In the two months since emergency room staff-ers fainted over the body of a patient, doctors and scientists only have more of what they hate most: unanswered questions.
"Quite frankly, medical science is a little baffled as to what is going on," said Bill Ritner, a lawyer for Riverside County.Among those who fainted was Dr. Julie Gorchynski, who passed out Feb. 19 after sniffing a blood sample from Gloria Ramirez at Riverside General Hospital.
The 33-year-old doctor, who surfed and skied before the incident, had knee surgery last week to correct a lack of circulation that is killing her bone tissue. And it's not certain the operation will work.
Five other hospital staffers were treated for respiratory problems that day and released.
Ramirez, 31, died. She will be buried Wednesday after three autopsies and publicity that devastated her family.
"Everything in the news, the media, has made her look like something from outer space," said a tearful sister, Maggie Ramirez-Garcia.
The staff members were apparently felled by some kind of fumes. Ritner said the fumes may have come from Ramirez, but it's virtually certain they weren't what killed her. The cause of death will be released within two weeks, he said.
The wait has been grueling for the Ramirez family, who held a weekend yard sale to raise money for the burial. A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Ramirez, who had recently been diagnosed with cervical cancer, was brought to the hospital with pain and breathing problems. One attendant noticed her skin had a waxy sheen.
Others told of an ammonia smell, apparently from her blood. Still others said they didn't notice anything unusual until the fainting began.
The Ramirez family tried for weeks to get the county to release the body. Last Thursday, Dr. Bradley Gilbert, the county health officer, finally ruled the body was not a public risk, although Ramirez's heart remained in the coroner's custody.
The family is upset that the county kept the body so long and focused on Ramirez as the possible cause.
"We felt all the time that she was not the source of the fumes," Ramirez-Garcia said. She believes the illness came from something in the hospital, which is run by the county.
"They've been hiding and covering up something," said family attorney Ron Schwartz.