The mystery of Gloria Ramírez, the woman who poisoned doctors and nurses when she died

There are situations that not even science can explain. It may seem like a joke or a popular phrase, but the case of Gloria Ramirez It is that of the real “toxic woman”.

In 1994, Gloria was terminally ill and had to be rushed to the hospital due to breathing problems. Unfortunately you died a few hours later at the age of 31 and something incredible happened after her death.

The doctors who attended to “the toxic lady” had to leave the place with dizziness and itching. The woman’s body, in some inexplicable way, appeared to be contaminated. Julie Gorchynski, a nurse who attended to Gloria, spent nearly two weeks in the ICU due to this unexplained event.

The story of the toxic woman served as inspiration for a chapter in the series Grey’s Anatomy e was also featured in a segment of a program in Discovery communications. Ramirez’s case was unique in the history of medicine and there are a few theories about it.

the beginning of the end

On 19 February 1994 no California, USA, Gloria Ramírez was rushed to Riverside General Hospital. The woman, from Mexicohe suffered from very high heart rate and extremely low blood pressure, as well as severe respiratory failure.

The woman suffered from cervical cancer and in the hospital they tried to stabilize her, they gave her three anxiolytics and then an antiarrhythmic to calm her heartbeat. At the same time, air was being pumped through a rubber bladder to try and compensate for respiratory failure.

When Gloria was given the medicine, the treating doctors noticed an oily patina covering the body of the woman and some felt an intense smell, similar to garlic. A nurse tried to draw blood from Ramirez’s arm and smelled an ammonia-like odor coming from the tube.

Julie Gorchynski, a resident physician, noticed one particular detail. There were large particles floating in the woman’s blood. Due to the strong cocktail of smells, three doctors passed out from presumed intoxication.

the doctors opted for the last option to save Gloria, the defibrillator. Unfortunately, this method of resuscitation also did not work and the woman died, as reported Univision.

The curious thing about the case is that 23 people fell ill from the toxic smell emanating from the body of Gloria Ramírez, five of whom had to remain under observation. Julie Gorchynski took the brunt of a series of seizures that ended up weakening her. She also fell ill with pancreatitis and osteonecrosis of the knees. Because of this, the woman had to walk on crutches for months.

Riverside General Hospital had to declare a state of internal emergency. Extreme measures were taken to stop anything affecting these doctors. For example, those who were in contact with the patient had to take off their clothes and throw them completely into sealed plastic bags.

More doubts than certainties

The case was national in nature and the media began calling Ramírez “The Toxic Woman” and wondered what had happened. As reported Check out the magazine, this case caused one of the largest investigations in forensics from the United States.

The California Department of Health and Human Services led the investigation. They interviewed hospital staff members who had worked in the emergency room the day of Gloria’s death and found that people had developed severe symptoms such as loss of consciousness, shortness of breath and muscle spasms.

Some time later, it was revealed that Gloria was taking a solvent called Dimethyl Sulfoxide, a home remedy to reduce pain. People who use this remover say it has a garlic-like smell, which would explain the smell they felt in the room.

According to the investigation, it was revealed that the combination of oxygen administered by paramedics and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) accumulated in the body created DMSO2, which crystallizes at room temperature and could explain the small particles observed in the blood.

Furthermore, the electric shocks converted DMSO2 into DMSO4, an extremely toxic gas that would have permeated the air surrounding the body, causing that reaction in the room and was the cause of the patient being remembered as the “toxic woman”. Gloria’s family has never fully believed the detectives’ version and claims that there was negligence on the part of the doctors.

the mystery continues

Two months after Ramírez’s death, his body underwent an independent autopsy and burial. The Ramírez family pathologist was unable to determine the cause of death, because his heart was missing, his other organs were contaminated with fecal matter, and his body was too decomposed.

Later, Ramírez was buried in an unmarked grave at Olivewood Memorial Park in Riverside. Almost 30 years after the death of Gloria Ramírez, the causes of that event are not fully clarified, reported the journalistic media.

Her family thinks there may have been some medical error which led the hospital staff to concoct this story to blame her. Today his death is one of the greatest mysteries of medicine.