Nurse crushed by accident with MRI machine | KTVU

A "freak accident" left a nurse crushed by an MRI machine at the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Redwood City. KTVU 2 Investigates.

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[chrisgraves]

I was an MRI tech for several years. We are trained about the dangers, how to screen etc, in addition to the actual testing. We use non- ferromagnetic stretchers to transport any patient into the MRI suite. Clearly, this was a hospital bed that the patient was transported on. I cannot tell you the number of times I had to physically stop nurses, doctors, etc from not heeding my warnings and directions to not enter the room as they had magnetic suseptible equipment on or were trying to carry into the room. Oxygen tanks etc. Extremely dangerous. I was often told that they were doctors, nurses and they knew what the were doing and was talked down to by them as they felt they were more qualified or whatever. They're not in regards to radiology/MRI. I told them you are in my house here in the MRI suite and I am responsible for the patients safety and yours and if you cant follow my directions I don't care who you are and to exit the suite. 21 years in the field.

[tereseduffy]

This is not a freak accident. This is gross negligence! MRI use precautions and safety requirements have been well established and they failed to follow them. Everything that they did is directly related to them choosing not to follow the requirements.

[SixOhFive]

My doctor used to work at Kaiser for a short time and he said they have a rule for all physicians that they can only spend 15 minutes with each patient max! And if they spend more time with each patient they will fall way behind and get in trouble. They have to see 32 patients per day, everyday. My doctor would spend as much time with each patient as they required, and he would routinely stay at work until 9 pm when the hospital closed. Management came to him and said he can't do this anymore, he walked and never came back! Love that man!

[emobassist]

Seeing a whole hosptial bed mangled in a MRI machine is horrifying

[Absaalookemensch]

As a trauma/ICU nurse, I've transported hundreds of patients to/from MRIs.
I've never heard of this happening. But we are losing experienced medical staff at record numbers for the next decade or so.

[verucasalt]

I am an MRI technologist. Obviously, there were so many things that were neglected that allowed this to happen.
The hospital bed was brought into the room, maybe by the nurse. The hospital staff is briefly trained in the safety of being in the MRI department. Those that rarely are in the MRI department may not remember, I’m NOT placing blame on the nurse. If the hospital bed is outside the room with the door open, the bed would be far enough away that it wouldn’t be pulled into the room, unless the MRI suite is crazy small, not the case here. That being said, at NO time should anything ferrous be brought near an open MRI room door. IF staff are properly trained, the routine is to ALWAYS have to MRI room door closed.
It’s the MRI tech’s job and their big
responsibility to make sure nothing is brought into the room without being checked. The patient needs to be screened and put on a nonferrous stretcher before being brought into the room.
Before an appointment can be made, initial screening takes place.

I’m grateful that I work at a hospital that uses overkill to be sure we’re always as safe as we can possibly be. The only things that have gone into one of our magnets are something the patient brought in. Ultimately, it’s the MRI tech’s job to make sure nothing like this ever happens. If you walk away from the MRI room, that door needs to be shut with a sign stating no one can enter without a MRI tech.

[rurutherussian]

There are so many measures taken to prevent this from happening, we literally have entire classes dedicated _purely_ to just MRI safety. This was easily avoidable.

[TrentEngineFan]

I cannot begin to imagine how painful that must’ve been. I hope that nurse fully recovers.

[carolmaresca]

I've had many MRI tests. Thank God the people involved in my tests were professionals

[ericaminnis]

I'm a nurse and we are aware of the danger of MRI machines...but it's just so scary that this actually happened.

[JRN]

That’s insane. Poor nurse. I hope she recovers. I hope the patient is ok.

[McJiver]

Imagine... getting crushed by an MRI scanner only to have to be put right back into one for your own injuries.

[sonofzorro]

Having worked at Kaiser as a radiologic tech, I can say that Kaiser routinely understaffs, puts pressure upon the staff to work at an unsafe speed, and puts 100 percent of the blame on them for any safety incident. The training that used to be a part of normal medical practice is eschewed in favor of making money, and anyone who complains faces harassment and threats of termination.

[interrupted]

I left nursing years ago…the medical system is BROKEN!

[JustMe-dnfh]

I hope this nurse recovers and is restored to good health.

[darkwolfe]

That's not an accident, that's negligence

[Cynthia]

Even as a student nurse decades ago, I was properly taught about patient safety when bringing a patient down to them. We had a checklist.

[johnsonofjohn]

An MRI suite has four safety zones: Zone 1 is the waiting room and hallways outside the MRI suite. Zone 2 is for patients and family who haven't yet been screened for MRI safety. Zone 3 is all the areas adjacent to the scanner room. All or parts of this area may be within the magnet's field. Only screened patients, MRI techs and staff trained in MRI safety are allowed in this zone. Zone 4 is the scanner room itself, which is fully within the magnet's field. An MRI magnet is always on! No one except MRI techs should enter this zone unless cleared by the tech. There should be locked doors between Zones 2 and 3. And a lock on the door to the scanner room. No equipment - not even a crash cart -- is ever taken from Zone 2 into Zone 3, much less Zone 4. The fact that a nurse was able to roll a hospital bed all the way through to Zone 4 without encountering locked doors or MRI staff indicates a severe lapse in safety standards.

[bubbercakes]

I would almost guarantee that the nurses were not trained properly and were under pressure to get too much done in not enough time. The insurance companies now run the hospitals with devastating results. 😟

[Jennifer_Layne]

This was not a freak accident. It was negligence of the part of Kaiser. They will be paying out a hell of a lot more when the injured nurse and patient get through suing them. Unbelievable!!