Mystery of ‘toxic lady’ who made medics around her sick
The bizarre case of a woman whose body led to 23 medics falling ill remains unexplained to this day.
Back in 1994, California doctors treating Gloria Ramirez - dubbed the Toxic Lady - noticed an oily sheen to her body, a 'garlicky' odor coming from her mouth, and strange particles floating in her blood.
Then staff on the ward began falling ill, struggling to treat Ramirez as they complained of symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea, fainting and temporary paralysis.
Almost 30 years on, we still don't know for sure what happened, though experts have put forward some educated guesses.
Advert
Ramirez, 31, was living with late-stage cervical cancer when she was rushed to Riverside General Hospital in southern California after suffering a cardiac arrest, the New York Times reported at the time.
She died of complications relating to her cancer shortly after arriving at the hospital.
As nurses obtained the blood samples upon her arrival, however, doctors noticed the smell of ammonia before seeing that the blood contained - what appeared to be - crystals.
Shortly afterwards, three nurses fainted while other medics complained they were feeling sick and light-headed.
In total, 23 of the 37 emergency room staff members on shift experienced at least one symptom.
The worst affected, medical resident Julie Gorchynski, spent two weeks in intensive care where she suffered from apnea (stop-start breathing), hepatitis, pancreatitis, and avascular necrosis (where bone tissue is starved of blood and starts to die).
Hospital staff declared an internal emergency and evacuated all emergency room patients to the parking lot.
Amid all this, Ramirez tragically died.
So what the hell happened?
Well, one theory put forward in 1997 speculates that Ramirez may have been using dimethyl sulfoxide as a homemade pain remedy for her cancer.
The treatment may have reacted with the oxygen administered by doctors to create dimethyl sulfone, which can crystallise at room temperature.
The theory suggests that electric shocks from the defibrillator could have converted it into dimethyl sulfate - a highly poisonous and corrosive gas.
Although the theory has been endorsed by the Riverside Coroner's Office, Tom DeSantis, the county's coroner spokesperson, said at the time: "There is a chance that the mystery may remain a mystery."
Patrick M. Grant of the Livermore Forensic Science Center backed up this theory, which was published in the journal Forensic Science International.
Scientific authors Houck and Siegel also state in their textbook that Grant's theory is 'the most scientific explanation to date'.
"Beyond this theory, no credible explanation has ever been offered for the strange case of Gloria Ramirez," they added.
Simon Fearn