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

We’ve said from the start that DOJ’s case misunderstands how digital advertising works and ignores how the landscape has dramatically evolved, with increasing competition and new entrants,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.

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READ ALSO:Google Introduces Initiative To Equip 1,000 Nigerian Developers

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.

Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

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This remedy phase of the US trial follows a first trial that found Google operated an illegal monopoly. It is expected to last about a week, with the court set to meet again for closing arguments a few weeks later.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.

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READ ALSO:Iran Hackers Target Harris And Trump Campaigns – Google

Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.

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Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.

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AFP

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