A woman who died in an emergency room after hospital workers said her body emitted toxic fumes was improperly treated before she died, her family alleged Friday in a wrongful-death claim.
The family of Gloria Ramirez filed the claim against Riverside County and the county-run Riverside General Hospital, alleging malpractice and negligence.Family lawyer Ronald B. Schwartz said Ramirez could have been treated and, despite cervical cancer, could have lived longer had the emergency room not been evacuated.
"The family's been really traumatized and in a lot of pain and suffering knowing that it wasn't time for her to die," said Ramirez's sister, Maggie Ramirez-Garcia.
If the county rejects the claim, the family will file a lawsuit seeking "a substantial seven-figure claim," Schwartz said. If the claim is accepted, a monetary settlement could be reached. The county has 45 days to respond.
Emergency room workers who treated Ramirez on Feb. 19 said they noticed an ammonia smell, apparently coming from her body or a freshly drawn blood sample.
Six members of the hospital staff passed out and were hospitalized; one doctor developed acute circulatory problems in the ensuring weeks.
A coroner found that Ramirez, 31, died of kidney failure brought on by cancer and that the smell may have been a natural odor from a dying body.
The family also claims the hospital failed to inform Ramirez that a pap smear taken in May 1991 showed pre-cancerous cells on her cervix, Schwartz said.