To call this mass hysteria is just laughable!  Julie, the nurse to collapse first, has suffered life-long injuries and I believe even sustaining nerve damage.  She was, for real, messed up!!  You CANNOT imagine those symptoms into reality.

gruesome but fascinating chemistry in this case

I lived in Riverside when this happened, and even though there is a lot of judgment going around and she is referred to as the Toxic Lady, at the heart of the matter is that she was a young mother willing to do anything to stay alive for her family.  This was heartbreaking.  RIP Gloria.

The Toxic Lady sounds like the title to a Junji Ito horror story.

Gloria's sister is wrong. Even if she hadn't been taken to the hospital, she had advanced cervical cancer. She was unlikely to survive that.

This was really interesting.  Chemistry is fascinating.

As a nurse, I also found it insulting that the initial investigation said the team was hysterical.  Peri-arrest situations like this happen all the time, we don't get hysterical because someone collapses.

Mass hysteria. The default answer for a narrow mind which has no intention of considering anything they don't understand. Aka ego.

Heard this story a few times. Always sad. Thank you for telling it for those who haven't heard this one

Saddest part here is that is sounds like she was left alone to die in a hospital - the one place you would most expect to be given medical attention.

DMSO has the strange property of absorbing through the skin & taking whatever is dissolved in it through. Quite useful.

Ah, and she didnt even have health insurance after being diagnosed with cancer? Can u imagine how scary that must be? Now, thats legit the saddest part of this case

Can I say thank you for being respectful in discussing this case? So often when people cover Ms. Ramirez's case they chuckle or have snide remarks about the smell or lean into the conspiracy that "aliens did it."

I remember this happening, but having it summarized like this has brought some much needed clarity - and one lingering question. Thanks!

No medi insurance so had do deal with cancer herself.America is not what people think.

This is such a fascinating and heart breaking story, and as always, you told it superbly well. My heart breaks for Gloria and her family, and though I understand they are angry and want to know what happened, Gloria was terminally ill and deteriorating, and could not access the healthcare and the treatments she needed until it was too late, all because of a broken system. The mass hysteria theory is honestly one of the most ridiculous things I've heard - these healthcare workers experienced significant symptoms and problems as a result of this, but yep, let's blame mass hysteria, because that of course can cause Hepatitis, and Avascular Necrosis. Good lord. The Dimethyl Sulfate (DMSO4) theory is very interesting and would make sense considering the symptoms - I've heard in other tellings of this case that a Defib was reportedly used in the ambulance, and the power/heat in that has been theorised to have caused the reaction needed to convert it to DMSO4. Either way, I think this is considered extremely difficult to replicate, so I suspect will forever remain a theory. Thanks for covering this, Jake and team. Excellent case discussion as per usual.

"Or was it?" is perhaps becoming a catchphrase for you Jake. I always enjoy hearing it in your videos. You explain things so well, it seems like that must be the truth and then you drop that phrase.

nauseated vs nauseous... i can't unhear it.

The easiest solution would have been
#MedicareForAll
Much easier to just treat a sick patient.

Wow I never heard this case before. I wonder if the authorities ever went to her house to see what medications she actually had available to her.

I do remember this ghoulish incident.
This is like real-life horror movie material.. .