Tragic accident of a man who entered an MRI machine with a gun  

The 40-year-old lawyer died

A 40-year-old Brazilian lawyer, an advocate of gun ownership, entered the MRI room to accompany his mother who was to have the test. Despite verbal and written warnings to remove all metal objects from him, Leandro Mathias de Novaes kept his concealed pistol on him, oblivious to the danger. As soon as the scanner was activated, the gun went off, wounding him in the abdomen. Two weeks later, he succumbed to his injuries at Sao Luiz Morumbi Hospital.

To image the inside of the human body, the MRI uses 1.5 – 3.0 tesla of magnetism to force the protons in the water molecules to orient in the same direction. A low-energy electromagnetic pulse moves the particles, which depending on the surrounding materials of the body, take different times to return to their starting point. This difference in proton movement translates into a precise imaging of our organs. When using the MRI scanner, the magnetic field is enough to pull the metal objects around it. Smaller objects, such as jewelry, can cause local burns because an electrical current is generated which is converted into heat.

According to local police, Novaes was an experienced gun user, had a firearms license and the gun was registered. Exactly how he went off is not known, nor do we know if he simply forgot it on him or disobeyed the staff’s instructions. In any case, it is a tragic reminder that metal objects are very dangerous around an MRI. In 2018, a 32-year-old Indian man had met a tragic death when the hospital’s MRI machine pulled him into his room with a rush, while holding an oxygen cylinder.