Mumbai MRI death: Gory details of the man who got sucked in machine

A 32-year-old man Rajesh Maru died in January 2018 at Nair hospital in a freaky and gross case of negligence — trapped under an MRI machine. Maru was killed when he inhaled excessive oxygen that oozed out of the cylinder when he entered the MRI room with a relative, who was there to undergo the scan

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners use strong magnetic fields, electric field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of organs in the body. Metallic objects are not allowed in MRI rooms. As regards the Nair Hospital incident, the patient's family members said they were made to remove all such items, including mobile phone handsets, before going inside. They claimed the ward boy said the oxygen cylinder could be carried in the room as the machine was not switched on. A relative of the victim said the powerful magnetic field of the machine pulled Maru towards it along with the oxygen cylinder. (Representational picture)

Rajesh's father Galal Maru told mid-day, "Harish and Rajesh were wheeling Laxmi on a stretcher to the MRI room. When they reached outside it, they were asked to remove their gold ornaments and other metal items they had on them. A ward boy asked my son to hold Laxmi's oxygen cylinder and go inside. Rajesh even asked him then if the machine was on, but the staffer merely said this was their daily work and not to worry."

Rajesh's father Galal Maru added, "The minute he stepped inside, the machine pulled him. His hand holding the cylinder got trapped in it, leading to the cylinder's flow meter breaking and the oxygen leaking, directly onto his face. Harish and the ward boy started to try and free him, and succeeded only after his left ring finger broke. But by the time they took him into the emergency ward, he was dead."

A team from electronics giant Philips and senior doctors visited Nair hospital's radiology department to inspect the culprit MRI machine. Work to remove the oxygen cylinder and deceased Rajesh Maru's severed finger was then started. Also, an internal committee was formed to make more stringent rules at radiology wards to prevent such incidents in the future

Three days since the death of Lalbaug resident Rajesh Maru, 32, who died after getting pulled into an MRI machine at Nair hospital and inhaling liquid oxygen, the family had to wait for his severed finger, which remains attached to the machine along with the oxygen cylinder he had been holding at the time of the accident

Family of Lalbaug resident Rajesh Maru, 32, who were desperate to finish the last rites completely, paid a visit to the hospital only to return empty-handed. A family member said, "We are Hindus, and it is essential for us to cremate all body parts for peace to the deceased's soul. While we have cremated him, we need to do the same to his finger. So, we have been making rounds of the hospital to retrieve it."

In this moment of grief, another tragedy  struck the bereaved family — Laxmi Solanki, 65, mother-in-law of Rajesh Maru's sister for whose treatment he was at the hospital that day, succumbed to her illness

It was Laxmi that Maru had been escorting to the MRI room on January 27, as per doctor's orders, for a scan. Maru had been carrying her oxygen cylinder, which the hospital staff allegedly asked him to take along inside the room, even after he expressed apprehension over taking a metal object inside. The staff told him not to worry and go in, but the minute he stepped inside, the machine pulled him, trapping his hand holding the cylinder. His finger broke during the attempts made to free him

The final rites of Maru was done. However the family is now waiting for the severed finger. Now, as per officials, experts from Philips, the manufacturer of the MRI machine, were supposed to start working to remove the oxygen cylinder and the finger from it. But as a police investigation is underway, the MRI room has been sealed and they have been asked to wait. "As the police investigation is going on, the company has been told not to start its work yet; we have kept the room sealed as requested," said a senior health officer from BMC

The police registered a case against three people — Dr Saurabh Lanjrekar, 24, ward boy Vitthal Chavan, 35, and maid Sunita Surve and arrested them

Idzes Kundan, additional municipal commissioner (health) said, "Through the CCTV footage, we found out that the ward boy and female attendant at the MRI centre didn't follow the safety rules. They should have stopped Maru from going inside with the cylinder. They have already been suspended and we will hold another inquiry against them. This was just the preliminary report, there will be another, more detailed one." Dr Ramesh Bharmal, the superintendent of the hospital, said he is unaware of the findings of the report