Handgun in MRI suite shuts down imaging center

[scouter-rick]

Handgun in MRI suite shuts down imaging center
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
October 8, 2009

An imaging center in Jacksonville, FL, was shut down for one day last week when a handgun was pulled inside an MRI machine by its magnet.

Jacksonville TV station WJTX reported that an off-duty Jacksonville Sheriff's Office deputy was hurt on September 30 when her hand was trapped between the police-issued Glock handgun and the magnet.

According to the report, Joy Smith was in the MRI room at Beaches Open MRI when she apparently forgot about her gun, which was pulled into the machine, trapping her hand between the gun and the scanner.

Smith freed herself, but the gun remained stuck for hours while the machine was powered down.

Beaches Open MRI closed for the rest of the day and an MRI technician had to be flown in to fix the machine. WJTX estimated that the downtime cost the center $150,000. The facility, which handles more than 30 patients a day, reopened the next day.

 

[icyclefar]

Well, thats one way to disarm a person!

 

[Neptune Cat]

A Glock?? I thought metal detectors couldn't even detect them. Must be a mistake.

 

[jenlynn724]

The MRI techs should have known better..

 

[dagwag77]

Well, thats one way to disarm a person!

Next headline is going to be - "MA uses MRI Machines to disarm those entering state buildings."

 

[Underwhere]

I wonder what would have happened if they had a gun deep carried.

I can just imagine a cop hanging by their crotchal region stuck to the top side of an MRI

 

[drgrant]

"THE MAGNET IS ALWAYS ON!!!!!!"

(shamelessly ripped from one of the labs here at work).

And they mean it, too. One guy brought a wrench or something like that
too close to the thing with the magnet (it's some microscope that has a huge
magnet in it for whatever reason) and the wrench got sucked into the side of the machine and cost $30,000 worth of damage.

People are eeeediots.

-Mike

 

[EddieCoyle]

It reminds me of that Roadrunner cartoon when Wile E. Coyote turned on the big magnet and sucked in the Eiffel Tower and a rocket.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

When I was living in Rochester, NY in the early 80's one of the local shooters was a local cop and all around good guy.

In the small world department, I noticed he was a published author in a medical journal in 2002: http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/reprint/178/5/1092.pdf His article is more interesting as the gun discharged.

 

[Realtor MA]

The MRI techs should have known better..

In the moments preceding an MRI not only is there a written form to fill out, but they must ask a million times if you have any metal piercings, implants or metal objects of any kind.

 

[icyclefar]

In the moments preceding an MRI not only is there a written form to fill out, but they must ask a million times if you have any metal piercings, implants or metal objects of any kind.

Well that explains it, everyone knows Glocks are made of plastic.

 

[zeppelinfromled]

I did an internship (more of a job shadowing) with a neurosurgeon in college, and I was down with patients at the MRI several times. The techs left everything outside the room on a shelf. But they did let me wear my belt in once, and get close to the machine so that I could feel it pulling on the buckle. That was pretty cool.

But when I had my outpatient MRI on my leg several years back, the techs just asked me if I had everything out of my pockets, and they mentioned several things that people tend to forget. You should really have to go through a metal detector before you can get an MRI. I don't trust patients to remember.

 

[appraiser]

well I'll never get to have an MRI due to all the metal in me I guess.

I was looking in a tool catalog one day and there was a whole section of IIRC Ti tooling for use in MRI proximity. Ti ain't cheap, and it sucks to machine, so it was really pricey stuff

 

[Skald]

Well, having dealt with some of Jacksonville's Finest, right now they quality of the force isn't exactly the highest, but they do have some great officers. On Sunday I was at Church and the Sheriff had written to the area churches to try and get a higher quality officer (Dated August 29, 2009).

 

[massgun]

How did her hand get trapped? Was she holding the gun or did she get hold of it as it flew out of her holster? If it flew out of her holster, it was obviously not a retention type.

 

[maee]

Well, at least it proves that Glocks actually do have more metal in them than your typical cracker jack toy!

 

[Reptile]

In the moments preceding an MRI not only is there a written form to fill out, but they must ask a million times if you have any metal piercings, implants or metal objects of any kind.

If a guy or gal is too embarrassed about a piercing in the nether regions- they are going to be sorry.



Also, a similar accident happened a couple years back. I think the link was on NES too. A cop had a 1911 and after it was pulled at the MRI machine, it fired a shot into the wall. No injuries. There was a discussion of how that should be impossible but it happened.

 

[Gooman24]

How did her hand get trapped? Was she holding the gun or did she get hold of it as it flew out of her holster? If it flew out of her holster, it was obviously not a retention type.

I don't think any retention holster is going to stop a magnet that strong.

 

[kerismo]

The MRI techs should have known better..

We do not routinely frisk our patients... but we do have to ask a litany of questions and review the patient's answers to a written questionaire.
There is usually an EXTENSIVE screening process that may include going through a metal detector depending on the magnet strength.

The fringe field on some of the open units is quite large and becomes overwhelming at a scale that is frightening, it is not a gradual thing either. It goes from 0---oh my crap! in the blink of an eye.

So, Yes, the tech probably did know better.

BTW most of you are only aware of the magnetic properties of an MRI machine but it also has oscillating RF as well. enough power to make your nerves tingle and melt plastic catheters inside your body.

 

[Palladin]

I built the MRI at McLean Hospital in the early 90's...everything in the room and above the ceiling has to be non ferrous. all electrical boxes, connectors, screws, etc. The cabinet guy used regular screws for the doors..they were testing the machine and we watched the screws back out and fly across the room!

 

[Zappa]

It's been awhile, but it happened again:

Cop's Gun Stuck In MRI Machine In Carol Stream

Police on Friday were investigating what they called a bizarre incident following an overnight burglary at a Carol Stream doctor's office.

An officer responding to the burglary walked into an MRI room at the office on the 600 block of East St. Charles Road Friday morning, the building's owner said. The MRI machine's magnetism pulled away the officer's gun, which became stuck in the machine. Because there is no way to turn off the magnetism, the gun remained in place and no one was allowed inside the building.

Full Story >>> Cop's Gun Stuck In MRI Machine In Carol Stream | NBC Chicago

I don't understand how they can't turn off the magnetism, these are electro-magnets, right ???
Won't shutting off the power make it cease ????

 

[DonKroob]

You can shut them down, but doing so requires what's called a quench. In this procedure, you release all the cryogenics in the jackets surrounding the magnets (liquid argon and liquid nitrogen), but doing can easily lead to a dangerously low oxygen environment. Doing this also increases the temperature of the magnet quickly and can lead to permanent damage of said magnet, which can cost easily $500,000.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Wouldn't have happened if the cops all used those guns Feinswine has railed about, you know the ones that can go thru a metal detector undetected!

 

[Spanz]

She is lucky to be alive. A young kid was killed once when an unsecured gas bottle on the other side of the room was picked up by the mri magnet and crushed him. In engineering terms, those are cryogenically cooled BFMs

If you are getting an mri...make sure you leave anything metalic in the locker. And if you see anything metal left in the room, demand it be taken out by the technician.

 

[Spanz]

You can shut them down, but doing so requires what's called a quench. In this procedure, you release all the cryogenics in the jackets surrounding the magnets (liquid argon and liquid nitrogen), but doing can easily lead to a dangerously low oxygen environment. Doing this also increases the temperature of the magnet quickly and can lead to permanent damage of said magnet, which can cost easily $500,000.

you can turn off the current flowing in the magnet and shut it down. you do not have to cool it off first.

 

[DonKroob]

you can turn off the current flowing in the magnet and shut it down. you do not have to cool it off first.

I'd didn't say you have to cool it first. When you shut down the magnet, which does involve turning off the current, the magnet heats up, causing the cryogenics to evaporate. You have to vent these gases or wait for the entire thing to blow up.

 

[MA_Shooter]

I'd didn't say you have to cool it first. When you shut down the magnet, which does involve turning off the current, the magnet heats up, causing the cryogenics to evaporate. You have to vent these gases or wait for the entire thing to blow up.

We've had to bring down our magnets before and it usually take a couple of days to do it properly. I'm surprised the sudden change in the magnetic field didn't quench the magnet...that's happened before when a gas cylinder got too close to the NMR. I would have thought these were all shielded.

 

[Lcstyle]

Really, nobody's posted this yet?

Beaking Bad - YEAH BITCH! MAGNETS! OH! - YouTube

 

[Spanz]

Hmmmm. Never actually worked on a big cryogenic magnet, but it being cold has nothing to do with needing to have current flowing in it. I would have assumed you could just shunt off the current to an external resistor, and eventually (meaning a frew seconds to minutes) most of the B field would be gone. You could leave it cold.

But I guess not:"An MRI shut down is a lengthy and
costly process called a quench. It
takes more than just a flick of a
switch to shut down the MRI magnet.
Dangerous gases are expelled
during a quench and all personnel
must be moved out of the MRI Suite
for their safety."


http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...ufv811Q_RlqWmhFuhxASbzw&bvm=bv.42080656,d.dmg

What is this "dangerous" gas they speak of...helium?

 

[Spanz]

Sounds like they just did not want to incur the expense of venting the helium:
"A superconducting electromagnet more commonly found in hospitals can go through a process called "quenching". This can happen accidentally very occasionally or deliberately in an emergency. If, for example, someone was trapped between a large magnetic object and the scanner, the operator can hit the quench button. This blows valves leading from the scanner to the outside of the building, venting the liquid helium used to supercool the magnet in a gaseous form, and over several seconds the magnetic field will dissipate. This is to be avoided and only done in an absolute emergency.

The engineer can also perform a controlled quench for certain types of work to be done, but again, this is rarely done as it can take some time to get the scanner up and running again.

So, with just one or two exceptions, the magnetic field to an MRI scanner is never switched off, even if the computer side of it is shut down e.g. at the end of the working day."