The Toxic Woman: The ER Mystery That Poisoned an Entire Hospital
It was a routine night at Riverside General Hospital in California. On February 19, 1994, paramedics rushed a 31-year-old woman named Gloria Ramirez into the Emergency Room. She was suffering from late-stage cervical cancer and cardiac arrest.
The medical team worked frantically to save her. But within minutes, the routine procedure turned into a scene from a science fiction horror movie. The patient wasn't just dying; she was becoming toxic.
The Oily Sheen and the Smell
Nurses began to notice strange details as they cut off Gloria's clothes. Her body was covered in an oily sheen that smelled like fruit or garlic.
When a nurse drew blood from Gloria's arm, she noticed a foul, chemical odor—like ammonia—coming from the tube. She passed the syringe to a medical resident, Julie Gorchynski. Julie looked at the blood and noticed something impossible: there were manila-colored particles floating in the blood.
Then, the staff started dropping.
The Chain Reaction
The nurse who drew the blood fainted first. She was carried out of the room. Moments later, Julie Gorchynski began to feel nauseous and lightheaded. She left the trauma room and collapsed at the nurse's station.
A third staff member, a respiratory therapist, also blacked out. Panic spread. The hospital declared an internal emergency. The ER was evacuated into the parking lot. In total, 23 hospital staff members became ill, and 5 were hospitalized.
Theories: What Happened?
Gloria Ramirez died that night. But the mystery of why her body became a toxic weapon lived on.
Theory 1: Mass Hysteria
Initially, the health department claimed it was mass hysteria triggered by a bad smell. But Julie Gorchynski spent two weeks in intensive care with hepatitis and necrosis (bone death) in her knees. Mass hysteria doesn't break your bones.
Theory 2: The DMSO Reaction (Most Accepted)
Scientists later proposed a complex chemical chain reaction. It is believed Gloria was using DMSO (a home remedy for pain) to treat her cancer.
When the paramedics gave her oxygen, the DMSO in her blood oxidized into DMSO2. Then, when doctors administered electric shocks to restart her heart, it converted into DMSO4 (Dimethyl Sulfate)—a powerful nerve gas used in chemical warfare.
The Unsolved Conclusion
The DMSO theory explains the oily skin, the garlic smell, and the white crystals in her blood. However, Gloria's family denies she used DMSO. Her body was buried in a lead-lined coffin to prevent further contamination.
To this day, Gloria Ramirez is known as "The Toxic Lady." Her case remains one of the most baffling medical anomalies in modern history.
