Nothing in this case makes sense. They say doctors make the worst patients, no matter how sick. But, this dr. Was not just sick. He was dying. No one knew exactly what it was. And then, they found the crystals. But solving the medical mystery did not solve the main mystery, who poison them . He took a drink of it and said there is something wrong with this. Was many the motive, or was there another reason . Everything about this case is nuts. Turns out this busy doctor also had a busy love life at home and at work. She loved him. Who wanted the doctor dead . Who has motive . It is the person who is not getting what they want. Hello, and welcome to dateline. The top doctor known for saving lives found himself fighting for his own after he was poisoned. Cops immediately started looking into the women in his life and they uncovered more than one relationship, so investigators wanted to know which one was toxic. There is a place in houston, texas they call the mecca of medicine, m. D. Anderson cancer center. There goal is making cancer history and so the best and the brightest work there. A hive of toptier physicians researching, saving lives. I was never a number. I was never just a patient. I was a human being. But, what happened when one of their own became dangerously ill . I was shocked. It is crazy things happening. Not with cancer, but still, something lethal and bizarre. It was the worst kept secret. Hollywood cannot write the script. It is unbelievable and that is why it is true. It was around midnight, january 27th, 2013, a 48year old man wobbled through the doors of md anderson, slurring his words, disoriented. Keep in mind, he did not go to the Emergency Room in a standard hospital. Ryan cores guard is a reporter with nbc station in houston. He went to a cancer hospital. Perhaps just where he felt safe . Perhaps. His office was also there. Maybe he felt safe there because the sick man was George Blumenschein junior. The people who worked around him said he revealed very little about his personal life. He did not talk about who we was dating, nothing along those lines. Now, this very private man was at md anderson to examine his own symptoms. Friends urged him to go straight to the e. R. It sounded like it was tough to even coax him into the Emergency Room. Georges girlfriend, yvette tony, a scientist, shot this video on her cell phone as they sat outside the e. R. She wanted to show george that he was not acting normally and convinced him to check himself in. The video would later be crucial to solving the mystery. Have gotten progressively this coordinated. To see the usually articulated articulate dr. Like this was a strange sight. Cindy was a friend and former assistant. What was george like . Very charming. He is a great guy. She says george was professional, friendly, and always had a good bedside manner. Was it just the way he greeted you . I thought it was very respectful. Patience did call me and make comments about him that he was a great doctor. But now, the doctor was the one in need of care. Georges Research Partner, a doctor named ana Maria Gonzalez angulo was with him outside the e. R. She had seen him at the office that day and later at a Business Dinner. Cell phone video documents her describing his symptoms. Is a little slurry. For people that know him, he is still sorry. Finally, george agreed to be examined and in the small world of md anderson, word spread fast that one of their esteemed doctors had checked into the e. R. What was your gut telling you about what he could be sick with . At first i thought it was high blood pressure, heart attack, what is it . Doctors suspected george might have suffered a stroke, but his mri was clear. Whatever was wrong, it was getting worse. He is deteriorating quickly. His health is going downhill. Just a few hours after arriving at the e. R. , the doctor was unconscious, his organs failing, and he was rushed to the icu. There seem to be concerned he would not make it. Through the night, george lane near death as his loved ones stood vigil outside the room. Inside, the medical staff wondered exactly how had their colleague ended up here, and it was not long before police were wondering the same thing. Coming up, as doctors work to save one of their own, someone notices something strange. We started doing test and that is when we found these crystals. If youre a doctor, you know everything that goes into your body. When dateline continues. Body. When dateline continues. All you have to do is scrape, load, and youre done cascade platinum plus. Dare to dish differently. psst psst ahhh with flonase, allergies dont have to be scary. Spray Flonase Sensimist daily for nondrowsy long lasting relief in a scent free, gentle mist. Flonase all good. 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Back in to play and thats in what an impossible shot in the Early Morning hours after he was admitted to the e. R. , dr. George blumenschein lay unconscious. He was in Critical Condition in the icu of the very hospital where he practiced medicine. I was worried about him. Were you just really praying he would come through this . Of course. He was a great person. No one was sure why this perfectly healthy man in his 40s was working one day, and on the brink of death the next. It was a race against time because no one knew what it was. Did they just start running a battery of tests . They started doing test and that is when they found these crystals. Crystals in his system . That could be a sign of anything from dehydration to kidney stones, but looking at those crystals under a microscope, it georges doctors made a startling discovery, an unusual chemical formation, a deadly one. It was Ethylene Glycol, most commonly known as the toxic ingredient in antifreeze. It damages the heart, attacks the kidneys, and just have a cup can kill you. This must be just a shock to everyone when they realize that this topnotch doctor has taken Ethylene Glycol. Absolutely. If you are a doctor, you know everything that goes into your body. How is this introduced . George was in and out of consciousness and being kept alive on dialysis. Now that doctors knew what was making him sick, they called and investigators to figure out how it happened. It is a poisoning case, which is very rare. We dont see those often. Assistant District AttorneyNathan Hennigan has a background in science and medical crimes. He and his partner, justin keiter, had to consider every possible way the poison got into georges system. He wanted to find out if he had accidentally ingested something somewhere else. He wouldve preferred that than to know someone did this to him. Accidental poisoning was not so farfetched. In its pure form, Ethylene Glycol is used in labs all over md anderson. It is colorless, odorless, and has a sweet taste but after checking out the accident theory, it seemed unlikely. George had not been in the lab recently. We could not establish that he had access to Ethylene Glycol at all. Lieutenant max sosa was part of the investigative team. The former houston Homicide Detective took his job at the Medical Center as a quiet retirement gig. You would deal with things like stolen lunches from the communal fridge, a missing dolly , not exactly houston homicide. They have their own forms of crimes, but nothing on the same scale as municipal law enforcement. Lieutenant sosa looked at georges case and found it puzzling. If this was not an accident, there were other possibilities. Suicide came to mind. Did you ask dr. Blumenschein if you tried to take his own life . Yes. I asked him, and there was no history of any Mental Health issues. He said no, i take it. Yes, maam. Satisfied that this is neither suicide nor accident, there was only one conclusion left. Someone tried to kill george. Its starting to look like a prominent doctor was poisoned. What is your gut telling you . At first, the only thing we can do is try to narrow down who was around the doctor. The first person they wanted to talk to, of course, was georges livein girlfriend, evette toney. The woman in charge of the Emergency Room that night had concerns about evette toney and she told you that. She indicated that we needed to look at evette toney. She shared food with him. She shared wine with him the night before. Evette told lieutenant sosa she did not have a clue why someone would want to hurt george. She suggested that maybe it was a random act. She was putting out all kinds of hypotheses and hypotheticals. She actually tells detective sosa well, i dont know, maybe he was an unintended victim and he was the victim of some psycho waiter who wanted to hurt a lot of people. There was not a psycho waiter. None of evettes theories made sense. Investigators wanted to know more about evette and her relationship with george. They found out that the couple dated on and off for about a decade and live together and had broken up, and she had recently moved back in. So, dr. Blumenschein is somewhat of a Commitment Phone . Dr. Evette toney said she had real issues with the fact he did not want to commit and she said her remedy for that was they were going to have a baby. Now that they were trying to start a family, George The Bachelor was also talking about marriage. He that had once called herself georges commonlaw wife. Investigators wondered if she had anything to gain financially if george was killed. Is worth several million dollars, and that fact alone is motive. They pressed that lead, pulled his insurance papers and requested georges well. Would she have been entitled to his money if he died . No. This man did not even have a will and everything was left on the insurance policies to his brother. Deadend there. Still, lieutenant sosa put in a request to do surveillance on evette in georges house. Did you ask evette toney, did you have anything to do with this . Yes, maam, i did. She said absolutely not. She offered her financials. She offered anything under the sun. She offered to submit to a polygraph. She even turned over the bottle of wine she and george drank the night before he got six. Sick. Test on the bottle came up clean. The lieutenant decided to call off the surveillance. The mildmannered girlfriend hardly seemed like a killer to him, so its not evette toney, who in the world wanted dr. George blumenschein dead . Did you think there was somebody responsible out there . Yes, if they didnt succeed, they were going to try again. That is exactly what investigators were thinking. They placed a guard at georges door. At that point in time we didnt know if anyone would attempt to go into his room and try again. You are concerned about his life. Yes, maam. Very concerned. Coming up, Behind Closed Doors at the hospital i think people started to realize and put pieces together. When dateline continues. Er. When dateline continues. So, ask your vet about nexgard combo®. The only oneanddone monthly protection in an easytoapply Topical Solution that protects against fleas, ticks, heartworm disease, roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms. Use with caution in cats with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. Youre the one that i want nexgard combo, the one you want for oneanddone monthly protection. whisper air wick. How far would you go to control the fragrance in your home . Theres an easier way. Try air wick vibrant, with 2x more natural Essential Oils for up to 120 days of amazing fragrance per dual pack. Now thats a breath of fresh air wick. geri i smoked, and i have copd. My children are really worried. My tip is, send your kids a text. It may be the last time that you do. announcer you can quit. For free help, call 1800quitnow. Hi, im michael, ive lost 62 pounds on golo and i have kept it off. For free help, most of the weight that i gained was strictly in my belly which is a sign of insulin resistance. But since golo, that weight has completely gone away, as you can tell. Thanks to golo and release, ive got my life and my health back. Two weeks after he was poisoned, dr. George blumenschein was still suffering, his body ravaged by the toxic chemical, Ethylene Glycol. After digging around in his personal life, investigators were no closer to figuring out who wanted george dead, so they turned their attention to his professional life, but to investigators surprise, many of the brilliant scientist at md anderson were less than chatty. These doctors you are dealing with are very private people, very intelligent. Were they eager, willing witnesses . No. No one wanted to be part of this case. Still, one of georges closest colleagues made herself available, dr. Ana Maria Gonzalezangulo, georges Research Partner and coworker, who was by his side as he checked into the e. R. , fellow workaholic, and a new the details of georges life at the hospital. How often were they together working . Seems like all the time. They traveled together. They worked in either his of his or her office. They were on the phone. Dr. Gonzalez, who was born in columbia, was a fast rising star in Breast Cancer medicine. I truly believe that she holds the cure for women in the world. As patients like Sylvia Lieber saw it, dr. Gonzalez was a miracle worker. She has this compassionate understanding about the disease and about the women she treats. Dr. Gonzalez also treated nadine eichmann. You know, i was never a number, never just a patient. I was a human being. Did she immediately put you at ease . She absolutely did. You know, she is really small of stature, but she is feisty and she said we are just going to go after this and i said yeah, you and i are going to get along just fine. Animate george years earlier when she referred a patient to him. Soon after, she invited him to collaborate on her research project. Multiple studies followed. They were invited to lecture and travel around the world. After working for george, sandy took a job assisting ana. I know she was trying to get his career going, writing more grants. He wasnt the most organized person. So, she really had an impact on georges life . Yes. Was he very grateful for that . I think he was. How eager were you to talk to dr. Gonzalez . Very eager. She knew his habits and schedule about the timeline i needed information. Ana provided valuable details about the day george got sick. She told the lieutenant she and george worked in their offices at md anderson then attended a Business Dinner together that evening. She witnessed his condition slowly worsen, and even followed george as he drove himself to the hospital around midnight. And every minute you can account for, i would imagine, helps you put together that crucial timeline. What did she tell you . I asked her for an account of the week prior to him going in the hospital. Ana told him all about georges week, the details of his busy schedule. She was sharing a lot, but as lieutenant sosa listened, he had a hunch she might also be leaving something out, so he went back and pressed george and anas reticent colleagues for more information. What was up with george and ana . Sosa begins to find out there might be something more than just a working relationship. The plot started to thicken. I think people started to realize and put pieces together. Even though the folks at md anderson were not soaking to talk to investigators, that did not keep them from whispering about george and ana among themselves. Did ana know people were gossiping . Im sure she did and im sure some of it got to her, too. She and i never really talked about it. Lieutenant sosa asked in a pointblank, or she and george having an affair . She denied it. He also asked george the same thing, and george also said no, but the investigator was not convinced. The question nagged at him. Now, weeks since he was poisoned, george was out of the hospital feeling stronger and back at work. The investigator decided to invite him out for a drive, away from his girlfriend and colleagues. In the car, george finally confessed he and ana were partners in more ways than one. Were these quick trysts that they were having a was this a deep, emotional connection . I never got an indication from dr. Blumenschein that there was a deep connection. It was just a fling. George told the lieutenant the affair went on for a year and a half. He said it was a casual thing, but sometimes when they traveled to professional conferences, they would share a room, a sort of coworkers with benefits arrangement. In fact, the day he had gotten sick, he had stopped at anas on the way to work. They go upstairs, they have a sexual liaison. He carried her up the stairs. That sounds like something kind of romantic, not casual. They were having some sort of romantic casual sexual romantic thing going on. To investigators, this prestigious hospital was looking more and more like the setting of a Soapy Daytime Drama , drama that changed the shape of the investigation. Anytime you have a love triangle, the different points, the vertices of that triangle are going to be the ones you look at. You have event. Maybe shes mad because she has a