This doesn't track to me. People have been irrationally afraid of things since the dawn of time, based purely on hearsay (see religion). And surely even the simplest of language serves to warn about unseen dangers.
Entering the MRI room myself I was very familiar with the dangers of bringing metal inside, to the point where I would second guess myself and my own body. "What if my leg bone actually has metal in it for some reason?!"
There are people who flock towards information about technology (probably almost everyone here as well as many in their social circles) and there are people who run from information about technology.
I know people who if you tried to explain an MRI to them, would become visibly uncomfortable and search for any way to change the topic.
>I know people who if you tried to explain an $X to them, would become visibly uncomfortable and search for any way to change the topic.
Expected behavior. Explanations of complex topics are to be rejected if explainer does not have sufficient authority to make behaver hold-still-and-listen.
I know such folk, too, and this is among the thing about people which annoys me to no end. If a MRI tech tried to explain the shit to one such acquaintance, they would try to change the subject like you say. OTOH, if the doctor in charge tries the same, the listener will instead have to zone out. But zoning out is a more expensive operation, as any zooner knows. (Which is why they hold doctors, lawyers, and other semi-priests in high reverence, up to pushing kids to take up these rather joyless professions to the exclusion of all sense.)
Peeps here equally well-behaved other way round tho. C-f "mal" = 0. Geez I really needed to witness the absolute by-the-book Freudian slip that can be found at 1:55 of one of the probably infinite interview cuts, then have MRI safety explained to me by hacker noosers on their Monday morning.
And medicine might, to some, seem like the use of science to save lives, but hey -- a shooting war is also a kind of competitive puzzle solving, and I assume there are people who find joy in that, too.
It’s certainly bad enough that you shouldn’t be able to enter a room with an operational MRI machine just like that, as a normal guest with no training and no escort. One cheap RFID reader could have saved a life here.
It’s probably of the “if it’s in your head, it can’t be anything other than titanium” variety. It’s not like they’re going to break open your head to check.
Wouldn’t your head have started to get pulled towards it as you approached, so maybe you could stop approaching once you felt something weird going on in your head?
Powerful electromagnets don't work like that. They may switch on and off, and if you are in range, the motion is almost instantaneous.
Its not like in the movies where you have to be right up on it, and certain materials may attract at higher rates depending on the amount of ferromagnetic materials affected by the flux.
Field flux lines may also be warped depending on the geometry so its possible the drop-off wasn't calculated properly during initial facility design, or it changed.
Walking through the wrong door can have consequences as the news has reported.
Both can be true. We learn to fear and respect modern technology because of training and reinforcement that might occur as part of learning.
Consider the “Things I Won’t Work With” column. There is a healthy degree of respect for various compounds that’s learned with experience. This is similar to the way that (properly trained) electricians work with electricity, and nuclear plant techs work around radioactive material.
There's lots of ways we could have metal in our body. A hip replacement, a forgotten piercing, old tooth fillings, maybe you accidentally swallowed some piece of metal.
If MRI scanners are this deadly, everybody should be really thoroughly screened and scanned to be allowed into the room. And even into the room next to it. How can the door of that room open while the machine is still turned on? (Edit: apparently the magnets in these machines usually can't be turned off, which changes the question to: how was he allowed to enter the room at all?)
But wearing such a heavy chain while accompanying your spouse to an MRI scan, is also not the best move.
> There's lots of ways we could have metal in our body. A hip replacement, a forgotten piercing, old tooth fillings, maybe you accidentally swallowed some piece of metal
One of the reasons they ask what you do for work is because if you're doing some sort of job that involves working with metal (e.x. cutting pipes, welding, etc) there are extra precautions to take.
Indeed. The hospital will pay a lot of money. Metal detectors are insanely cheap, there's no reason why there shouldn't be one before reaching the door as a default cautionary measure.
Depending on how or where they are installed, they risk being pointless. Every human has mental on them and it’s mostly safe (in shoes, bra, zips, buckles, access swipe card). Little bits of jewellery are fine. Surgically implanted metal is mostly fine.
Having an alarm that goes off for a staff member’s bra 200x a day leads to normalisation of hearing the alarm, and the unsafe things gets missed.
Of course you don't want to ignore that alarm 200 times a day. That's why I'd rather just ban everything with metal. All of these things have non-metal alternatives that you could easily enforce in such a specialized setting. Why wouldn't you, if it can save lives?
What does this mean? I thought you can't get close with any ferrous metal whatsoever. If it beeps, you're not allowed in. It's not like in an airport where "oh it's just a coin".
My first MRI I confirmed I have no metal on my body to the technician, but by the time I was inside I suddenly remembered I have metal fillings. I was so stressed by the time the machine turned on, but yeah no problems at all
True, but the RF coils do get turned on & off. Heating of non-magnetic metal from the radio waves used for scanning is another concern, not just magnetic force.
Entering the MRI room myself I was very familiar with the dangers of bringing metal inside, to the point where I would second guess myself and my own body. "What if my leg bone actually has metal in it for some reason?!"