Patient Breaks out of MRI Machine due to the Negligence of Hospital Staff

Negligence in a hospital staff is creating a bad impact on the whole realm of medical malpractice. According to the legal rule, if hospital staff is committing any negligence, the hospital is legally liable for malpractice committed by a doctor, nurse, or other health care providers who are working in the hospital.

The same situation has taken place in Haryana, In a shocking incident, a patient in Haryana's Panchkula was compelled to break the MRI machine belt to come out of it after the doctors and hospitals technicians conducting the scan and forgot him inside the machine.

The person named Ramhar Lohan, a 59-year-old patient had dislocated his left shoulder while driving a two-wheeler and the doctors suggested him for an MRI scanning. He went to Panchkula civil hospital for the scanning. One of the technicians at the hospital asked him to stay inside the machine for 10 to 15 minutes. He was waiting for the staff after 15 min but when no one approached him for over 30 minutes he started feeling suffocated as the machine temperature was rising.

He told that "I was advised MRI scan by Dr. Lalit Kaushal. The staff who was conducting my MRI scan had told me that it will take only 10 to 15 minutes. But when they did not remove me for more than 30 minutes I started crying. Nobody responded". He was shouting for help nobody came to help as he remained stuck inside the machine. "Nobody was in the machine room when I was struggling to come out," he said.

"The machine was overheating and I was feeling suffocated. I tried to release myself but I was tied to the machine with a belt. When I noticed that if I did not come out of the machine I may die, I made the last attempt and was able to break the belt," he said. Meanwhile, Amit Khokhar, the in-charge of MRI Centre, denied the allegations and said the patient was advised for a 20-minute scan and they were about to take him out but he was in a panic state.

"The technician had to take the last three-minute sequence. It was during the last two minutes when the patient panicked. He was not stable and was advised to remain in the machine," Khokhar said. He also claimed that they helped Ramhar Lohan to come out of the machine. However, the patient was saying that he was not helped by the hospital staff.

The patient had also filed a police complaint and had also informed the Health Minister and Director of General Health and demanded action against the hospital staff and the Doctor. SHO Rajiv Miglani said he had received Lohan's complaint "The department probe is currently on. We are waiting for the final report. Suitable action will be taken against the staff if found guilty," Rajiv Miglani said.

Meanwhile, the patient has also taken a copy of CCTV footage of the MRI scan center and has threatened to sue the hospital for carelessness.