Posted on 07/11/2008 4:23:55 AM PDT by marktwain
An incident recently occurred at an outpatient imaging center in western New York State, in which a firearm spontaneously discharged in a 1.5-T MR imaging environment with active shielding. To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of such an occurrence.
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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.
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The weapon's thumb safety was reportedly engaged when the gun discharged.
(Excerpt) Read more at ajronline.org ...
“enjoy your big fat mostly plastic tinker toy.”
Since you are looking to start a fight, i’ll point out that the Glock will still be firing when that 1911 relic you have is lying jammed, broken or empty. I will admit that the 1911s have it over glock in the looks department. Does your RR have matching or mismatched parts?
If they have been in for more than a couple of mos the are OK, but they will degrade the image. The worry about metal is something small (ie fragment) that will move to somwhere that it can cause big trouble
For example, welders should not have MRIs - there is a high liklihood of fragments of metal in the eyes that could shift and cause problems with visions. And of course, pacemakers are big no no’s
Wow!
It sounds like he wasn’t listening to the technician.
IF you’d bother to read the story at the link, you’d find 1) all safeties were engaged, 2) the muzzle connected with the wall of the magnet, causing 3) the free-floating firing-pin to strike the round in the cocked-and-locked chamber. You guys disappoint me.
I have several stainless steel staples in my chest from open heart surgery, and I later had several MRI’s no noticeable effect from the magnet though.
“MOLON LABE!”
IF you bothered to read ANY of my later posts, you'd find that I've ALREADY corrected myself.
Thank You.
It never jams, has never broken(why would it?)....and I AIM (and hit what I aim at), I don't “spray and pray.....” so unless you put up a division against me, I win.
Missmatched parts? hard to tell, the slide, barrel and frame are all RR. did some armorer miss match the parts? being they are not serial numbered it would be hard to tell, but I shoot and enjoy it for what it is.....
Tactical Tupperware Tantrum
Stupid cop. MRI = MAGNETIC .... what's in a pistol? METAL.
This isn't a spontaneous firing; this is a negligent discharge from someone too stupid to realize that you don't bring ferrous metals anywhere near a running MRI.
Does the design take into account EVERY part being manipulated by an external force? The forces around the MRI magnet are not limited to triggers and external safety releases, they pull on ALL parts, making them move in ways that were probably not anticipated by Colt.
I’m glad this “fight” is over the internet. If not, everyone would be ducking and running for cover like it was high noon. ;-)
Ah, yes. I once worked for a biotech company who rented lab space in a medical building. We were fine until we started losing data from some of the workstations, and mysteriously the backup tapes (in the same room) were wiped as well. So my partner and I were in there scratching our heads over the whole thing when she says “Holy stuff, lookathat!” or something close to it. There were three paperclips stuck to the wall. Somebody had rented the space next door and installed an MRI machine. Dangedest thing we ever saw.
To make the situation even more interesting, the newer 3 Tesla (3T) magnets have an acceleration factor up to 14 times greater than than the 1.5 T magnet in this story and are thus much more dangerous when ferrous materials are present in the vicinity.
Besides the danger and fear factors contained in this story, mention was made in passing of having to turn off the magnet to remove the pistol. While this is a relatively easy process, it is also an expensive one. The last bill I received after a magnet quench (turning off the magnet) was over $140,000. Sometimes you can prevent this expense by pulling the item out of the magnet (the only such incident at a facility I worked in concerned a metal mop bucket brought into the space by a new employers who ignored the signs), took a nylon rope and 12, yes I said 12, full grown men to remove it. Superconductor magnets are not to be trifled with.
Irregardless of any other precautions put in place, the ultimate responsibility for MRI safety is the technologist working with a MRI machine. NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY should lay a hand on the door of that MRI room without the MRI technologist giving permission for that person to do so, and then only after through questioning and inspection of that persons corpus.
It is not only external materials that are potential problems. Internal parts (replacement hips, other joints, ear devices in kids, cardiac stents, brain stents, etc.) are also a potential danger to the patient during an MRI study. Orthopedic implants should be in place a minimum of 90 days before a patient has an MRI, while incomputable metallic implants in soft tissues can and will move and heat up during an MRI exam.
Folks, If you are ever unsure of what to do when getting one of these exams done, make sure you ask the technologist and share your concerns with him/her.
Be safe, be well.
Not necessarily.
Many support people in the medical field fall into two levels of training and capabilities. My ex-wife, for example, took a 4-year course (and received a BSc degree) at a major university to become a medical technologist.
She could run lab tests (or even the lab itself) and do quite a number of other things which were outside of the knowledge and expertise of a 2-year degreed medical technician.
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