Yes, that’s right, a recent news story from the NBC television affiliate station in Jacksonville, Florida, provides an account of how an off-duty police officer’s pistol wound up stuck to their MRI scanner, and cost the provider something in the neighborhood of $150,000 to remove!
Nearly all MRI accidents that wind up the subject of civil lawsuits conclude the same way… in confidential settlement protected by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). This makes it extremely difficult to get to the facts associated with any particular accident. Currently the highest profile MRI accident (the death of a young boy from a flying oxygen cylinder) is in pre-trial litigation and is our best window into the legal responsibility of Technologists and providers. Today, however, I learned of another suit in which a Tech is suing her former employer for willfully putting off needed system repairs that compromised image quality and diagnostic value.