The tragic freak accident that led to the death of a 32-year-old man after he was sucked into a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine at Mumbai’s BYL Nair hospital on Saturday evening was caused by hospital staff not adhering to safety protocol.
The mishap occurred after the victim, Rajesh Maru, walked inside the civic-run hospital’s MRI room with an oxygen cylinder. Within a few moments, his hand ended up getting stuck in the machine due to the machine's tremendous magnetic field that sucked him into it.
Not only did Rajesh end up losing two fingers, but he also inhaled an excessive amount of liquid oxygen that lead to his untimely death within a few minutes.
Under regular hospital protocol, patients are made to remove all their jewellery and remove any clothes with metallic buttons, zippers or fibre or any underwire before they are even allowed inside the MRI room. While his devastated family grieves the loss of a breadwinner, the ward boy and resident doctor, who were arrested for the incident, were let out on bail on Sunday night.
While Rajesh was rushed to the hospital’s casualty department, he was declared dead on arrival, after which his body was transferred to the state-run JJ Hospital in Byculla.
Speaking to THE WEEK, on condition of anonymity, a forensic doctor from JJ hospital said, “His blood samples have been sent for chemical analysis. The cause of death was determined as pneumothorax due to traumatic subcutaneous emphysema.”
A pneumothorax, or what is more commonly referred to as a collapsed lung, occurs when excessive air gushes into the space between one’s lung and chest wall. This results in a lot of pressure on the lung, as the air pushes it on the outside and makes it collapse.
An emphysema is a lung condition that takes place when the air sacs in the lung are damaged, resulting in shortness of breath or breathlessness.
Rajesh used to work as a salesman and was visiting the civic-run hospital to attend to his sister’s mother-in-law who is undergoing treatment for a viral infection in the ICU. He was carrying the oxygen cylinder to the ICU for the treatment of his relative, Laxmi Solanki, and had stopped by the MRI room as she was advised to undergo an MRI test.
According to Rajesh’s relative, Jitendra Maru, four people were present during this unfortunate accident, including Harish Solanki, the victim’s brother-in-law.
“On Saturday, it was our turn to get the MRI done for Laxmibai in the evening. They had reached the MRI room at around 7pm, and after repeatedly asking the ward boy present outside if it is safe to carry the cylinder inside, they stepped inside only after he assured them the machine was in fact, turned off, so they need not worry,” said Jitendra.
However, on stepping into the room, Rajesh was instantly sucked into the machine and was not only bleeding profusely after losing two fingers in the machine but also immediately fainted.
Following the shocking incident, police officials from Agripada police station booked and arrested two people: the ward boy, Vitthal Chauhan, and a resident doctor named Saurabh Lanjekar. They were charged with causing death by negligence.
Virendra Mishra, Mumbai Zone 8 DCP, said, “As this is a bailable offence, both the ward boy and resident doctor were granted bail on Sunday night. The case is being investigated further and we are questioning a female helper in the MRI room, but so far, no other arrests have been made.”
Despite attempts to reach him, Dr Ramesh Bharmal, dean of BYL Nair hospital, remained unavailable for comment.
