Gloria Ramirez died tragically, at the General Hospital, Riverside, California. Her death is a mystery, with many theories surrounding it. She is known as the “toxic lady”, as others in the hospital became ill when close to her.
Her remains are buried in an unmarked grave.
Her remains are buried in an unmarked grave.
A Very Toxic Death
Riverside General Hospital At 8.15pm, on 19 February, 1994, Gloria Ramirez was rushed to the emergency department of the General Hospital in Riverside California, suffering from late stage cervical cancer. She was conscious, but very disoriented.
She was said to be suffering from Bradycardia, which is when the heart beats very slowly, and Cheyne-Stokes respiration, which is when breathing is abnormal. She was prescribed and issued with sedatives and a drug called Lidocaine in the hopes of making her heart beat at a normal pace. None of this worked, and eventually the staff needed to begin defibrillation.
From then on, things went very strangely!
Susan Kane was the attending nurse at the time. She attempted to draw blood from Gloria’s arm, and as she did so, she noted an ammonia-like smell coming from the tube. She gave the vial to her colleague Dr Julia Gorchynski, and mere moments later complained of a burning sensation all over her face, before fainting. Staff moved Susan (still unconscious) out of the room and Dr Gorchynski took over. She saw that there were small particles floating in the vial of blood. She herself started to feel ill and told her staff that she was feeling giddy. She went and sat down at the nurses’ station, and a few minutes later, also fainted.
She was said to be suffering from Bradycardia, which is when the heart beats very slowly, and Cheyne-Stokes respiration, which is when breathing is abnormal. She was prescribed and issued with sedatives and a drug called Lidocaine in the hopes of making her heart beat at a normal pace. None of this worked, and eventually the staff needed to begin defibrillation.
From then on, things went very strangely!
Susan Kane was the attending nurse at the time. She attempted to draw blood from Gloria’s arm, and as she did so, she noted an ammonia-like smell coming from the tube. She gave the vial to her colleague Dr Julia Gorchynski, and mere moments later complained of a burning sensation all over her face, before fainting. Staff moved Susan (still unconscious) out of the room and Dr Gorchynski took over. She saw that there were small particles floating in the vial of blood. She herself started to feel ill and told her staff that she was feeling giddy. She went and sat down at the nurses’ station, and a few minutes later, also fainted.
A third staff member, Maureen Welch, who was the on-call respiration therapist, was also treating Gloria when she also passed out, with her limbs thrashing about.
Other staff noted that there was an ‘oily sheen’ covering Gloria’s body and a fruity, garlic-like odour omitting from her mouth.
Gloria was left to be treated by a skeleton crew, and was pronounced dead only 35 minutes after being admitted. Her official cause of death was kidney failure related to cancer.
But what was really going on? It gets a little complicated, so bear with me, and all of this is just a theory – for reasons which would take too long to explain, the exact truth will never be known…
Other staff noted that there was an ‘oily sheen’ covering Gloria’s body and a fruity, garlic-like odour omitting from her mouth.
Gloria was left to be treated by a skeleton crew, and was pronounced dead only 35 minutes after being admitted. Her official cause of death was kidney failure related to cancer.
But what was really going on? It gets a little complicated, so bear with me, and all of this is just a theory – for reasons which would take too long to explain, the exact truth will never be known…
An Explanation?
Hazard experts were called in for the clean up In order to decrease the pain Gloria was experiencing, she was taking a home remedy solvent called DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide). This would be the cause of the garlic-like smell noted on her breath. It was theorised that there was a build up of DMSO in Gloria’s body due to a urinary blockage which was only discovered after she died. So basically, she was taking the home remedy, but it was not passing through her body correctly and was building up.
When you mix DMSO with oxygen, which is what the paramedics gave Gloria when they had her in their ambulance, it would have converted the solvent into DMSO2 (Dimethyl Sulfone), which crystallizes at room temperature, and would have explained the particles found in her vial of blood.
So all of this would’ve been ok and would not have caused any problems at all, had they not used the defibrillator on her as well. Once they defibrillated Gloria, it became a mixture of deadly chemistry. The electricity from the defibrillated converted the DMSO2 into DMSO4 (Dimethyl Sulfate), which is an extremely poisonous gas.
So basically, it was this poisonous gas which made the other staff sick… and it was a one in a million (statistic just a guess) chance that all of those elements would mix and create this gas.
Dr Gorchynski and Susan Krane sued the General Hospital due to the fact that the hospital initially put out that they were merely affected by ‘mass-hysteria’. Dr Gorchynski spent two weeks in intensive care with respiratory problems after coming into contact with Gloria. In fact, after an intensive investigation of the case, it was noted that those who had been within two feet of Gloria, as well as those who had hanged her intravenous line, had developed a strange shortness of breath, involuntary muscle spasms and eventual loss of consciousness.
Ten weeks after her death, Gloria Ramirez’s body was buried in an unmarked grave at Olivewood Memorial Park. She was only 31 years old.
There are other theories about what may have happened to Gloria. Some say that Gloria’s symptoms are synonymous with UFO abductees who have been meddled with by extraterrestrials.
Whatever the truth may be, spare a moment for this poor lady. Only 31 years of age, died a tragic death and buried in an unmarked grave. Nobody deserves that.
When you mix DMSO with oxygen, which is what the paramedics gave Gloria when they had her in their ambulance, it would have converted the solvent into DMSO2 (Dimethyl Sulfone), which crystallizes at room temperature, and would have explained the particles found in her vial of blood.
So all of this would’ve been ok and would not have caused any problems at all, had they not used the defibrillator on her as well. Once they defibrillated Gloria, it became a mixture of deadly chemistry. The electricity from the defibrillated converted the DMSO2 into DMSO4 (Dimethyl Sulfate), which is an extremely poisonous gas.
So basically, it was this poisonous gas which made the other staff sick… and it was a one in a million (statistic just a guess) chance that all of those elements would mix and create this gas.
Dr Gorchynski and Susan Krane sued the General Hospital due to the fact that the hospital initially put out that they were merely affected by ‘mass-hysteria’. Dr Gorchynski spent two weeks in intensive care with respiratory problems after coming into contact with Gloria. In fact, after an intensive investigation of the case, it was noted that those who had been within two feet of Gloria, as well as those who had hanged her intravenous line, had developed a strange shortness of breath, involuntary muscle spasms and eventual loss of consciousness.
Ten weeks after her death, Gloria Ramirez’s body was buried in an unmarked grave at Olivewood Memorial Park. She was only 31 years old.
There are other theories about what may have happened to Gloria. Some say that Gloria’s symptoms are synonymous with UFO abductees who have been meddled with by extraterrestrials.
Whatever the truth may be, spare a moment for this poor lady. Only 31 years of age, died a tragic death and buried in an unmarked grave. Nobody deserves that.
Peet Banks 2013
Put together by Ashley Hall 2013
Put together by Ashley Hall 2013
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