Long Island man wearing 9kg-metal necklace dies after being sucked into MRI machine
-
Isn't it an electomagnet?
it costs about thirty grand in helium every time you push it.
Oh, right, i forgot human lives have a price in the US.
The US is an outlier in how it charges prices for healthcare services.
But every country in the world has prices charged for cold liquid helium. It's very expensive to gather, process, store, and ship, regardless of what kind of health care economics apply in your country.
-
Just a very strong magnetic field that makes having ferrous objects on your person a hazardous thing to do.
I recently tried spreading the word to other MRI folks about the dangers of 'magnetic eyelashes', which i learned was a thing from my fiance. Kind of suprised we havent seen any incidents with those, thankfully.
-
This was not Mr. T.
This was Mr. D Capitated.
Ooh mind you don't cut yourself on all that edge!
-
The US is an outlier in how it charges prices for healthcare services.
But every country in the world has prices charged for cold liquid helium. It's very expensive to gather, process, store, and ship, regardless of what kind of health care economics apply in your country.
And in fact, doesn't the US have most of the world's supply of helium?
-
Just going through comments spreading MRI information (source: I work with MRI scanners). Nothing is spinning inside the MRI machine. CT scanners have an internal spinning component, but MRIs do not.
Thank you, I actually did not know that. While we are at it: what is causing the sounds? And how often do those machines have to be calibrated, as I believe the RF receivers (?) have to be super sensitive and accurate.
-
Why even wear the stupid necklace when going to the MRI in the first place? Like, how thoughtless and selfish can you be? Always assume you are surrounded by barely-functional morons, especially in the medical field which seems to attract these types of people, and think defensively.
"Geez, I'm going to be near an MRI machine, maybe I'll wear a 20 pound piece of steel around my neck? Genius! Let's do it!"
That's an extremely privileged take. Not everyone knows about what an MRI does. Don't just judge someone's education and circumstance like that.
Common sense is that a person should be able to trust the medical professional. If the professional doesn't properly warn them, how would they know?
-
I'm not saying it's the husband's fault, but I don't think it's 100% on the technician either.
I read it more like she asked the technician to get her husband and called out to her husband who presumably just walked in.
Also, "they discussed the chain on a previous visit" doesn't really change anything. Depending on how many people that technician sees and when that last visit was, they might've just forgotten.
When McAllister entered the exam room with the technician, the machine suddenly “switched him around, and pulled him in,” Jones-McAllister said.
This was part of the other article I linked. It's a lot of "they said she said" but I'm gonna put more faith in the victim's word and not the clinic's.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Carrying a 9kg necklace seems a bit silly. Though I suppose "for weight training" could just as well mean something medical, like needing to build up muscle mass after an operation.
What I need to know is: how is a man that was "not supposed to be in the room" specifically getting fetched by a technician to go into the room? I would have said "do not go past the antechamber" a dozen times on the way there. Did the wife calling out to him just turn off his brain, did the technician fail to inform him, or did they both not realise the metallic necklace was on him?
-
Couple things:
The magnet is ALWAYS on.
The "kill switch" takes about five minutes to actually deactivate the magnet and it costs about thirty grand in helium every time you push it.
Not to mention it's not renewable. Once it his the upper atmosphere, you can't get it back.
-
Carrying a 9kg necklace seems a bit silly. Though I suppose "for weight training" could just as well mean something medical, like needing to build up muscle mass after an operation.
What I need to know is: how is a man that was "not supposed to be in the room" specifically getting fetched by a technician to go into the room? I would have said "do not go past the antechamber" a dozen times on the way there. Did the wife calling out to him just turn off his brain, did the technician fail to inform him, or did they both not realise the metallic necklace was on him?
wrote last edited by [email protected]After reading another article: nope, necklace was just a huge locket on a chain. And the wife said "Keith, Keith, come help me up" which sound to me like:
- wife was making a big fuss for no good reason (might have had a reason according to a 3rd article)
- husband obeyed as any good husband would
- technician didn't inform the husband that his wife would be carted out of the MRI room and failed to react fast enough
If I was married and a bit dumber, I could probably also be lured to my death with my name being called out twice in that fashion. Really depends how good the signage was and how well the husband was informed.
-
After reading another article: nope, necklace was just a huge locket on a chain. And the wife said "Keith, Keith, come help me up" which sound to me like:
- wife was making a big fuss for no good reason (might have had a reason according to a 3rd article)
- husband obeyed as any good husband would
- technician didn't inform the husband that his wife would be carted out of the MRI room and failed to react fast enough
If I was married and a bit dumber, I could probably also be lured to my death with my name being called out twice in that fashion. Really depends how good the signage was and how well the husband was informed.
Uhm, article I read said it was a training accessory and the wife had fallen on the floor and needed help.
-
Uhm, article I read said it was a training accessory and the wife had fallen on the floor and needed help.
Can’t even begin to imagine how the wife feels now.
-
Uhm, article I read said it was a training accessory and the wife had fallen on the floor and needed help.
wrote last edited by [email protected]But the husband was called to get her off the table? Did she fall while the technician was away? Shouldn't there have been a 2nd person to supervise her, or is that too expensive? And she did help in trying to get him unstuck, so she could get up on her own then? How are there so many important details to this?
That's it, as fun as it is to speculate, I think I'll reserve my judgement until after this has gone to court.
-
Unless something gets stuck. Then it is shut down and restarted after the thing is removed. Takes hours though, I think the startup was four hours.
They had that happen at the hospital my father worked at, the cleaning lady brought in a stool with steel legs. They tried to remove it by force first, but four men could not do it.
Takes hours and is horrifically expensive.
-
Can’t even begin to imagine how the wife feels now.
She probably feels pulled in 2 directions. The weight of calling in her husband to charge in and help her must be great. I'm sure the tech is also crushed that they weren't fast enough to oppose him entering the restricted area. It's a tragic set of circumstances that will hopefully attract more awareness of the dangers of entering the MRI area if you haven't properly prepared.
I had an MRI, many years ago, and had a very small sliver of metal in my finger tip. I didn't know it was in there still. I felt the pain of it pulling as soon as I left the MRI tech's control room.
-
9 kilograms Necklace?! What kind of necklace is that?
A chain with a 9kg bell weight.
-
Thank you, I actually did not know that. While we are at it: what is causing the sounds? And how often do those machines have to be calibrated, as I believe the RF receivers (?) have to be super sensitive and accurate.
The sound is caused by ‘gradient coils’ that are being switched on and off at kHz frequency, which is in the audible range for humans. The sound is caused by those coils vibrating due to the interaction of the magnetic field with the electric current in the coils: they’re non magnetic but they still feel the ‘Lorentz force’. As far as calibration, there is a pre-scan step (which is one reason why MRIs can take awhile) used to optimize the RF settings to each patient. Patients come in many shapes and sizes so the settings have to be tuned to get a good image every time. I’m actually not sure of how often they need to be serviced, but it seems like the manufacturers are here checking on the machines pretty often!
-
Kind of like Tilikum, responsible for 3 of 4 known human deaths by an orca.
I'm rooting for the orca in the med that are eating rudders. Dunno why, I just think they're neat.
-
After reading another article: nope, necklace was just a huge locket on a chain. And the wife said "Keith, Keith, come help me up" which sound to me like:
- wife was making a big fuss for no good reason (might have had a reason according to a 3rd article)
- husband obeyed as any good husband would
- technician didn't inform the husband that his wife would be carted out of the MRI room and failed to react fast enough
If I was married and a bit dumber, I could probably also be lured to my death with my name being called out twice in that fashion. Really depends how good the signage was and how well the husband was informed.
They have extensive screening and education and safeguard procedures, for the patients. I'm guessing hubby skipped (probably wasn't even offered) all those and just dashed in the door when called. Tech still should have put hubby through "the talk" if he was anywhere close to the door to the room.
MRI is one of the most sci-fi come to life technologies most people are likely to encounter in their lives. Superconducting magnets are about as non-intuitive as it gets, once they get you past the point of your ability to resist the force, there's no recovery - you're going faster and faster until the metal hits the housing. There have been multiple accidents with steel oxygen cylinders - for the obvious reason: they're so common in the environment where MRIs are used, and it's no small feat to get the cylinder removed.
-
But the husband was called to get her off the table? Did she fall while the technician was away? Shouldn't there have been a 2nd person to supervise her, or is that too expensive? And she did help in trying to get him unstuck, so she could get up on her own then? How are there so many important details to this?
That's it, as fun as it is to speculate, I think I'll reserve my judgement until after this has gone to court.
The major failure in this case was lack of education / restraint of the husband. Before he got within 25 feet of the MRI room door, he should have had "the talk" about metal objects and MRIs not mixing, deadly consequences, etc. Other things could have helped, but I suspect the local safety procedures are patient focused and hubby didn't get properly educated before entering the danger zone.
