Death of Gloria Ramirez

Gloria Ramirez
Born
Gloria Cecilia Ramirez

(1963-01-11)January 11, 1963
DiedFebruary 19, 1994(1994-02-19) (aged 31)
Riverside, California
Cause of deathCancer due to malignancy
Known forCause of illnesses of multiple hospital workers

Gloria Cecilia Ramirez (January 11, 1963 – February 19, 1994)[1] was an American woman from Riverside, California, who was dubbed the Toxic Lady or the Toxic Woman by the media when several hospital workers became ill after airborne exposure to her body and blood. Ramirez had been admitted to the emergency room suffering from late-stage cervical cancer. While treating Ramirez, several hospital workers fainted (3), and others experienced symptoms such as shortness of breath and muscle spasms. Five workers required hospitalization, one of whom remained in an intensive care unit for two weeks. Ramirez herself died from complications related to her cancer shortly after arriving at the hospital.

The incident was initially considered to be a case of mass hysteria. An investigation by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory proposed that Ramirez had been self-administering dimethyl sulfoxide as a treatment for pain, which converted into dimethyl sulfate, an extremely poisonous and highly carcinogenic alkylating agent, via a series of chemical reactions in the emergency room. This theory has been endorsed by the Riverside Coroner's Office and published in the journal Forensic Science International.

  1. ^ Dates from SSDI; Gloria C. Ramirez.