Don't bring your gun to an MRI exam

Pilgrim

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An off-duty police officer went to an outpatient imaging center (not affiliated with our institution) in western New York State to have an MR imaging examination. The facility housed a 1.5-T MR unit (Signa; General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI) with active shielding. The officer was carrying a model 1991 A-1 compact.45 caliber semiautomatic pistol (Colt's Manufacturing, Hartford, CT).

The officer notified the technologist that he was carrying the weapon before entering the MR dressing room. The technologist told the officer to take the gun with him. The technologist intended to meet the officer in the MR patient waiting area before the examination and secure the weapon in that room, where he felt it would be safe. However, the officer apparently misunderstood and took the gun into the MR suite. The technologist was entering the officer's personal data into the computer and did not see him entering the MR suite.

Once the officer was inside the MR suite, the gun was pulled from his hand as he attempted to place the gun on top of a cabinet 3 ft (0.9 m) away from the magnet bore. The gun was immediately pulled into the bore, where it struck the left side and spontaneously discharged a round into the wall of the room at the rear of the magnet. Fortunately, no one was injured. Although the gun struck the magnet bore, only minimal cosmetic damage occurred to the magnet itself. The MR unit had full functional capability immediately after the gun discharged. The weapon's thumb safety was reportedly engaged when the gun discharged.

An unsuccessful attempt to remove the gun from the magnet resulted in the gun being pulled to the right side of the magnet (Fig. 1). The decision was then made to power down the magnet to remove the gun........

continue here: http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/5/1092



Photographs of 1991 A-1.45 caliber semiautomatic pistol (Colt's Manufacturing, Hartford, CT). Hammer, thumb safety, and grip safety of gun are shown. Gun is in cocked and locked position with hammer cocked and thumb safety turned on to prevent hammer from striking firing pin. This is condition in which gun was recovered from magnet.

Something ain't right here....
 
Cool.. so it's the MRI tech's fault.


"The technologist, knowing the officer had a firearm, should have instructed him that under no circumstances could he bring the weapon into the MR suite. Also, the technologist should have been monitoring the officer more closely to make sure he did not enter the MR suite with the weapon."
 
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You can't fix stupid... [thinking]

The technologist told the officer to take the gun with him.

If they officer had no idea how powerful the MRI magnet was I honestly can't fault him for what happened. I had no idea until I watched a show about MRI's, and I've had a couple done already myself.

The tech should have made it perfectly clear that it would yank the gun. The officer obviously had no idea the magnet was that strong...

Just my take on it...
 
I've heard stories of how strong those magnets are. It must have freaked that cop out when his gun got ripped form his hand. Then he couldn't remove it from the magnet.

That would make an interesting security device for firearms...lol

And I've had MRI's and they always made sure I had absolutely nothing with me when I went in the room. Not like a gun but like a neck chain or a nail clipper or anything that could be attracted by the magnet.
 
Something ain't right here....

Is it possible it hit the magnet so hard that the firing
pin forward of the stop was still able to move and hit
the primer?

At first I thought "oh series 70" but then I saw the pics
of the pistol in question.

Assuming the safeties all work correctly, this is very
bizarre.

I'll probably never have to worry about this, given that I have
two very large screws in my right leg. They probably won't let
me anywhere near an MRI.


-Mike
 
I can't believe the stupidity of someone trying to remove a loaded pistol from the MRI with the magnet still on after the pistol discharged unexplainably once already.
 
Is it possible it hit the magnet so hard that the firing
pin forward of the stop was still able to move and hit
the primer?

At first I thought "oh series 70" but then I saw the pics
of the pistol in question.

Assuming the safeties all work correctly, this is very
bizarre.

I'll probably never have to worry about this, given that I have
two very large screws in my right leg. They probably won't let
me anywhere near an MRI.


-Mike



This is what they say more than likely happened.....

"The gun likely discharged as a result of the effect of the magnetic field on the firing pin block. The firing pin block was probably drawn into its uppermost position by force of the magnetic field. The firing pin block has to overcome only light pressure from a relatively small spring to release the firing pin. The pistol was likely drawn into the magnetic field so that the muzzle struck the magnet's bore first. With the firing pin allowed to move freely in its channel, the force of the impact on the muzzle end was sufficient to cause the firing pin to overcome its spring pressure and move forward to strike the primer of the chambered round.

This account explains how the weapon discharged when the thumb safety was engaged.

The presence of an empty cartridge in the chamber explains why the gun did not discharge a second time when it was moved from the left to the right side of the bore. Even if the identical forces were repeated, an empty cartridge, not a live round, was in the chamber at this time."
 
Menino will now be screaming for MRI machines for the streets of Boston!
Hey, if we put them on Routes 95, 93 and 91, it will keep those out of state guns from making their way into Massachusetts.

Sorry, no coffee yet.
 
I'll probably never have to worry about this, given that I have
two very large screws in my right leg. They probably won't let
me anywhere near an MRI.


-Mike


My wife can't have an MRI because she is full of metal in her legs and her wrists I believe.

They have something else called an ARI or something...for people with metal in them.
 
I had an MRI done on my knee a couple weeks ago. One of the questions I was asked was if I had a gun on me. I said no. I didn't' have it on me, it was in my bag which got locked up in a locker outside of the MRI room.
 
My Dad use to sell MRI's and he use to entertain me with stories at night.

-One was a hospital in NY that did not shield the ground properly, which in turn made the unit function improperly, and one subway line to suddenly stall on the tracks.

-Another was a forklift that lost one of the forks sticking a poor guy against the machine.

-Man hitting cardiac arrest with a pace maker.... etc...

I try and keep my credit cards safe before I go in that room.
 
Since I have ten screws and two rods in my spine I don't think I will ever see the inside of one of those tubes of doom again!
 
Since I have ten screws and two rods in my spine I don't think I will ever see the inside of one of those tubes of doom again!

I have two plates and 18 screws in my femur and have had an MRI with no problem. I was told Surgical steel is not a problem. BUT, I am not a MRI Technician


Good heavens gentlemen!! If you ever do need an MRI, for crying out loud, make sure you're not loaded!!

[smile] (sorry, I couldn't resist [wink] )
 
Interesting. I work with MRI machines daily. Carry too, just am careful not to go into those rooms. :)

You only have to worry about ferrous metal by the way, most pins, screws etc in the body are stainless or aluminum I believe and you can get into an MRI just fine.

I recall hearing about this a while ago, it's a 2001 article I believe.
 
What is powder made out of? Primers? Firing pin?

I believe there are 3 magnetic metals (nickel, iron, cobalt) not including rare earth metals. So if any of the above have one of those metals in them, it's possible they were shocked, such as the firing pin being 'sucked' into the primer, shock to the primer, or shock to the powder (clearly I'm not a scientist...[rolleyes] )


I'd be interested to see what the cause was.
 
Does the gun pick up any magnetism from this? If so, could it cause weird things with magazines and the slide action? Would junk stick to it?
 
I believe most medical implant steel is 316L stainless steel. Is is not very magnetic. At one point I had a stainless steel plate & 8 screws in my right ankle that wouldn't activate the Portland ME or Cleveland OH airport screening portal or wand.
 
I can't believe the stupidity of someone trying to remove a loaded pistol from the MRI with the magnet still on after the pistol discharged unexplainably once already.

Considering that the slide lock was on and the empty case not ejected, it was reasonable to assume that the chamber contaiend an empty cartridge.
 
What is powder made out of? Primers? Firing pin?

I believe there are 3 magnetic metals (nickel, iron, cobalt) not including rare earth metals. So if any of the above have one of those metals in them, it's possible they were shocked, such as the firing pin being 'sucked' into the primer, shock to the primer, or shock to the powder (clearly I'm not a scientist...[rolleyes] )


I'd be interested to see what the cause was.


No, what they are saying is that the firing pin block resistance was overcome by the magnet, so when the gun struck the side of the magnet muzzle first the firing pin was forced forward with enough force to discharge the primer.
 
I can't believe the stupidity of someone trying to remove a loaded pistol from the MRI with the magnet still on after the pistol discharged unexplainably once already.

Considering that the slide lock was on and the empty case not ejected, it was reasonable to assume that the chamber contaiend an empty cartridge.

I disagree.

That was the evaluation of the expert after the fact. At the time of the incident it's clear to me that no one in the room had a full understanding of what was going on. More importantly, there can be no assumptions when it comes to safety.

Pulling a large piece of metal off of one of these magnets is a major undertaking. They were fortunate that this MRI had a magnet that could be turned off. Trying to move the object by hand with the magnet on is just silly.

Other types of MRI's have permanent magents and when things get stuck to them they use a winch to remove the items:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question698.htm

I worked around an MRI once and was given strict instructions before entering the area. The fact there were no warning signs around the entrance to the MRI is a huge mistake.
 
Anybody watch TV show "House" they had an inmate with Tatoos that used Lead based ink and he wasn't a happy camper in the MRI machine.

Mythbusters had an episode on tattoos being affected by an MRI it's a myth plus the ink was LEAD base lead is not magnetic
 
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