Officials Say Fumes Probably Did Not Cause Woman’s Death : Mystery: Body of Gloria Ramirez is released for burial by Riverside County officials, who say her remains present no health hazard. They say hospital is not believed to be the source of whatever killed her.

County officials released the body of Gloria Ramirez to her family Thursday, saying they are “90% sure” they know the cause of her Feb. 19 death--and that it probably was not linked to the mystery fumes that forced the evacuation of the Riverside General Hospital emergency room where she died.

Dr. Bradley Gilbert, the Riverside County public health officer, wrote the family, saying that scientific and medical experts have concluded that the body does “not currently present a public health hazard” and can now--eight weeks after her death--be handled by a mortuary in preparation for burial.

But finding a mortuary willing to accept the body proved more difficult than the family expected. Ronald Schwartz, the family’s attorney, said a local funeral director declined Thursday afternoon to immediately accept the body. The funeral home became anxious, Schwartz said, because it received a call from Cal/OSHA offering advice on what precautions to take in dealing with the corpse.

The mortician at the funeral home, Acheson and Graham, “is a little concerned now, and he wants a little time to see what this involves,” Schwartz said. No one in a position to speak on behalf of the funeral home could be reached for comment.

An attorney representing the county said Thursday it was unlikely that the source of the mystery fumes will ever be known. But he hinted broadly that experts are focusing their attention on Ramirez as the source, rather than a toxic source at the hospital.

Attorneys for the Ramirez family said a private autopsy would be conducted today in their own effort to learn the cause of death of the 31-year-old mother of two. But Schwartz conceded that the autopsy may be of little value because the unembalmed body has decomposed.

The family’s attorneys had hoped to win a court order Thursday forcing the Riverside County coroner’s office to turn over its investigative file on the death of Ramirez and the findings of its probe into the source of fumes that sickened six emergency room attendants, two of them seriously.

Dr. Julie Gorchynski had to be hospitalized for 13 days for breathing lapses and muscle spasms after treating Ramirez, and she returned to a hospital this week for surgery to restore blood circulation to her knees. Gorchynski said the condition was brought on by exposure to the fumes. Nurse Sally Balderas was hospitalized for 10 days and continues to complain of nausea, headaches, breathing lapses and other problems.

Riverside Superior Court Judge Victor Miceli rejected the request that the coroner’s files be turned over. He scheduled an April 26 hearing on whether to order members of the coroner’s staff to be available for depositions by the family attorneys.

By then, however, much of what the family hopes to learn may already have been released. Bill Ritner, an attorney representing the county, said the coroner’s office is within two weeks of issuing a death certificate and that officials are now 90% sure they know the cause of her death, but he would not elaborate.

But Ritner said the experts are virtually certain that the woman’s death was not attributable to the fumes that sickened the emergency room staff. “The fumes did not cause her death,” he said. “She would have died anyway.”

Ritner said it was likely that investigators may never find the source of the fumes, partly because “we’re probably dealing with a substance that evaporated.” But he said he believed that the hospital itself was not the source of the unknown poison because nobody working there fell ill until Ramirez--complaining of nausea and breathing difficulty--was brought in.

Ritner said it was the consensus of the county’s medical and scientific experts that the drawing of Ramirez’s blood into the pre-sterilized syringe triggered the bizarre episode.

Ritner said the most credible witness to the event was Gorchynski, whom he characterized as an alert and healthy emergency room physician. After a nurse smelled the blood-filled syringe and complained of an ammonia-like odor before she fainted, Gorchynski put the syringe to her own nose and took a deep whiff.

“She went down virtually immediately,” Ritner said of Gorchynski’s response to smelling the blood.

When asked whether that meant that Ramirez was therefore considered to be the source of the mystery fumes, Ritner said it did not. But she has not been ruled out as the source either, he added.

Ritner said that in its unprecedented effort to get to the bottom of the mystery, the county had sent evidence to a federal government laboratory that has the capability of analyzing minuscule levels of chemicals.

Only a few tests remain to be completed before the county will conclude its investigation, he said.

Schwartz said the family’s own autopsy would be conducted today by Dr. Richard Fukumoto, a forensic pathologist for Orange County.

Even if the autopsy proves fruitless, Schwartz said, the release of the body to the family and allowing the casket to be opened “means we can see if she’s really in the container”--an issue that, he said, had troubled the family until now.