Today, on our ongoing Halloween event, we’ll see the case of the mysterious death of Gloria Ramirez or, as the media calls her, THE TOXIC LADY.
THE BACKGROUND OF GLORIA RAMIREZ
Gloria Ramirez, a 31-year-old housewife, living in riverside, had late-stage cervical cancer.
On 19th February 1994, Gloria was admitted into the emergency ward of Riverside General Hospital. The medical staff found that Gloria’s heart was beating abnormally too fast, suffering from severe heart palpitations.
THE MYSTERIOUS SYMPTOMS
They also discovered that her body was covered in an OILY-SHEEN while trying to defibrillate her heart with electricity. They also noticed a fruity garlicky smell, which they thought, was coming out from her mouth. When Susan Kane, a registered nurse, was drawing blood from Gloria’s arm, she noticed that a chemical (ammonia-like) smell was coming from the tube (maybe from the blood?). A medical resident, Julie Gorchynski, found some manila-colored particles in the syringe, which contained Ramirez’s blood.
THE EFFECT ON THE MEDICAL STAFF
By this time, nurse Kane fainted and complained about a burning sensation on her face. She was taken out from the trauma room. Gorczynski reported experiencing light-headedness and fainted too. She began to feel nauseous and experienced apnea. The third to pass out was an attending respiratory therapist, Maureen Welch.
“I remember hearing someone scream. Then when I woke up, I couldn’t control the movements of my limbs.” – Gorchynski.
After this, many others too complained about feeling sick, and an internal emergency was declared. The staff was ordered to evacuate all the emergency ward patients to the parking lot, and a small team stayed back in the trauma room, trying to save Gloria’s life. Nurse Sallie Balderas, one of the two staff members who moved the body to an isolation anteroom, began to vomit. She, too, reported feeling a burning sensation, experienced apnea, and was hospitalized for ten days!
At 8:50 pm, Gloria was pronounced dead.
THE AFTERMATH OF THE DEATH OF GLORIA RAMIREZ
That night, out of 37 emergency staff members, 23 became ill, and five were even hospitalized (not all were in that room).
The worst sufferer from this was Julie Gorczynski. She was in the intensive care unit for two weeks! Along with apnea, she suffered from hepatitis, pancreatitis, and avascular necrosis, a condition where the patient’s bone doesn’t receive enough blood and eventually begins to die. Avascular necrosis affected her knees, forcing her to use crutches for months! The affected members were treated in the lot, and to be on the safer side, their clothes were put in bags.
A hazardous materials team arrived at the scene at around 11 pm, searching for two chemicals that could be the reason for the incident, but they could find no such chemical.
Six days after the incident, an autopsy was done, but no conclusive reports came.
The Ramirez family buried Gloria on 20th April 1994, 2 months after her death.
Her death’s official reason is Cardiac Dysrhythmia, caused by kidney failure related to her cervical cancer; hence, the investigators closed the case. But what happened that night with those 23 members was unexplainable.
THEORIES TO EXPLAIN THE TOXIC DEATH OF GLORIA RAMIREZ
However, there are theories. CALIFORNIA DEPT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES gave one of them. They interviewed 34 members that were on duty in the emergency dept that night. They found that the affected people had certain things in common, and concluded that the staff suffered from mass hysteria. Most of such cases have an environmental trigger. The Dept thought that the strange odor could be this trigger. They also brought forward the fact that on the ambulance, no one experienced any symptoms. But Gorchynski didn’t agree with this theory and nor did Welch.
THEORY #2
The next theory is from LIVERMORE LABORATORY. They suggested that Gloria had been using dimethyl sulfoxide (DSMO) to deal with her cancer pain, which could be the reason for the garlicky smell and oily sheen. This DSMO then would have combined with the oxygen administered to her, forming dimethyl sulfone (DSMO2), which was also found in large amounts in Ramirez’s autopsy samples.
It is in the form of crystals at room temp, and if you remember, manila-colored particles were seen floating in her blood. Due to electric shock defibrillation, DSMO2 might have broken down and then combined the sulfate compounds naturally present in her body, forming dimethyl sulfate (DMSO4), a very toxic compound known to cause damage to the heart, kidneys, etc. Exposure to this compound could account for the symptoms experienced by the staff that night. But many other scientists disagree with this and say it is impossible. Also, there were no tests done by the lab to prove it, and the head of the lab says that it’s just a theory.
THEORY #3
The next is from Ramirez’s family, questioning the poor conditions of the hospital. They say that the reason for the state of medical staff and her death is hazardous conditions in the hospital. It’s worth mentioning that in 1991, 3 years before Ramirez’s death, two medical staff members had received treatment after their exposure to poisonous gas. In 1993, in an inspection, sewer gas was found in the emergency room. They firmly believe that something is being covered up. Its also worth noting that the syringe used to draw blood was “accidentally” thrown. Also, Stephanie Albright, the initial investigator, committed suicide within one month of the investigation.
What do you think could be the actual reason? Let us know in the comments down below!
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