Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409070036
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: RIVERSIDE, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
It is also plausible, state officials said, that a few hospital staff members were exposed to something that made them ill and that others reacted ``to the stressful situation.'' But if there was an exposure to something, its identity remains unknown, said Dr. Ana Maria Osorio, chief of the department's division of environmental and occupational disease control and co-author of the report.
``There doesn't seem to be a humongous big cloud of something that overwhelmed everybody,'' she said.
Dr. Julie Gorchynski, the Riverside General Hospital emergency room physician most seriously injured in the incident, bitterly contested the report. She complained it was issued before all the facts surrounding the event have been analyzed. Gorchynski faces possible permanent bone damage to her knees that she blames on exposure to the fumes.
But epidemiology experts said, despite questions still surrounding an unidentified chemical discovered before the autopsy, they could find no culprit to explain the bizarre episode that sent six emergency room workers to hospitals after being exposed to patient Gloria Ramirez.
Friday's report was the last full-scale study by local and state agencies that attempted to explain what happened Feb. 19. Each one was inconclusive.
According to the state's 15-page report, 11 people reported smelling an unusual odor after blood was drawn from Ramirez. After five collapsed and the emergency room was evacuated, 23 people altogether complained of at least one symptom - most commonly headache, dizziness and nausea, the state report said. More serious complaints included muscle spasms and breathing disruptions.
by CNB