275-Pound Woman Says Hospital Told Her to Use Zoo MRI

FoxNews.com ^ | 01/13/2009 | Fox News

[Tidbit]

When a 5-foot, 275-pound woman found out she had a tumor on her spine, she was told by her local hospital to go the zoo to have a MRI because a regular MRI machine could not hold her weight, myfoxkc.com reported.

[Tidbit]

Yet another case of failure by an individual to accept personal responsibility for her situation. Instead of insisting that MRIs be built to hold the morbidly obese, perhaps Mrs. Ragan should lose weight.

[CindyDawg]

275? That doesn’t sound right.

[Badeye]

Whats interesting is this is a two year old incident.

[svcw]

Hog wash. It is not her weight alone but the fact she is fat and short makes her mass to large for the MRI.
Those machines are really tight. Its like they are made for kids.

[CindyDawg]

275? That doesn’t sound right.

[TheWasteLand]

From the article, it sounds like she was too wide for the machine, rather than being just too heavy.

[CindyDawg]

Yeah. I thought about that after I posted.

[ArrogantBustard]

Superconducting magnets are really expensive, as is the liquid helium required to cool them to their operating temperature.

The cavity in the MRI machine is the inside of the magnet.

[river rat]

Once again - a make believe “journalist” get it wrong....

I’d bet the farm is was the woman’s GIRTH that presented the problem...

5’ tall and 275 — she probably wouldn’t fit!
They’re tight!

[shibumi]

Something not right here.

I’m 6’0” and weigh#340. Had many MRIs.

No problem.

[John Will]

that’s a weight you would expect to see in men over 6’4 when they are relatively decent shape.

[vetvetdoug]

Zoos don't have MRI’s capable of penetrating large animals of which I am aware. I remember once at UT we had a hippo at the Knoxville Zoo that we feared had some coins in it that were causing heavy metal poisoning. All of the normal radiographic machines could not penetrate a hippo, not human, not veterinary. I was in the Tn NG at McGee Tyson NG base and knew we had a radiographic machine that was used to go through the metal of the KC 135’s to diagnose micro cracks in the metals. Took that machine to the zoo, knocked out the hippo, and got a good radiograph...

[Doogle]

.."at least I can see where I used to groom"

[CommerceComet]

About ten years ago, Pullman (Washington) Memorial Hospital didn't have a MRI machine. When I needed my knee examined, I had to make an appointment with Washington State University School of Veterinarian Medicine to use theirs. SOP then. I'm guessing that the hospital now has its own machine but hey the vet school is only about 2-3 blocks away.

[ArrogantBustard]

They’re tight!

No joke ... they had me fill out a multipage questionnaire, with several items about claustrophobia.

I'm 5'8", 190.

When they shoved me into that little tube, I immediately understood why they asked about claustrphobia.

[mnehring]

Ragan said. “I thought, I know I’m big, but I’m not as big as an elephant...

Well... maybe a baby elephant.

[mnehring]

She is only 5’ so she probably is very wide, maybe can’t fit.

[SamAdams76]

Well about 6 years ago, I lost over 100 pounds. On April 1, 2003, I weighed 307 pounds. By the end of that year, I was down to 197. I've crawled back up into the 220 range since then but still exercise daily, watch what I eat and feel great. And at 6' 3", 220 is still not a bad place to be weight-wise.

Hopefully this women's shame and humiliation will be the trigger to get her to adopt a healthier lifestyle. I had a few degrading experiences when I was fat that ultimately made me want to take the weight off and keep it off. I should say that if not for those bad experiences, I might not even be alive today as my doctor (back when I weighed over 300 pounds) told me I had severe hypertension and was a high risk for heart disease and type II diabetes.

Today, blood pressure normal, healthy heart and no signs of diabetes.

So instead of feeling offended, going through the elephant's MRI could be a positive turning point in this women's life. I hope she uses this experience as an opportunity for self-improvement instead of an opportunity for self-enrichment (by suing the doctors).

[mnehring]

Hopefully this women's shame and humiliation will be the trigger to get her to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Well, in all fairness, in her case with a tumor on her spine, maybe that is keeping her sedentary.

[allmendream]

Fatty fatty two by four
couldn’t fit in the MRI door.