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Man wearing metallic necklace dies after being sucked into MRI machine

• wayeq 1y ago
  > According to the US Food and Drug Administration, MRI machines have magnetic fields that will attract magnetic objects of all sizes Good thing they sourced that fact, I never would have guessed.
• dannykwells 1y ago
  A plot line literally out of a Final Destination movie (the newest one). MRI machines are scary!
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• hyghjiyhu 1y ago
  The machine itself should be able to detect that something anomalous is happening to the magnetic field as it is doing work on the metal item and immediately cut power.
  • postalrat 1y ago
    MRI machines use a superconducting electromagnet that once energized will run forever. The only power it needs is to maintain the low temps for the superconductor. The "OFF" switch vents the coolant (helium) outside the hospital so the electromagnet stops superconducting and can turn off. Outside the hospital it would look something like: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/krMbFT0Ums0 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/krMbFT0Ums0
• DanielleMolloy 1y ago
  „In the description of the fundraiser, which had raised more than $3,300 by Monday morning, Bodden said her mother and the technician “tried for several minutes to release him” before calling the authorities.“ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mri-machine-death-long-island-b2792814.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mri-machin... Is there information on why they didn’t quench? They teach anyone operating MRI or even sitting by - in the first instruction lesson - that if life is at danger in relation to the magnet, you quench (=release the helium to stop the magnet).
• I_dream_of_Geni 1y ago
  I have read many of the comments here, and there seems to be a huge misunderstanding of this specific MRI and facility. This seems to be a private "Doc-in-the-box" type facility, where the staffing is VERY minimal, because it isn't a hospital, and may not even be connected to any hospital. So, the costs are WAY lower for the patient (10x or so), thereby making the staffing lower to reduce costs. These machines many times are the older machines taken from hospitals as the hospital update their equipment. So, yes, the machine still functions well, and the costs are much lower, but the MRI scan generally is poorer than the newest generation machine. Case in point, I blew out a disk in my back, went to my doctor, who said I could get the MRI at the local hospital for $6000 (10 years ago), or go to this 'private' MRI and pay $600. The staffing was literally a receptionist and a certified tech. 2 people. I doubt there was a radiologist within 20 miles. My scan was easy and quick. The price was right.
• cluckindan 1y ago
  Tried Googling for how much force would be applied to an 18 pound steel necklace in a 1.5T magnetic field typical of MRI machines. Google AI said steel isn’t affected by magnetic fields and the effects of gravity would dominate.
  • Weryj 1y ago
    I doubt his heavy necklace is pure steel. Any iron around 1.5T is a goner.
    • cluckindan 1y ago
      Chain of that size are typically made of steel. Realistically, an 18 pound chain will be pulled towards such a magnetic field with a considerable force, topping off somewhere around a couple hundred pounds.
• lrvick 1y ago
  As someone with a neodymium magnet in his finger, failing to disclose this to an MRI tech could rip it out, which would be unpleasant. Always be hyper aware of ferrous metal near an MRI machine.
• zeristor 1y ago
  Didn’t anyone notice this huge necklace, were they just too polite to point out? Isn’t there something like an airport scanner before you get to an MRI. Is it thought that people just wouldn’t do this sort of thing?
• asdefghyk 1y ago
  One day a few years ago, I was about to have a MRI and thought I had on metal on me. The technician asked me to check and I discovered a small metal screw in my pocket. I shudder to think what could have happened if it had not been discovered....
• xchip 1y ago
  So this useless anecdote can make it to hacker news but famine and the killing of people in Gaza news were flagged and removed with the excuse of HN being a technical site.
• ivanstepanovftw 1y ago
  This room is dangerous enough to be door locked during scan. Rules are written in blood.
• uwagar 1y ago
  who wears a 9kg chain as an ornament. wow.
• jleyank 1y ago
  Y’know, sometimes people saying you can’t do certain things isn’t them just being an asshole. Physics and biology really doesn’t care what people think…
• Mistletoe 1y ago
  > She said he was wearing a 20lb (9kg) chain with a lock that he used for weight training. Um, ok.
• csours 1y ago
  Google Street view of the facility: https://maps.app.goo.gl/6ssyJfjVn1fUGaG2A https://maps.app.goo.gl/6ssyJfjVn1fUGaG2A
  • emptyroads 1y ago
    I was wondering "why would the street view be relevant?" Turns out, it's pretty relevant to the situation - especially how the unauthorized access was possible. This wasn't your typical hospital MRI. This is basically your local tanning salon that somehow acquired an MRI machine.
    • jpgvm 1y ago
      I wasn't going to click that link but now I have and honestly - that is mildly terrifying. I don't understand how such a dangerous machine can end up in a place that looks like that.
    • its-summertime 1y ago
      That size of building is relatively normal for a non-hospital MRI facility.
      • Der_Einzige 1y ago
        What we are learning is that "non hospital" medical facilities suck. I can tell you that I don't trust you as a doctor unless you are physically located in a hospital, preferably the larger the better. If I have an appendicitis on the way to my normal procedure, I want to be within less than 100M of an emergency room already. Small scale/small time medical offices were a mistake and I'll never change my mind.
        • its-summertime 1y ago
          And yet one of the most renowned dermatologists in my region only worked in clinic I've also known hospitals to refer people to clinics too.
        • 1y ago
• avalys 1y ago
  It’s notable that he was not the patient, he was the patient’s husband who somehow was allowed to enter the room with the MRI machine. The superconducting magnet in an MRI scanner is always on even when not performing a scan. This was pure and simple negligence by the MRI operators. Access control is the most basic part of MRI safety! Even if he was not wearing this “chain”, he never should have been allowed to enter the room. He could’ve been wearing a steel wristwatch, had a keyring in his pocket, etc.
  • paulryanrogers 1y ago
    Technically he entered "without permission" but at the urging of the patient. Still negligence, though more understable. I wonder if a metal detector that prevents opening the door would help? Perhaps with a big, scary red override button for emergencies?
    • onemoresoop 1y ago
      Nobody should have permission and be kept away at all times by staff. They'd probably follow rules for a while now.
    • WillAdams 1y ago
      There is (at least according to one episode of _Grey's Anatomy_) a big scary red button to shut down the machine in an emergency, resulting in expensive to restore operation: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/m9algh/eli5_why_do_mri_machines_cost_so_much_to_shut_off/ https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/m9algh/e... According to the above post, it's a venting of the liquid helium, which requires ~$25,000 to replace).
      • 9dev 1y ago
        We’re talking about a human life here. Fuck the balance and vent immediately!
        • egberts1 1y ago
• kylecazar 1y ago
  Nobody should be able to get into that room that isn't supposed to be there. Also, twenty pound necklace? "She said he was wearing a 20lb (9kg) chain with a lock that he used for weight training."
  • atmavatar 1y ago
    In addition to that: > She said she had called him into the room after she had a scan on Wednesday. Part of me wonders why the wife felt empowered to invite her husband, who she knew was wearing a giant metal necklace, into the MRI room after her scan. The hospital would have been very clear with her about the dangers of wearing any metal in the room even when the scanner was not running especially because it's common for women to wear jewelry containing various metals and alloys. Presumably, the husband would have been part of those conversations as well, and thus, should have refrained from joining her in the room anyway, so he isn't completely absolved of responsibility. It seems there's plenty of blame to go around.
    • arp242 1y ago
      Just force of habit. Being around such forceful magnets is not a daily occurrence so you don't really think about this sort of thing (for both the wife and husband). I can totally see how something like this happens. I once bought a can of coke and put it in my backpack, then I forgot about it. At the airport a few hours later I went through security and didn't think about it at all. No idea why my bag was selected for a manual check. Until he pulled out the soda can. Big (but harmless) do'h moment. People's brains and memories are just wonky like that sometimes; most people have a few "I'm an idiot" anecdotes like that. Even with training by the way: which is why checklists exists for safety critical stuff. "They have been warned about MRI dangers" is pretty meaningless. The failure is 100% on the facility for not properly controlling access to the MRI room, and people can just walk in apparently(?) And no, a sign or some briefing doesn't cut it. This is also a risk for absent-minded staff by the way: I don't think I'm the only person who has walked in the wrong room by accident. Or just a small confusion about whether the MRI is operational. Things like that.
    • mhdhn 1y ago
• odyssey7 1y ago
  It’s wild that the bottleneck keeping us from buying more MRI machines, achieving economies of scale for a no-radiation way of viewing soft tissues in high resolution, is supposedly the specialized technicians, and here we had a technician who couldn’t manage to turn it off in time when something went wrong, and apparently didn’t keep metal objects out of the room. (We use metal detectors any time you walk into a sporting event, why not an MRI room?) I expect this story to be promoted by people who benefit from sales of x-ray / CT machines though. MRIs and all of their promise for public health could continue to be set back.
  • andy99 1y ago
    You can't turn it off, it's a static magnet with hundreds of amps flowing in a closed loop in a giant superconducting coil. The usual comparison is that a charged magnet has the same kinetic energy as a loaded 747 coming in to land. To "turn it off" you can bring it above superconducting temp, dissipate all that power as heat, and boil off thousands of liters of helium (fun fact, they usually have ducts to outside for this so everyone doesn't suffocate during a quench). Which might have happened in this case due to physical damage to the magnet, but is not as easy as flicking a switch and having it be "off".
    • odyssey7 1y ago
      Okay, this sounds more serious than I thought. But then, why was someone able to walk into that room with metal around their neck if it was clearly so life-threatening? Anyway, I’m complaining as someone who personally has turned down recommended medical procedures after checking radiation cancer risk numbers and realizing the radiation risk was being downplayed. When I saw the numbers, to me the cancer risk wasn’t worth it, so I went without a solution to my health problem. Had an MRI been an option, I would have more likely said yes.
      • jpgvm 1y ago
        > But then, why was someone able to walk into that room with metal around their neck if it was clearly so life-threatening? Take a look at the Google Street View link someone posted. It's pretty clear this facility -shouldn't- have been able to acquire an MRI machine in the first place. It also elucidates how such an accident could happen, i.e they clearly don't have the trained staff and protocols necessary given the danger of an MRI machine. It's very likely the poor gentleman didn't understand the immense danger the machine poses. They are expensive and rare for a reason IMO. Yes it would be great to have more of them but the best place for more of them is within proper hospitals and leveraging economies of scale to share technicians across a fleet of them in a well run facility.
• duxup 1y ago
  Entering the room without permission and wearing a 20lb weight training chain ... I look forward to my next visit where they ask me if I've got some weight training equipment on me.
  • blitzar 1y ago
    Caution! This coffee is hot. Avoid pouring on crotch area.
    • whycome 1y ago
      Do yourself a favour and actually read about that incident.
      • TiredOfLife 1y ago
        I have read about it and still can't see how mcdonalds lost.
        • deleted 1y ago
          [deleted]
        • hansvm 1y ago
          McDonald's was negligent. The coffee was hot enough to cause immediate lasting damage, having it that hot didn't benefit any party involved, reducing the temperature would have fixed the problem, been as simple as turning a knob, and increased customer satisfaction, and they knew about the dangers and repeatedly chose to do literally nothing about it. If you tweak elements of the case then you can imagine the restaurant winning. As it stands, it's not surprising McDonald's lost.
          • grues-dinner 1y ago
            And they apparently didn't even learn all that much: literally this week, but with hot chocolate and an 8-year old: https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/young-girl-suffers-severe-burns-10354085 https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/young-girl-s... Maybe this time they won't go on a PR campaign against the victim (it's also the UK where you only get real damages, so they probably won't care enough, no million pound lawsuits here even if it was as serious as the original case, which it isn't). There's definitely a balance between hot drink being hot and absolutely scalding, especially when you know you're going to be handing it into a vehicle from a window. And it's not an especially onerous thing to turn the temperature down, and as you say, no one likes getting 98 degree paper cup of lava that you can't even sip for 10 minutes. They say they did control the temperature, so maybe it's indeed all on the customers, but I do know I have been given some really hot hot drinks in paper cups that seem excessive.
• aaron695 1y ago
  [dead]
• OutOfHere 1y ago
  The incident with the child seems worse: > In 2001, a six-year-old boy died of a fractured skull at a New York City medical centre while undergoing an MRI exam after its powerful magnetic force propelled an oxygen tank across the room. There shouldn't exist any metals in the room (that are not the machine itself), period. The smallest metallic object can fly off like a bullet. Everything and everyone that enters the room should be required to be scanned with a handheld metal detector.
• jpgvm 1y ago
  I like to post this whenever the danger MRI magnetic field strength comes into question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BBx8BwLhqg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BBx8BwLhqg
  • deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
• jmclnx 1y ago
  >without permission How is that possible ? I would think at the very least the door would be locked. From quick searches I believe it is a for profit company. https://opennpi.com/provider/1851878409 https://opennpi.com/provider/1851878409 Granted that probably does not matter, but to me, for profit generally means cut costs, even safety costs to maximize profits.
• bobajeff 1y ago
  Good to know the Final Destination series was not exaggerating on the hazards of MRIs.
  • throwacct 1y ago
    I came here to say the same thing.
• russfink 1y ago
  I entered an MRI room once when my wife was getting ready to be scanned. I had a metal Cross pen in my shirt pocket. Although I was 10 feet back, the pen flew out of my pocket, across the room, and stuck to the magnet. It was scary.
  • itslennysfault 1y ago
    That's crazy... Did they bill you for the cost of shutting down the MRI and refilling the helium?
    • Filligree 1y ago
      They probably left it until the next maintenance cycle. Nobody wants the downtime.
      • hansvm 1y ago
        Wouldn't that cause heavy distortion in the image though?
        • bracketfocus 1y ago
          I know very little about MRIs, but it seems likely that they could recalibrate the machine and effectively adjust for something small. Not removing it sounds dangerous though.
          • lostlogin 1y ago
            Shim it with some more pens? It would come off ok, this happens from time to time, but that facility needs to lift its game. Peripheral staff (nurses, anaesthetic techs etc) visiting are the usual source of these accidents.
          • hansvm 1y ago
            The problem is that normal MRI math tries its damnedest to avoid actually solving the right equations. Instead, with a flat enough field, you can assume linearity and just FFT the thing. They'll physically place bits of metal and magnets at various places on the big magnet to calibrate and better adjust the field to being approximately linear. A hunk of metal bigger than a shim sounds like it would mess with that.
• JdeBP 1y ago
  It comes to something when Fox News is more informative with background information about signage and safety protocols, and reporting about a technician's warning not to enter, than BBC News is. * https://fox5ny.com/news/long-island-mri-freak-accident https://fox5ny.com/news/long-island-mri-freak-accident (Many U.S.A. news services do a better job than BBC News does on U.S.A. stories. But this is the BBC being beaten by Fox, specificially.)
  • its-summertime 1y ago
    There are multiple different Fox News services under similar names https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNYW#News_operation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WNYW#News_operation Fox 5 NY seems that it used to notably be a trailblazer
  • JackFr 1y ago
    That's reporting by the local affiliate, not the Fox News.
  • WorldMaker 1y ago
    That's a Fox Affiliate (a broadcast station in the Fox broadcast network) local news source. The much denigrated Fox News is a cable TV station rated for only for Entertainment that purports to be for News and has done much to confuse the boundaries between the two in the US skirting truth-in-advertising and truth-in-news laws/regulations/common decency for the seeming sake of far right propaganda. (I believe the British equivalent is The Sun if it was allowed its own 24 hour TV channel because despite showing "news-like things" "everyone" knows it is only for Entertainment purposes only, why else would they include celebrity gossip.) Many of the Fox Affiliates are still best-in-class local news. (Though it varies from city to city.) The Fox News cable channel lowered the bar on what Americans think news is supposed to be to historic low levels.
    • JdeBP 1y ago
      The U.K. equivalent is GB News. Its reality is worse than your hypothetical. (-: But the level of Foxness that I was alluding to was not that of GB News, but rather more that of Reach PLC; which isn't Murdoch-owned, but which runs a whole network of purportedly regional news outlets which turn out to be just localized skins applied to a big syndicated empire, and which BBC News often does better than locally.
• zigzag312 1y ago
  Interesting that he didn't feel gradual increase of pull force while he was approaching the MRI machine. I guess cubic growth (?) changes from mild to dangerous so quickly when walking towards a MRI machine that once you realize what happening it's already too late.
  • wtcactus 1y ago
    Magnetic force works quite like gravity (depends on r^2). When you drop something it immediately starts going.
  • KineticLensman 1y ago
    > Interesting that he didn't feel gradual increase of pull force while he was approaching the MRI machine. There isn't a gradual increase in pull when magnets are involved. My wife used to work for a company whose product involved powerful magnets. For a while they produced a demo kit in which a magnet would hold a large ball-bearing levitated against gravity. That thing was lethal. If the ball-bearing approached the magnet too closely it instantly became a dangerously fast finger-crushing hammer.
  • voidUpdate 1y ago
    I think it's inverse-square, and as you get closer, the acceleration increases quadratically, so your speed increases faster (possibly cubic?)
    • phkahler 1y ago
      >> I think it's inverse-square No, for "a magnet" it's an inverse cube law. I've often wondered if the force holding a nucleus together is really magnetism. No, physicists you don't need to correct me, I know how off the wall that sounds ;-)
      • r2_pilot 1y ago
        For nuclear forces it's actually the strong force binding the nucleus (electromagnetic force is far, far, far too weak to do this) but you can theoretically unify the weak force and the electromagnetic force into the electroweak force : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroweak_interaction https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroweak_interaction
• mrlonglong 1y ago
  First class candidate for the Darwin Awards.
  • UomoNeroNero 1y ago
    It's awful to say, but sometimes it's interesting to see natural selection at work.
• unsupp0rted 1y ago
  We didn't evolve to have the warning mechanisms for modern life. Tell a person there's a tarantula or a cobra in the next room and not a second will go by without them being deeply aware of this information. Tell them it's a 3 tesla magnetic field and they'll run in carrying a piece of sheet metal and a pocket full of ball bearings.
  • HelloUsername 1y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards
  • sippeangelo 1y ago
    This doesn't track to me. People have been irrationally afraid of things since the dawn of time, based purely on hearsay (see religion). And surely even the simplest of language serves to warn about unseen dangers. Entering the MRI room myself I was very familiar with the dangers of bringing metal inside, to the point where I would second guess myself and my own body. "What if my leg bone actually has metal in it for some reason?!"
    • Karawebnetwork 1y ago
      > "What if my leg bone actually has metal in it for some reason?!" I have a titanium plate in my head, so it's not magnetic. When the MRI tech asked if I had any metal in me, I said I had titanium on my skull. She asked if I was sure it was titanium. I knew it was, but I was nervous, so I said, "I think so." She half-joked, "Well, if it's not, we'll find out real quick." It was titanium. But they never really double-checked or anything. Part of me thinks that because of my age, she could tell it wasn't iron or anything dangerous. But another part of me feels like she honestly didn't care that much and meant it when she said we'd find out fast.
      • octopoc 1y ago
        Wouldn’t your head have started to get pulled towards it as you approached, so maybe you could stop approaching once you felt something weird going on in your head?
• htk 1y ago
  "The man entered a room at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, on New York's Long Island, without permission as the MRI machine was running..." People think they can do anything they want nowadays.
  • tyleo 1y ago
    People have always thought they could do anything. If you think this is crazy you should see some of the stuff people have been doing with cars and motorcycles for the last 5 decades.
  • yard2010 1y ago
    I don't get it how in the world someone can just enter the room when the device is on. Trusting people to read signs and follow the rules is borderline insane. A simple lock mechanism could spare life here.
    • phkahler 1y ago
      >> I don't get it how in the world someone can just enter the room when the device is on. The magnet is always on. His wife was in the room. Unless you're previously aware of the dangers of an MRI machine it looks like any other exam room with some equipment in it. It's up to the staff to inform and keep people out and enforce that. IMHO he should not have even been in the outer room wearing a chain like that.
      • Ajedi32 1y ago
        This article[1] has a good overview of safety procedures already in use at other facilities: > Melonie Longacre, VP of Operations at Northwell Health, explained MRI safety protocols, emphasizing the importance of multizone procedures to ensure safety around the powerful magnet. > "Zone I is just for awareness that there’s an MRI in the vicinity, Zone II is the patient screening zone where they get screened. Zone III is the post-screening zone, and Zone IV is the actual magnet room," she said. "It’s important to be educated and safe." It's unclear if Nassau Open MRI (where this incident took place) had similar safety protocols. I'm guessing not. [1]: https://www.fox5ny.com/news/long-island-mri-freak-accident https://www.fox5ny.com/news/long-island-mri-freak-accident
• poulpy123 1y ago
  Most people don't understand the danger of MRI, myself included. I trust the people and follow their directions but I can't really visualize what it would be like to get caught with metal in a MRI magnetic field. For quoting the article : « According to the US Food and Drug Administration, MRI machines have magnetic fields that will attract magnetic objects of all sizes - keys, mobile phones and even oxygen tanks - which "may cause damage to the scanner or injury to the patient or medical professionals if those objects become projectiles". » the choice of words from both the bbc and the FDA don't really convey the risks. Anyway there are very surprising issues in what is described : why did the wife needed her husband's help to get help although it is the role of the technicians ? Why was the husband in a place where he was able to hear his wife and not being prepped for MRI ? Why was it possible for him to enter ? And why wasn't the technician able to stop him entering ?
  • lurkshark 1y ago
    > Why was it possible for him to enter? This is probably the main one. I could completely understand wanting the assistance of a loved one for mundane things like standing up. Although to your “not prepped for MRI” point, it is kind of wild that someone with a 20 lbs chain around their neck would be allowed even on the same floor as a MRI machine. Although last time I saw one in person, the door to the room did have some pretty blunt warning text in large print.
    • leptons 1y ago
      You would think a simple metal detector to go through before the lock on the MRI room door unlocks would be a requirement. I guess maybe the MRI machine might interfere with metal detecting?
      • scarier 1y ago
        Nope, metal detectors are fairly typical for MRI access. They just generally aren’t set up as an engineering control like you suggest.
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• masfuerte 1y ago
  Related: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfmaude/detail.cfm?mdrfoi__id=16771275&pc=LNH https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfmaude/d...
• OisinMoran 1y ago
  Calling a 9 kg chain a "necklace" is a bit misleading. It makes it seem like it could have gone in unnoticed. "medical episode" is also very vague, what was the actual cause of death?
  • richrichardsson 1y ago
    Very likely severed spinal column, if not complete decapitation.
    • richrichardsson 1y ago
      I see hyperbole is misunderstood here.
    • potato3732842 1y ago
      The article says he had time to say goodbye to his wife before he suffocated and later died at a hospital. Which makes sense since it's about the same timeline of death and outcome you'd expect from an industrial accident involving big industrial chain at a hundred pounds per link or whatever.
      • cjbgkagh 1y ago
        I wouldn’t %100 trust an eye witness account, especially for something so traumatic where an alternate outcome might give them some solace.
    • netsharc 1y ago
      I don't think the human body is that fragile, the magnet probably dragged his body, head first, until it hit a solid object, in this case the cover of the MRI machine. Slamming your head at that speed isn't that healthy.
      • kulahan 1y ago
        This was my assumption as well. What the heck has everyone assuming it’s a decapitation? Dude was dragged by the neck at high speed towards a large machine. Massive head injury sounds very reasonable, maybe even expected.
• adolph 1y ago
  The real story here is that breakaway connectors exist and yet are still not used. While the MRI angle makes it "newsworthy," there are many ways in which a chain might be caught and cause injury if it does not disconnect at a lower energy level than the minimum amount of injury the wearer is willing to accept.
• bookofjoe 1y ago
  As an anesthesiologist I routinely gave anesthesia to patients (usually children) undergoing MRIs over a 38-year career. I never had anxiety in my daily practice in the OR but anesthesia in the MRI suite ALWAYS provoked anxiety because: 1. I had to anesthetize the patient in the sub-basement, two floors below the main OR — where there were always other anesthesiologists able to help in an emergency. In the MRI suite, no one could hear my silent screams if I got in trouble nor were there knowledgeable extra hands to, for example, squeeze the breathing bag if I needed to prepare for an emergency intubation. 2. Once the patient was anesthetized and the heavy door to the MRI machine room was closed and locked, I could only monitor my unconscious patient through a darkened heavy glass window. Sure, I had monitors for EKG and oxygen saturation outside the MRI room, near the control board where technicians operated the machine, but the automatic blood pressure cuff inflator dial on the anesthesia machine was inside the room and hard to see through the dark glass. 3. It was my good fortune to never have had an emergency in the MRI suite, but events such as that reported above in the OP happened from time to time in hospitals throughout the U.S. and were occasionally reported in the anesthesia literature with the expected cautionary advice. Many more events occurred than were reported.
  • adastra22 1y ago
    I don't mean this in a bad way, and I am genuinely curious: what is an anesthesiologist doing on HN?
    • xeonmc 1y ago
      [flagged]
    • magicalhippo 1y ago
      Maybe he's a midnight hacker? I work as a programmer, but it was and still is my hobby. And I could have ended up in a different line of work. In which case I'd most likely still be here but with a different day job experience.
    • fouc 1y ago
      HN users cover a broad spectrum of people, computer developers are just a subset.
• seydor 1y ago
  A normal necklace wouldn't cause such an accident no? This was a heavy workout chain, a bizarre item to wear when going to a hospital
  • tjpnz 1y ago
    More likely to end up with a burn mark in the shape of the necklace.
  • SketchySeaBeast 1y ago
    Feels like a midlife crises gone awry.
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• wat10000 1y ago
  Lots of "why don't they..." comments here. This is international news, which means that this kind of event is extremely rare. People are often pretty dumb, and magnetic metal is common, so that means that the existing precautions are very effective. There's probably room for improvement, but there isn't some blisteringly obvious thing that's been overlooked that would save many lives.
• potato3732842 1y ago
  This was not the sort of "paint the room" liveleak tier accident that a hell of a lot of people seem to want to assume it was. Per the article, the chain was stupid heavy because it was gym/weight training stuff, he was tossed and pinned to the machine where he suffocated, he died at the hospital.
  • ptruesdell 1y ago
    No, he died the next day, following multiple heart attacks.
• psadri 1y ago
  Metal detector + gate that denies entry if it detects metals?
• noja 1y ago
  Wasn't this the guy who entered the MRI room without authorisation?
• riffic 1y ago
  most necklaces are metallic are they not?
  • chihuahua 1y ago
    There's also hippie stuff with hemp twine and wooden beads, plus candy necklaces.
• wtcactus 1y ago
  This is a sad episode, but you can see it in the language quoted from the wife's victim, that she already has an eye in some lawsuit to get money out of this. "It was also not the first time that the employee had seen her husband's weight that he used for training, she said." "She claimed an employee and her husband previously "had a conversation about it before: 'Oh that's a big chain'"." "I'm saying, 'Could you turn off the machine?" she said. "Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!'" This is really so sad, reminds me some facts about ancient Roman history and how everyone kept trying to sue somebody else for some easy money.
• lordnacho 1y ago
  Why does the magnet always pull rather than push?
  • deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
• tsoukase 1y ago
  Such MRI accidents are like falls of airplanes: extremely rare relative to the thousands (millions) of successful attempts. By the way, a much larger responsibility for CT/MRI centers remains a patient's allergic reaction to the contrast medium infused intravenously.
• t1234s 1y ago
  I've been in a Zone II area waiting before and was surprised how easy it would be for an unauthorized person to get close to a 6T machine. The only thing preventing access was a plastic stop sign.
• racl101 1y ago
  That was a brutal story that raises way too many questions. So many that it tires the brain. Tragedy all around. Feel bad for that lady.
• jayd16 1y ago
  So like, why aren't there metal detectors on the doors going into these rooms?
  • supportengineer 1y ago
    Warning signs, eyeballs, reading, and common sense are sufficient most of the time.
    • snvzz 1y ago
      "Most of the time" is not good enough. Door should only open if no metals detected.
      • wtcactus 1y ago
        Why though? Why are we going to force society to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment, wasted time and personal costs, to avoid a one in a million possibility that someone not caring about clear warning signs gets injured?
        • snvzz 1y ago
          If your argument is money, you are overlooking that a metal detector is really cheap, a practically invisible cost when next to that of the MRI machine. Thus, it makes sense for regulations to mandate such a life-saving metal detector.
          • wtcactus 1y ago
            It's money, wasted time, and more personnel to guard, handle and fix the metal detector. I think we have way too many regulations as it is, and it's bringing society as a hole down.
        • deleted 1y ago
          [deleted]
    • 1y ago
• throwmeaway222 1y ago
  why doesn't the MRI machine do magnetic field checks to make sure there isn't some anomalous metal anywhere near it - and do near instant shut down if so?
  • kccqzy 1y ago
    Because shutting down and restarting it is a >$10,000 event.
  • ars 1y ago
    It can't shut down fast. You can only shut it down by boiling away the liquid helium, and all the energy of the magnet turn into heat to boil it. It's a slow process. There is an enormous amount of energy in that magnet which has to go somewhere.
    • throwmeaway222 1y ago
      I wasn't aware of the slow shutdown. Perhaps the companies that sell or install them need to start stating it will need double the amount of room: The room where it is installed and a room where you pass through to get to it. The pass through room can check your magneticness before it unlocks the door. There is always a solution.
      • ars 1y ago
        They already do that. The exact setup varies, but it's most often a metal detector you have to go through at the door with an alarm.
• ourmandave 1y ago
  It's stupid, but I read the headline and can't help but hear the Terminator theme in my head.
• jijji 1y ago
  its straight out of a scene from Final Dedtination [0] (currently in the theaters), I guess this guy never saw that recent film lol [0] https://youtu.be/9fUB-nDZT8Q?si=ENx3IP27TVRlioKP https://youtu.be/9fUB-nDZT8Q?si=ENx3IP27TVRlioKP
• xico 1y ago
  Maybe if we reverted back to the original Nuclear Magnetic Resonance name, people would understand it could be a bit more dangerous that just an image when we are not careful.
• sigmoid10 1y ago
  Misleading title. >he was wearing a 20lb (9kg) chain with a lock that he used for weight training. That is not what any reasonable person would call a "necklace." Yes, metal and MRIs don't mix well, but normal jewellery won't be able to generate enough force to kill you. It might actually be more dangerous due to inducted currents heating the thing up and giving you burns.
• hermitcrab 1y ago
  Somebody told me that they knew of a case where a hospital porter tried to take a shortcut through the MRI room with a metal gas cylinder. Apparently it made quite a hole in the wall.
• Aurornis 1y ago
  For anyone wondering why they didn’t just turn the magnet off immediately: Quenching the magnet is not instant. From what I’ve read, it can take 30 seconds to multiple minutes for the magnetic field to dissipate after pressing the button. Also, the person wearing the 20lb chain was not the patient. There was an access control failure (someone peeking their head into the room?) combined with the extraordinary amount of metal resulting in a lot of pull.
  • fluidcruft 1y ago
    A gofundme setup by his step-daughter for funeral costs says he was stuck to the magnet for over one hour. Which if accurate seems like the timescale for ultimately being quenched but after a lot of indecision about punching the button. Probably they waited for EMS to arrive and be screened etc and they had to decide etc.
    • aaronmdjones 1y ago
      That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. You're going to have to hit the quench button at some point anyway, just to remove the chain (and the body attached to it; it's not like you can bring in a pair of bolt cutters to disconnect them if the machine is still operational -- that will only add to the problem). You may as well quench it immediately.
      • fluidcruft 1y ago
        The other option is a controlled ramp down where the field is dissipated over a few hours which is greatly preferred if possible. But generally the training is to hit quench if someone's life is in immediate danger ... which it obviously was in this case so I'm puzzled the tech hesitated. My overall impression is the site doesn't seem to be run to standard accepted practice for a variety of reasons (which is extremely bad news for them if/when this gets in front of a jury).
• ElijahLynn 1y ago
  s/Man wearing metallic necklace dies after being sucked into MRI machine/Man wearing 20lb chain on neck dies after being sucked into MRI machine
• mdavid626 1y ago
  Final Destination Bloodlines?
• mdavid626 1y ago
  Can’t the magnetic field be turned off? Big red button?