Woman Shot in Buttocks During Bizarre MRI Exam Incident That Could Have Been Fatal
A Wisconsin woman’s trip to the doctor turned into a real pain in the rear earlier this year when an MRI machine she was scheduled to get into caused a firearm in her possession to discharge.
The unnamed woman was shot in the buttocks but was okay after the wound was deemed superficial.
The report of the shooting comes as the Food and Drug Administration released its annual report on issues that were reported throughout the year involving MRI machines.
According to the U.K. Daily Mail, the incident occurred in June in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and was among 102 separate nationwide reports of MRI visits that in some way went awry.
The Mail, citing the annual Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database, which is submitted to the FDA, reported the woman was 57 years old at the time of the incident.
Per the report, she neglected to disarm herself when she was asked to ensure she was not carrying any metallic items, which routinely include earrings and keys.
As she was preparing for an imaging session, she was shot by her own weapon.
It is believed the strong magnet in the machine caused the gun to go off, leaving the woman with distinct entrance and exit wounds on her right buttock.
The wound was described by a physician who was her as “very small and superficial.”
The woman was reportedly taken to a nearby hospital where she stayed briefly and went on to make a full recovery.
The Mail, citing the FDA report, noted she was asked beforehand if she had any metallic items in her possession, and she answered no.
It was not reported what caliber the weapon was.
Per the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, MRI magnets are used to produce a strong magnetic field “that forces protons in the body to align with that field.”
“When a radiofrequency current is then pulsed through the patient, the protons are stimulated, and spin out of equilibrium, straining against the pull of the magnetic field.”
The magnets used by the machine are so strong that in 2018, a man in India was killed while near one of them and carrying an oxygen tank, Live Science reported.
According to the report, the man was told by staffers at a medical facility that the machine was off and it was safe for him to go near the machine.
He was reportedly sucked toward the machine when the force of the magnet latched onto the oxygen tank, and he died after it was believed he accidentally inhaled liquid oxygen.
Two staffers at the facility were arrested for negligence.
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