An MRI is not supposed to be a scary or painful medical procedure.
Patients mostly complain about having to remain still for so long in the same position.
But what happened to this nurse will have many Americans terrified of getting an MRI.
There are many medical procedures that fill patients with fear and make them dread the day of their appointments.
The thought of an invasive procedure like a colonoscopy or a catheter can be terrifying for many patients.
Much like an X-ray, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not a procedure that fills patients with terror and fear.
The Mayo Clinic’s website describes an MRI as a “medical imaging technique that uses a magnetic field and computer-generated radio waves to create detailed images of the organs and tissues in your body.”
“Most MRI machines are large, tube-shaped magnets,” the site reads. “When you lie inside an MRI machine, the magnetic field inside works with radio waves and hydrogen atoms in your body to create cross-sectional images — like slices in a loaf of bread.”
Unlike X-rays, MRI’s can be used to show injuries to ligaments, tendons, and other internal body parts.
But a routine MRI scan recently turned into a terrifying experience for one nurse in California’s Bay Area hospital.
“From the outside, it was an ordinary February day at Kaiser Permanente’s Redwood City Medical Center, but inside the MRI center, an MRI technologist had just finished a call and heard screaming coming from another room,” KTVU reported. “The hospital bed was pulled uncontrollably into the MRI machine by its magnetic force as seen in photos obtained by KTVU,” KTVU continued. “A nurse became pinned between the bed and the machine and suffered crushing injuries.”
Nurse Ainah Cervantes explained that she had to run backwards to prevent being smashed to pieces by a bed the MRI magnet was pulling across the room.
“I was getting pushed by the bed,” she said. “Basically, I was running backwards, if I didn’t run, the bed would smash me underneath.”
The incident resulted in a severe laceration that required surgery for Cervantes.
This included the removal of two screws embedded in her from the MRI magnetic pull.
MRI expert Tobias Gilk said if the machine hooks onto an object, then it does not stop being magnetically attracted to it.
“It keeps pulling and pulling and pulling, squeezing to try to get the magnetically attracted object closer to, in contact with the MRI scanner itself,” he said.
He said there are likely thousands of incidents that go unreported each year.
This incident will certainly have many Americans nervously asking questions the next time they go in for an MRI.
