The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 133 - The Toxic Woman of Riverside

Episode Date: November 23, 2015

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine Gloria Ramirez, also known as the Toxic Woman of Riverside. SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

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I, Dave Anthony. Here we go. Read a story. We can get there. From American history to my friend Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is gonna be about. I had a girl. Yeah but that took a while. Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Dave okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to become a tickling podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hail Queen Shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle. And do what? Pray. Hi Gary. No. I say done my friend. No. No. January 11th, 1963. Oh okay. You want me back? That's it. Like your attitude now? Gloria Ramirez was born in Riverside County. Gloria Ramirez. California. Okay. She was one of three kids in a close Mexican American family. Her dad worked as a car mechanic. Gloria dropped out of high school. She went from job to job working in a lot of fast food restaurants here and there. She was said to smile a lot and made friends very easily. It sounds like the Riverside lifestyle to me. That's what I'm talking about. Just, you know, bouncing around from Jack in the Box to Del Taco. Who's hotter right now? Arby's. Arby's is hot. In 1878 she was swimming in Riverside Park when Angel, Archie Nigra, saw her. He fell in love instantly. And she fell in love with him. Oh, okay. It's always good when the other person's on board. I always think it's weird. Otherwise, it's a stalker.

I think it's weird when you fall in love with someone who's swimming. Yeah. Well, that in a way, though, doesn't that just kind of, isn't that an unfair advantage? It's just like seeing someone in their best outfit. It's like swimming is like, you know, someone's wet. You're going to get, you can see what's up nipple wise. I mean, it's just it's a different experience. It is whereas if you see someone in their winter clothes You don't see a lot of people in the streets of New York during a blizzard falling in love madly You know the people like get the fuck out of my way Yeah After angels she moved after she separated from angels so they were together for a while Well, that was really for me as a listener. That was a real I jumped out that really but thank you They were I didn't have a honeymoon phase with they were together for years. They did a whole thing

Well, what were some of the things they did? Well, they had a couple of kids. Okay So she moved in with her parents with her two kids who are now 15 and 12 She met another guy Johnny Estrada and she fell in love again. Was she swimming at the time? Nope. This time fully cloth He was swimming He was naked She with clothes. They were in a movie theater. Okay. No more questions at all He asked her to marry him and she said yes, okay But Gloria was losing weight and had been feeling sick for two months. So she went to the doctor. Here we go

And she was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. Okay She should have known much earlier in 1991 She had been given a pap smear at Riverside General Hospital and those results came back abnormal But the hospital never contacted her What you do if someone has what appears to be cancer, don't make that phone call I mean, is that is that the re if that's their rationale? That might be the only reason that I'm a minorly okay with it Well, they said she was supposed to have come back in person to get the test you come and tell us you have cancer

You ever been here before? Welcome to reverse hospital. Yeah, welcome you welcome to reverse side. You want to know you got cancer Do you come in here and you let us know? Well, we just got your results back. You're here now What do you have to tell us? What do you got? Want to read a sports illustrated had she known about the abnormal results doctors say She probably would have completely recovered, but now she was given just over one year to live She was 31 years old On February 19th 1994 she began vomiting and was having a hard time breathing an

Ambulance was called in the ambulance paramedics put an IV did the hospital call the ambulance for is that that reverse move there? Yeah, we called one for you just in case we never know reverse hospital welcome to reverse side So The paramedics put it in IV line During which time they spilled a little bit of blood Little bit of blood came out. I feel like that's important for sure But it feels like that's you're highlighting that feeling I wouldn't say it if it wasn't you're highlighting it now It's just a thing I'm throwing out there tiny bit of blood on the on the floor

Detective Gareth is on the case a clue. She was taken to Riverside General Hospital and And taken to a trauma bay in the emergency room at 8 15 p.m There was nothing odd about the blood and when Gloria arrived at the hospital. She was awake and speaking Hey, how you doing? Mm-hmm. I feel my I feel like my stomach has a boo boo. Mm-hmm. Well, that's right The emergency room quickly went to work right where the nurses are doctors and the doctors are nurses. That's what I'm talking about Yep, the doctors and nurses gave Gloria drugs to sedate her and help with her irregular heartbeat Then nurses in Kane started another IV One administering an IV standard protocol is to squeeze fluid out of the tubing to get rid of any air bubbles

Oh god, well, that's a no fucking brainer if an air bubble gets into a patient that patient can die Yeah, it's terrible. Yeah, you don't want an air bubble in there. No, no air bubbles So nurse Kane put the IV needle into Gloria's right arm. She then drew blood From close to the IV area and at that point she started to smell something weird. Oh What the fuck is about to happen? Weird smell It smelled like ammonia Oh, dude get what no she did not what the IV I don't even mean to react like a

Disney character, but your reactions good. Well, they're not putting ammonia into her arm nurse Kane asked who popped the ammonia Kane gave the syringe full of Gloria's blood to ER resident Dr. Julie Gorchniski She then leaned over to smell the arm at the place where the IV entered I mean she just put a bag of ammonia into a woman's arm. Then nurse Kane fainted Nurse Kane fainted. Yeah, how's Gloria doing? Someone yelled out to catch nurse Kane and Dr. Humberto Ochoa jumped grab the nurse and gently put her on the ground at that point But that real quick that does sound like every like Mexican soap opera. I've just seen

Just like while flipping through the channels real quick Humberto Humberto catches her places around the ground so Now dr. Gorchniski smelled the syringe and immediately felt queasy So she turned and began to leave the trauma Bay, but she didn't make it She passed out before she could exit. What is happening there? Are they all what is happening? If I was on the Mexican soap opera, that would be almost to camera. What is happening? She lay on the floor shaking and was having difficulty breathing

Both women were then quickly taken out of the trauma Bay on gurneys. Where are they gonna take them? They're already in the place. They should be To the trauma Bay. Oh, right. Oh shit. We're there. Get him off the gurneys at this point respiratory therapist Maureen Welch gave the syringe of blood a sniff What is it? It's like a Bram Stoker about to what like this is What is happening? Well, I love that people keep smelling stuff and passing out so people keep smelling keep smelling it here smell this it'll hurt you She also said it smelled like ammonia and she started to feel faint

Well, then she was this is the syringe. This is the syringe that her blood was on Yeah Okay, keep going. Then she went down like a third sack of someone sniffing the same thing. That's a good line I wrote Okay, congratulations When Maureen woke up her arms and legs were jerking uncontrollably At that point nurse Sally Baldera started vomiting and said she felt like Her throat was burning. She was put on a guardian taken out into the parking lot

The parking lot getting the fuck out of there. There's food trucks. We got to make a stop Well, why are they going? Okay, the fish taco trucks here. Come on How's gloria? Well, we'll get to that because so far by what you're telling me it sounds like shrapnel. I'm curious about the bomb zone Then many other you are ER workers started becoming ill all saying they smelled ammonia smell this you'll die Yeah, you stiffen take a rip and smell it. You'll die. I have an idea. Let's not smell that. Hey make him smell it I wish you told me that before I smelled it At this point it was total chaos in the ER ER. So dr. Achille called for an evacuation

9-1-1 was called. Well, I'm sorry and and what did 9-1-1 tell the fucking hospital? We're taking people to you guys. We're having a stiff out 9-1-1 we need medical emergency. This is a medical emergency. We're at the medical place We are at the medical hospital. We're at reverse side. We are Medicaling we're at the reverse side hospital things are backwards here We are getting sick on the patient with the doctors are all sick and the patients are helping the doctors which is normal practice here reverse hospital NBC Reverse hospital 8 p.m. Or as they call it breakfast time

Patients were taken to the parking lot while a skeleton crew stayed inside trying to save Ramirez's life a Short while later the Riverside Fire Department responded and ordered those remaining in the ER to get out Okay, so it's like a dude with like a hammer in his head is like okay, but Ow Get out about 8 50 p.m. Ochoa pronounced Ramirez dead It is unclear for medical records whether she died before or after the evacuation of the ER Okay Did you expect that you seem well, and I'm not surprised that she's dead now when she clearly had problems

Well, dude, everyone's sniffing her blood and dying. I mean, what am I supposed to think? I think she's probably in a bad spot Paramedics responded began treating those who had fallen ill When investigators arrived later that night at least 15 people said they had smelled the strange odor They almost all said it smelled like ammonia, but some said it smelled like gas or had a chemical smell Ammonia a sweet chemical smell. Mmm. I want to drink me some of that chemical It's like sherbert 12 people had fallen ill with dizziness nausea headaches and difficulty breathing Of those who smelled that and became ill six were admitted to nearby hospitals Dr. Julie Gorginski who was the second person to smell the IV?

Was the worse off? She would be in intensive care for two weeks and need a respirator to breathe. Oh my god So that should smell bad. What what what is the smell? What? Yeah, quit toying with me. What are we're gonna get to that? What is it? Gloria Ramirez died in the yard it turned out As we already knew she had advanced cervical cancer. They found out now they found out right The inspectors from California's worker safety advance worker safety agency Declared her dead body a public health hazard. Well, that's hard to say goodbye to her Your mom's gone and you can never be near her again

She's like your mom's kind of like the ring if it were a lady, right? Good Jesus. Oh, they just fucking staring at me. Don't worry, man Gloria's corpse was wrapped in layers of heavy plastic and placed into an airtight aluminum casket. Wow Yeah, actually the more I hear that the more I kind of like the sound of that and shot into space Oh, of course. Where else are you gonna put it? The media went crazy The story of the fuming woman of Riverside hit the airwaves and newspapers It was a great mystery

No one in the ER or other doctors could explain the fumes that came from the woman and Caused others to become ill and led to an ER being evacuated The reporters called it the medical mystery of the century. I Mean, I feel like we've had bigger mysteries. This is it. This is the one. What if people start becoming essentially? stink bombs That's it. I like where we're headed. I like the premise we're living in Obviously, they were concerned about performing an autopsy on Gloria's body. What don't you don't do it? Well, you have to you do not you have to find out what happened. I leave her sick

Yeah, you what have we learned that her body is crazy. Yeah, so it's leave it be we got this who's gonna do an autopsy got this Elaborate steps were taken to shield the pathologist from whatever nightmare was inside the body of Gloria Ramirez Imagine like if you're the pathologist like explaining that to your wife like well It's everyone who touched her died and I'm gonna actually have to cut her open and see what it was I say goodbye to you and the kids. Yeah, I am going to work I'm gonna cut up a lady. I'm gonna cut up a chemical alley chemical alley and I might not see you guys All right, but it's my job. All right guys I'm gonna go cut up the ammonia woman

so a Special chamber was built So the four men conducting the autopsy would be sealed off from the rest of the world Okay they put on A level a protective suits Wow like the kind that are used to clean up toxic right the hazmat like in breaking bad Yeah, that outbreak crazy. Yeah outbreak, right? I think we got it. Yeah, are we clear? I think so like what he wears him back to the future when he goes into the barn. Yeah, and the DeLorean. Okay, three we got three

Sort of like in district Eight or thirteen nine nine. Yeah. Yeah, that's always my favorite one out of the 13 So then they then each man was attached to an oxygen oxygen tank. Okay, right through a little tube As they Okay, so so I This is sorry. We got an auto correct fucking thing here. So So when they're doing the autopsy Riverside County's hazardous materials team watched on a video monitor Okay, so they're doing the autopsy in a chamber and then outside there are guys watching the whole thing on a video on video monitors

Who and those guys were also wearing protective suits? And their job was to rush in and rescue the guys doing the autopsy if anything went wrong really fast It's a little like tag team wrestling. It's also fucking crazy. Yeah, that's your job outside Three firetrucks waited with full crews Okay, world's best autopsy. Okay is ET inside And then beyond the firetrucks over 50 reporters were gathered across the street behind yellow police tape They waited for word and probably hoped for something horrible to happen

Right. Yeah, they had to oh, you know, they want one of the building to blow up. Yeah nine dead as Glorious body continues to kill people but we have to get inside that body Herald the Rivera will lead us inside the body before the autopsy had started the media had been briefed about what would occur One reporter yelled. What are you afraid of? a Chief deputy corner Dan Caputo said the unknown Wow what an exchange That is straight out of Armageddon

What are you afraid of that's such an extra line in a movie? What are you afraid of the unknown? Hard cut yeah, Hara Leone So Then the sunset so this is happening in darkness. Oh Perfect smart Charles Cox was a Cal OSHA district manager. Okay, so you know what everyone knows that OSHA is there the health basically work the make sure everything's safe and healthy for work environments and Hazardous spills and shit like that. They take care of all that stuff take care right clean the birds

so he's the district manager and Tom Cranjiewicz sure Cranjiewicz was also a Cal OSHA inspector. They were keeping an eye on the autopsy and The emergency standby equipment the two men had all come up with the entire autopsy plan Which is crazy. Well, they're OSHA. That's what they're supposed to do. It is a crazy plan. Oh, it's fucking nuts Okay, this is like the beginning of an X-Men. Yeah, it really yeah, this you definitely yeah You Wolverine should emerge from bricks at the end. I mean, I think I already spoiled this, but she is a mutant. Yeah, that's where we're going Yes So the autopsy was Gloria make them all die from ammonia like smells

I wish it didn't have to come from there. That's where it comes from The autopsy was not allowed to proceed Until Cox and Cranjiewicz were sure everyone was protected as much as possible Then something odd happened. Oh, yeah, okay, what? Someone lived Riverside County Coroner Scott Hill ordered Cranjiewicz and Cox to leave

Interesting The two men were very upset and said they had to be there by state law and legally The autopsy couldn't take place without their approval But the coroner was having none of it. Okay They were escorted out of the building by a Riverside police sergeant What the fuck's happening Cox had been working for OSHA for 12 years and he said quote I have never encountered such hostility in all my years with Cal OSHA as

We were being let off the property by the police sergeant I had the feeling that something very serious had occurred at that hospital and the coroner knew what it was and they wanted us out Of there because they were afraid we might find out what had really happened at the hospital that night. What the fuck what? Okay, remember when I said it was a great medical mystery. Yeah, you're in it. I mean you're fucking in it. I want answers Coroner Scott Hill ruled that Ramirez died from heart and kidney failure related to her cervical cancer There is no explanation given for the fumes Riverside officials just said they came from Gloria's body and were released when the IV was put in what?

What so what if their excuse is what? That she's just she's got an odor body. She's just made of like maybe she didn't acid maybe she didn't wash It sounds like she washed too much But remember in the ambulance They spilled the blood so and nothing happened. Oh, right. What the fuck? So she just became a fucking bucket of bleach by the time she got to the hospital bed That's exactly right. That's the name of the movie black bucket of bleach bucket of bleach Uh, so the Ramirez family began to look into Gloria's death. Why they wait. What were their questions? Yeah. Hey, why hey, uh, literally everything? Hey

what Hey, I wanted to ask all questions. Hey, uh, everything is my question. Can you answer that nope? Uh, fuck Uh, because she was supposed to have another year to live Uh, and they uh, we're noticing that evidence was missing lots of evidence. Yeah Yeah The syringe that you was used to draw her blood was gone That's gotta be hard to do Riverside spokesman Tom DeSantis told reporters the fire department did not think to retrieve it that night. Yep

Why would they which is strange because everyone was freaked out and one would think all the evidence would be taken care of You would also think that it would be hard to take out Yeah, because everybody's getting sick from it, right? Everyone's been evacuated. So it's all just so we're yeah A nurse Sally joe mccorkle said the fire department's hazardous materials specialist did ask about the needle Where's the needle? She was also asked about it by the hazmat crew and her supervisor. She told them all where she had put the syringe and yet Nobody found it. Oh god. Yeah, then weirdly

Hmm And uh, the blood that was removed from gloria right before she died also vanished interesting Her ivy bag was sent to the us food and drug administration to be tested at least we found the bag Later chief deputy coroner caputo explained that he never followed up with the fda. Why would you I mean, you know what I mean? You know how it works in reverse side Yeah, they'll call you Hey, this is reverse hospital. They solve the mystery you bring it to me. You know what I mean? All right

It's what are you putting the sheets on the bed for that's for the couch reverse side he even uh He never checked to see if it was tested which is why would you check? Why would you? A lot of other stuff ivy tubing towels bedding And even the clothing worn worn by the er staff was all put into barrels Oh, as long as they had the clothing from the er staff and sent to a desert waste facility. Oh good There it sat in the hot desert sun for several months. Cool. No tests had ever been performed on any of it. Why would it be? Why would you test it?

Doesn't make any sense. We know everything we can know Okay, so what about the uh Cal osha guys who were kicked out of the Yeah, okay. What about them? I'm sure they're getting the bottom it, right? No, they're in front of god damn it Well two weeks after her death They were taken off the investigation. Oh good Cox was told he wasn't sensitive to the politics surrounding the situation and he was demoted. What are the politics? I don't know what the the fallout from I mean, yeah, you know, oh god

I just like it's so easy for my conspiracy mind to just go crazy Like but it just sounds like a Martian Oh, it's like it sounds like what would happen if there was an alien by the way I thought this was going to be a small up when I started it. Yeah, I was just gonna I was like, oh my god I remember that lady when I was in college that lady who The all the er passed out that's going to be a craister and they looked into it and it's so fucking nuts. What okay? The other guy krogenovich

Who was known as a very aggressive enforcement officer was removed for being disruptive and uncooperative with hospital officials But that's that's hiding everything But that's like when yeah, exactly that that is like when You're like when nine cops will attack one dude pushes face into the ground and he's trying to move his right arm And they're like he's resisting arrest He's like you're killing him. Also, he should be He should have a problem with the hospital officials because they fucked everything up Yeah, no, he's he of course he's that's like if you take someone's child being like she was a real bitch about it too

One jesus, we're also going to get her for that Uh, the coroner then claimed the two had threatened and intimidated him to delay the autopsy The one that they were kicked out of After cox and krogenovich were yanked off the case the head of the county's health services agency sent out an email to his staff holiday party thursday No toxic ladies. Yeah We're gonna have a toxic punch He ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut about the incident because of quote a very sensitive agreement with cal osha

That could be disrupted with adverse press reporting. Which turned out to be true so so I don't even know where to begin but they they like So there's she somehow has been like chemically poisoned or something and That nobody can know no one can know something like that. That's basically it no one can know good

So it turned out to be true that uh cal osha did make a back room deal with riverside county The deal was to get the two investigators off the case the case was then given to a new cal osha investigator Some shithead who would be do whatever they said and he didn't make it over to the hospital for six weeks traffic Right Can be such a bitch The highly publicized death of gloria ramirez came at the worst time for corner hill

He was in the middle of a difficult corner hill kind of sounds like a melrose place for like the morgue this this is a movie You mean it's a movie waiting to be done or it is going to be okay. Yeah, I mean right now It sounds like we're we're doing a hospital mystery show. Yeah Hospital mysteries on an all new hospital mystery show What do you got No, nothing Next week on hospital mystery shows Uh

So corner hill was in the middle of a difficult campaign to keep him job Who's being challenged by one of his workers deputy corner rick deas Hill had been in the coroner's office for 20 years And that suddenly found himself in the spotlight Reporters were all over him looking for information and quotes His face was popping up on tv every single day, which could only help in his reelection Right, okay But then things went sideways a month after gloria's death. Yeah, but yeah, they went sideways for sure

The deputy corner in charge of gloria's case stephanie albright Shot herself while talking to her ex-husband on the phone. Whoa. What the fuck? That doesn't help anything. No, that's not good at all Oh god now the press is like, oh my god That don't touch the phone. They're killing themselves. Don't touch the phone Another deputy that worked with her said she was under pressure from the gloria rumira's case. What hill said the suicide would not slow down The investigation of gloria's death, but the family wasn't happy with how the case was going Yeah, yeah

For a month after gloria died her family had called the coroner's office to ask when her body would be released So they've learned a lesson now to actually call make these calls instead of waiting for information from places now They're calling. Yeah, you call the bureaucracy. You don't wait on the bureaucracy They wanted an independent autopsy and they wanted to bury gloria rumira's So of course riverside county officials sued gloria rumira's family. That's an interesting call to get Hey, we'd like our mom's body Uh, unfortunately, I work with shady assholes and shadiness and uh We're actually going to sue you. That's um, uh, it's oh, what uh autopsy infringement

You've infringed on our autopsy. We want to bury our mom. Also, it's it's what we like to call uh, morgue slander What you've slandered us via saying that you don't think we did a good autopsy. We just want to bury our mommy Yeah, well, unfortunately, you're trying to also bury the truth which we've uncovered So Do you understand the lawsuit? No, I could go through it again. I don't want to The county was demanding that any autopsy performed by the family would follow the same crazy procedures they had followed Leaving out the part where they kicked out the two guys for watching over anything, of course But during court proceedings, it was discovered that the county had performed a double secret autopsy on gloria

What it a double this is like now you're getting into like tag rules a double secret autopsy In this time without using any of the crazy protective measures What had used the first time and we're demanding the family now use And now they were suing the family to follow the crazy procedures of the first autopsy that they didn't use in the second autopsy So there was a earlier autopsy the first one that we know about okay, and then after that one where those dudes got kicked out They went and just then they went and did another one normal one where there were no suits nobody no So what the fuck is happening now they're suing the family to make them do it like the first one

But so So you can be around the body though. It seems so God dammit The judge was not happy She asked the corner to explain what was going on I'm sorry as a judge. What is happening. I'm sorry. Uh, just as the judge. I would like to say what the fuck I think I'm the one who's going to plead insanity. Look to camera Hill said

They just wanted to finish the stuff. They hadn't been able to finish the first time Yeah, they left a couple things open they had a dinner to get to we forgot to look at the legs We also Thought that the brain was the heart for a minute. Um So there's more stuff we still got to do to it We thought the foot was the head so it's all we're gonna do our taxes and then we'll finish it Oh, I also dropped a ring in there. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, Benny dropped a ring inside of her can of beer Yeah, well, not just a can of beer. We were using her as a refrigerator unit for about a fortnight

um So I'm sorry. I forgot what the question was. What was the question? What are you up to? Hey? Cox one of the two guys kicked out of the autopsy the OSHA guys was not buying it Quote when they did the second autopsy they wanted to make sure the chemicals Ramirez have been injected with or exposed to Had sufficiently dissipated. There are many chemicals that have a half-life and disappear over time I okay If what is the angle in some way the like the angle is maybe she

Like do do they think that in the hospital she got injected with a bunch of shit? That's what the OSHA guys those two OSHA guys so they think that in the hospital There was some sort of like malpractice where she was where they put fucking like ammonia in her And that's when they all passed out and then what happened was the hospital and OSHA had some sort of cover-up where they Wanted to make sure that all this chemical all these chemicals were actually out of her to avoid any sort of litigation With the Ramirez family pretty much The Riverside corner was trying to act like it was normal to do an autopsy in two parts weeks apart. Oh, yeah

No, everybody's doing that's how we're doing it. No, no, no, you guys haven't heard of sequeling. You haven't heard of half ways No, we sequel now everybody's sequeling. We do like a halfway to be honest The first one's always really good and then the second one's kind of shitty, but it's a sequel. It's a sequel That's how we do it. Anyway, any who's so what are you's been up to? Hey Hey, experts say that this is far from normal. Really normally we do autopsies all at one time Set a spokesman for the LA county coroner's office A veteran pathologist should be able to do an autopsy in one setting. Yeah That's how most jobs are

You do it, you know what My hands got tired. I'm gonna get back to this body in a few weeks. Hey, listen. I can't wait to give you your car back But uh, you know, I did the first part. I'm just kind of waiting on the second one now. It'll be a couple weeks It'll be a little month or something The judge said that the coroner's actions made it seem like the county was trying to hide something Then the judge ordered county officials to answer questions under oath about their investigation Just before Moments before they were back to take the stand. Oh god

The county withdrew its lawsuit and allowed the Ramirez family to take gloria's body. Wow So they went right up to the edge They did now been a full two months since she had died Right. Yeah, so they take her out of the morgue, you know Now they can have it they can have they take her out of the morgue and they hand her over and they go There you go and do what you want either on autopsy. Yeah The body was delivered to a pathologist the family had hired It was badly decomposed. Yeah, I'm sure because they didn't keep it on ice

Yeah, and it was full of chemicals, which I'm sure didn't help anything Yeah, but they didn't keep it in the fucking morgue. Where was it? Well, it wouldn't decompose if it was in the fucking morgue. So it's just in They fucking put it up on the roof or some shit Olive gloria's internal organs had been placed together in a plastic bag Uh, you maybe she was born that way You can't put that on them And her heart was missing

Um, okay, I'm I'm gonna go ahead and say maybe that that is a red flag Uh, the family pathologist said he could not determine a cause of death because of the Decomposition the missing heart and the fact that her other organs were contaminated with fecal matter Well, it's one of three things really. It's either the chemicalization of the body when she was in the hospital The fact that she didn't have a heart or the fact that her poo organs were put into a bag in her stomach Gloria's brother-in-law said quote. I think the county has already found out how she died and wanted to make sure we did not find out Yeah 10 weeks after she died gloria ramirez was buried in an unmarked grave in her hometown The family had to hold a yard sale to pay for the funeral

They also sold homemade brownies and cookies At the funeral revin brevin brian taylor could not contain his anger and said gloria has not been treated right It's a it's a that's a a religious man at the funeral. Yeah Now riverside general hospital was looking down the barrel of serious liability Gloria's family was rightfully angry and the lawsuits came One was by gloria's family and the other was by dr. Gorkjinsky who had been put into intensive care by the fumes Oh, fuck She would spend the next three months in a wheelchair. I don't have bleeding into her brain. Oh my god

Both lawsuits claimed the state and county had destroyed evidence to cover up the release of a toxin substance and riverside general hospital er Corner Hill was named specifically an An investigator hired by the family went out to the desert waste facility where a lot of the evidence had been put in barrels and Was sitting in the sun Wow It was now four months later. Oh my god

There were no labels on any of the items in there It was a as though they'd collected up bags red bags filled with items thrown them in a barrel and sealed the barrel and shipped it I can honestly say that everything I saw out there is useless Well my mission accomplished. I guess how you do stuff. Are you trying to get to the bottom of this? Yeah, that's what they want to hear Even though the media was calling it the medical mystery of the century There was no chain of custody There was no indication of who had been in charge of what evidence And it was clear no one had made an effort to preserve any of the evidence

Now the corners election was coming up in just weeks and corner hill finally released the report of gloria's death This ought to be good What did she die of I wonder Heart and kidney failure related to cervical cancer. He told reporters that the fumes that made everyone sick were just quote The smell of death Oh Okay You know by that one the only way to bring her back is a genie

Uh No, no, I'm not buying that The smell of death the smell of death. That's what made everybody sick a fragrance by calvin klein That's why that one lady was in intensive care for uh A couple of weeks well breathing tube. Yeah, that's why you got to go through your mouth old smell of death. Yep It didn't take long before hill was being attacked for his handling of gloria's body. Well, I already I think we wrapped it up It was the smell of death. I did a final report thing. Yeah, come on signature on it. It's mainly pictures. Well death guy. Come on S. O. D. Huh anyone

So how he handled gloria's body the secret autopsy and the conclusion of everyone passing out and being hospitalized because of the smell of death Elections smell of death. He sounds like ben karson Yeah Election day came and he was forced into a runoff with his deputy. How's he getting into a fucking runoff? Is he a bush who votes for corner? I mean honestly, yeah You know what the next time that there's corner elections if there still are would you ever elect a corner? Can you imagine what that voting room looks like? What the fuck what why are we electing coroners like talking about crazy democracy?

You know what you're not gonna cutting up dead people. Who the fuck knows who's good at it? My opponent hasn't cut up as many dead people as me I'm the best at cutting up the dead people and embalming them. I used to cut up kitties when I was a boy Vote for me. I cut up puppies vote for me See? This debate has always come down to kittens versus puppies I once cut up a frog. We've all cut up frogs sirs That's the third party candidate Why are you even here? You're just throwing it off for my corner party. You're not even a doctor

You're right. I'm a garbage man, but I want that salary. I kind of like this garbage man angle the voters Okay, so the runoff uh, he was forced into a runoff with his deputy and the runoff got closer and closer And the heat he was getting from his smell of death theory was not going away. Good So He'll dump the smell of death theory five days before the runoff election Oh, give me a dave. He suddenly produced a report made by scientists at laurence live or more national laboratory That's a place that works on nuclear weapons. Okay, a nuclear weapon The lab speculated that the fumes probably

Give me a from a bizarre chemical chain reaction in ramirez's blood Prompted by the use of dimethyl Sulfoxide also known as dmso The scientists had found something in gloria's blood that could have been produced by dmso So they reverse engineered the way that could have worked And the idea was completely accepted by the press. What is the idea? Well, it's that there within her body Because of something she had been taking previously because of her

So some like cancer chemical and then because of the iv it caused some crazy chemical reaction that because of the iv Okay, well then I'm not gonna shout at you like you're the corner The la times wrote a big story about it on the front page even though scientists all over the country were ridiculing the lab's conclusion Yeah There isn't a knowledgeable chemist anywhere who could call this theory plausible said stanley jagab one of the world's leading Dmso experts Well, that's damning even a college chemist would know this couldn't happen

Well, someone should tell him that we don't have college chemists, but yeah He also said the study was quote goofy Medically speaking and then it was amazing the authors Oh, and that the authors hadn't been able to get it published It turns out the laurence lived more scientists had only come up with the idea as a theory Not as a den of it as definite explanation of what happened, but he'll release it as if it was conclusive Well, it sounds like he's in a good spot Sounds like this reelection is cinched. I want a corner who's in a panic. Yeah, you want to quit

You totally want a corner who's just everything is a lie. He almost yeah, he's he's got the behavior of a bookie He's like sway like smell of death Um, no this report. No, it's just chemical stuff in the body. No more questions smoke bomb smoke bomb The state department of health services then released a report blaming the er situation on mass hysteria Oh, of course the smell of rubber peeling on the hospital floor. Yeah, which they said was begun by the strange smell Oh, so it's one of those things the smell is the impetus, but it's not the disease Right, right now. We've obviously covered mass hysteria on this podcast. Yes

And it often affects more women than men right Health services made sure to point out that more women In the er became ill than men Wasn't it anybody who smelled it? That's just a good call by them. Yeah. No, that's likable And of course as often has happens in mass hysteria one of the women were was put into intensive care for weeks And had to use a wheelchair the usual That happens all the time time of the message. Yeah, that's one of the things

It's not mass hysteria until someone's been in a wheelchair The workers in the era were furious Doctors who treated them said the idea was bullshit the doctor treating dr. Gorginski said quote the mass hysteria diagnosis is very insulting It was obvious there was a certain bureaucratic pressure to come up with the theory But these er workers had real physical problems and dr. Gorginski was the most severely affected The air people are not likely to succumb to mass hysteria seriously

These are the people who suck out chest wounds all day and drill holes in people's heads and she was just on a table Like it wasn't like she it wasn't like yeah, she had a gunshot through her chest And was like walking around a little bit. No, it's fucking insane She was just on a table with an iv and then it was smelling a needle the shit that er people See and smell every day is horrifying. Yeah, I mean we all we've seen er Yes, that's what i'm talking about also reverse hospitals in those shows That's that show is actually called re Dr. Gorginski said quote I think it is absurd and ridiculous

For a government agency to come out with conclusions without reviewing all the records The bones in both my knees are dead and they never even bothered to interview me her The bones in her knees died from smelling this She took a whiff of something And the bones in her knees are dead and the state is saying Ladies be crazy. Well, I mean, you know, I mean she She's a chick

Yeah, exactly the state the state would probably saw a really hot dude and got weak at the knees We're talking about can't focus the state would like to just say the chicks be crazy She must I mean she god she must just be so pissed fucking live it. I mean your life Your life said one doctor said it sounds to me like the people in the emergency room. We're exposed to some sort of volatile toxin What? So a lot of people are coming up with obviously insane and ridiculous ideas to explain this away. We are america What could the hospital be so afraid of? Well, it's riverside county. Mm-hmm. What do you think of anything at riverside county?

I don't know It's a place known for meth the way anaheim is known for disneyland. Yeah, well, it's a shithole The county it's full of people making and using meth between 1988 and 1997 more than 1000 meth labs were shut down in the county It's I don't know why people always are trying to put their foot through science. Just let the people have their science People think Oh police think they couldn't find twice as many meth labs over the same period So they're probably more like Two or three thousand right?

In 1996 the state bureau of narcotic enforcement called riverside county the methamphetamine capital of the world But it's it's just fun to be on a list. Hey, what about being the best at something? Yeah, you know That you know, they put up a statue. Yeah. Yeah, I would have just a meth bag. It's just a meth guy. No teeth A toothless psycho with a boner. He's got a hard eye. He's fucking a watermelon No teeth one of his eyes is just like out of his out of its socket And meth labs pop up in the weirdest places in riverside in 1995 cops found one being run at a daycare center In 1996 got to teach kids meth. Yeah 1996 please found a meth lab at the home of middle school teacher

Several people around the country have been found making meth in walmarts And in 1990 a meth lab was discovered in denver at a public medical facility An employee was making meth at night in the lab of the medical facility The lab was discovered because a supervisor smelled strong chemical fumes State and county officials never looked into the possibility of meth But the fumes and sickness symptoms of the er staff match those associated with exposure to meth fumes A forensic chemist who analyzes drug lab materials said quote

Those smells and symptoms are classic to meth fume exposure All that would be consistent with a drug lab And as happened in denver, colorado hospitals are the perfect place to make meth because you can order the chemicals You need without being questioned And there are a lot of locked doors So the theory is That there they there was like a meth leak Is oh no

It gets so much better Meth doesn't require a lot of equipment to make It could be made with a few beakers and some solvents the big problem is the chemicals can explode or release toxic fumes right? Because cops have cracked down heavily on labs. It's funny. It's funny to crack down on meth Have you ever met down on crack? I have okay Some meth makers because the crackdown started carrying out the process in stages in different locations Which made it easier to avoid detection like an autopsy Yes, you do an autopsy in several different locations. Yeah different stages

So uh So a market was created So you could get all the stuff you you needed to make the meth Like people would prepare that stuff and then give it to you like a like a ready-to-go recipe Yeah, like a like a meth starter kit a meth starter kit. So instead of you having to make all of the stuff To make the meth another guy would make this and this and this and then you just grab and put it all together really quick So this sounds like an infomercial we're like five years away from it's just great Like where it's just like the like distressed housewife where it's like how many times have you passed out in your kitchen from meth?

So Finished meth actually has no odor Okay But as the as what we're talking about are precursors precursor chemicals, right? This is meth in stages the right methods before you make the meth This is the this is the ingredients of meth right the tough part the baking. Yeah, uh, they often smell like ammonia or have a sewer like odor Sewer like odors were reported regularly at Riverside Hospital for months before gloria died. Wow at no source was ever found One month before

She died in the ER A cancer patient had to run out of his room because he was almost overcome by toxic fumes The smell was so intense that he vomited the same thing happened two days later to the same patient And then the morning gloria Ramirez was brought to the ER The hospital staff reported sewer like odors I mean the only thing that is in their defense is it is riverside and it's such a shithole It smells like sewer welcome to riverside You go to go down to high school. We're gonna watch the fighting sewage

If someone was making chemical recipe bags to make meth the smells would have been The source and that is exactly what one of the fired osha Investigators thinks was happening cox believes a chemical precursor was being made at Riverside General Hospital quote I believe there was an intermediate product not full meth that was being manufactured in the hospital and then transported out to be completed elsewhere I think very quickly into the investigation county officials figured out there were some hospital workers running their own business on the side I don't think anyone in the hospital knew about it at the time other than those involved But as a result of this incident They found out what was going on and decided to cover everything up

It is the only plausible scenario because the lawsuit would just be The hospital would be shut down. Yeah, the hospital would be shut down, right? Cox believes it's a meth lab I mean, yeah, how you got it the panic on someone's face whether they're just like Fuck it. Let's just deny it. You're like deny. How the fuck Ted with all due respect. How the fuck are we gonna deny this? I don't know. Let's just deny it though. Everything everything put the body in a bag Put the body in a bag on the roof. Let it rot. We're gonna treat the body like a goddamn hot pocket Throw it on the roof and let it spin for 30 days. I don't think you know about hot pockets. I'm sorry

What are hot? I don't think it'll lean pockets Cox believes the chemicals were packaged in iv bags and then smuggled that at the hospital. Oh Oh, shit and somehow one of those bags accidentally made it into the ER and we was used as an iv on gloria ramirez Oh god, that is what that I mean If a nurse squeezed some fluid out of the bag when getting rid of the bubbles It would explain how strong fumes got into the air. Oh my god There is other evidence that indicates meth the symptoms the ER staff and ramirez experienced Point to exposure to meth gases

Also blood tests on ramirez dr. Kirchinski and a nurse showed elevated levels of cyanide That has been unexplained by government officials, but meth specialist ed brown Who provides expert testimony in drug trials says the elevated cyanide levels could be explained by exposure to methyl Lemming meth methyl aiming Uh is an ingredient of meth that has a strong ammonia odor Methylamine causes headaches dizziness burning sensations of the throat and other respiratory problems. These are All the exact symptoms that were experienced by

ER staff. Oh and once it's in the body it can be converted to cyanide County and state officials said there was no meth detected in the body of ramirez And a decomposing body makes detecting meth almost impossible. Yeah. Well, that was the angle, right? So they sued To delay them getting the body back so the body would decompose Also, they did not test for meth precursors and finally there was vapor found in the body bag And the state claimed the chemical was new

And it did not match anything in their chemical libraries So they found A vapor in the body bag. Yeah, and they tested it and they're like, this is I don't know I don't know. That's as good as an answer. There we go. We're out of here But when asked to look at it three years later a uc professor of forensic toxicology And consultant to the da Found that it matched two amine compounds. One of them is a meth precursor that has a strong ammonia scent He was able to come to these results so quickly that he doubt state investigators made any sort of effort

Wow Ramirez went to a grave with the media calling her the toxic woman and the smelly body. No funeral home wants The coroner never returned her heart Upon being questioned in court three years after her death If there's any reason to keep the heart He told the judge. I don't know of any Good. Well, there's a that's that's good. That's resolution. Glory Ramirez's family settled for $350,000. What? I could find no record of what happened to the six million dollar lawsuit filed by dr. Gorkchinsky

They only got $350,000 because they fucking blew away the evidence. How much cheaper is that than getting your hospital shut down? I mean, right crazy. They saved. It worked. It did work. They won. Fuck. They fucking won That's insane That is what I was thinking at first is that it's some like but I mean Imagine like putting ammonia into a person's bloodstream This is such an evil story It is insane. It's vile Not only that, but they fucking killed her in the first place, but telling her about the fucking pap smear results, right?

Yeah, well, they wanted it. It's almost like, you know, it's almost like when you run a lap you want to shave a couple minutes They were like, well, look, I mean we gave her a year. Let's see if we can fucking do it today Let's undercut ourselves. Let's get that meth in here. Wow. That is crazy. Isn't it? Yeah And it's one of those things too where you're not going to get any employee to step up and admit that that shit's going on It'd be like, yeah, I'll go to jail for meth. Yeah, no way All right, we can get a chance go visit Riverside We have a patreon which means if you enjoy our podcast and you'd like to Kick us a little money for the endless hours that we put in

You can do that at the patreon dollop page There's different levels if you want to subscribe And whatnot if you want to uh Follow us on twitter. We are at the dollop. We have a dollop facebook page On reddit. There is a dollops subreddit where people discuss the dollops And uh, if you want to send suggestions for a dollop, you can send it to the dollop podcast at gmail.com That is some crazy ass shit. You just read and please leave a Uh, review on my tunes. Yes. Tell your friends. Tell everybody

Love you. Thanks. Hope everyone feels good. I don't