Jenifer Cleveland, pictured here, died in 2023 as she was receiving an IV infusion at a Texas med spa. The infusion included a prescription solution containing potassium chloride.
A North Texas doctor and a Freestone County med spa owner have both been arrested and charged with murder in the 2023 death of a patient.
In July 2023, 47-year-old Jenifer Cleveland went to Luxe Med Spa in Wortham, Texas. She was there for a spray tan and an IV infusion, according to civil court documents. The infusion, which contained a prescription electrolyte solution, was administered by med spa owner Amber Johnson, who did not have a medical license.
Less than 30 minutes into the infusion, according to civil court documents, Cleveland collapsed, unconscious. She was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after.
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Dr. Michael Gallagher, an anesthesiologist, was the med spa’s medical director. The spa was ordering prescription IV solutions under Gallagher’s license, according to a report from the Texas Medical Board.
Gallagher’s medical board profile now lists a practice location at a P.O. Box in Dallas but, at the time, his practice was listed in Frisco. That placed him more than 100 miles from the med spa. Medical board documents also indicate he had been on-site at the med spa twice in the two months before the day of Cleveland’s death.
Although Johnson and Gallagher have been connected with the death since it happened, they were criminally charged this year. According to records from the Freestone County Sheriff’s Office, both Johnson and Gallagher turned themselves in at the end of April.
They’re each facing the same top-line charges: criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and murder. Each of them is also facing additional charges, including delivery of a dangerous drug and practicing medicine without a license.
Johnson’s attorney, Mark Cargill, declined to comment on the case, as it’s still early in the legal process. Gallagher’s attorney, Scott Palmer, provided written answers to questions.
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Palmer wrote that Johnson, the med spa owner, ordered prescription drugs without notifying Gallagher and without any question from the supplier. Had Gallagher known about the orders or the infusion plan for Cleveland, Palmer wrote, the doctor “certainly would have intervened and would not have allowed Ms. Johnson to carry out the treatment.”
Johnson and Gallagher are each scheduled to be arraigned in Freestone County district court on Thursday. According to Palmer, Gallagher plans to plead not guilty to all charges.
‘Jenifer’s law’
The Texas Medical Board looked into Cleveland’s death in 2023, as part of a disciplinary investigation involving Gallagher.
In a Dec. 2023 document, the board noted that an autopsy report listed Cleveland’s cause of death as “sudden cardiac death of uncertain etiology” but did not definitively determine what role the IV infusion played. The board wrote, however, that the potassium chloride in the infusion likely caused the heart issue that killed Cleveland.
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“The panel determined that … it is highly likely that the patient suffered a fatal arrythmia as a result of the rapid and unorthodox IV infusion,” the board wrote.
In the wake of Cleveland’s death, the Texas Legislature in 2025 passed a bill adding more restrictions on the administration of elective IV therapies. The bill, which went into effect in September, is known as “Jenifer’s Law.”
Cleveland’s family has also filed a civil lawsuit against Johnson, Gallagher and McKesson, the North Texas-headquartered healthcare company that shipped prescription IV solutions to the med spa.
The family chose not to comment for this article but their attorney, Matt Morrison, relayed some of the things he’s learned about Cleveland, who worked at a Fairfield radio station. She was the type of person, Morrison said, who knew everyone around town.
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“She was a cheerful person, a people-loving person,” Morrison said. “You felt like she cared about you when she engaged with you.”
Morrison said Cleveland’s family has been rocked by her sudden death. The broader community, he said, has felt her loss, too.
The charges
The criminal cases against Gallagher and Johnson are still in the early stages. Both the doctor and the med spa owner are scheduled for arraignment on Thursday afternoon, according to the court’s schedule.
Palmer, Gallagher’s attorney, said in his statement that the charges against his client are “a complete overreach and are wholly inappropriate.”
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The attorney took issue with all three of the directly death-related charges: murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Those charges, Palmer wrote, “are an attempt by the Attorney General’s Office to throw
as many charges as possible against the wall to see what might stick.”
Aurora Perez, an assistant attorney general and the prosecuting attorney on the cases, declined to comment because the cases are pending.
In the meantime, the Texas Medical Board has temporarily suspended Gallagher’s medical license.