Magnetic Attraction
- Police on Friday were investigating what they called a bizarre incident following an overnight burglary at a Carol Stream doctor's office.
An officer responding to the burglary walked into an MRI room at the office on the 600 block of East St. Charles Road Friday morning, the building's owner said. The MRI machine's magnetism pulled away the officer's gun, which became stuck in the machine.
Because there is no way to turn off the magnetism, the gun remained in place and no one was allowed inside the building.
We understand these things aren't built with an "off" switch - they're hardwired into a power source and run pretty much until disabled by the installing company.
Labels: info for the police
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
52 Comments:
Funny story but why didn't the janitor (sorry not politically correct)I mean Maintenance Engineer just close the circuit breaker?
I'm not sure how this could happen, I have a cardiac stent and have had several MRI 's so why that little tube of stainless steel didn't get sucked out of my artery is a mystery.
I believe that. I recall being onthe job at St Josephs Hospital .
They had signs, in the MRI room NO FERROUS METALS BEYOND THIS POINT.
MRI machines are no joke.
Prisoner guard, the mope had on leg irons...
"Well... We can leave his legs outside the machine."
POWER: off/(ON)
Mope's feet shot straight into the air and mope started screaming because the hasps magnetically tightened... VERY HARD!
The docs, techs and everybody that saw it were laying on the floor doubled up with laughter.
Imagine any forgetten about body piercings?
It actually happens often enough. I know of several suburban cops that it's happened to. The gun can be removed from the casing, it typically takes a couple strong men to get it clear and then it's wise to send it back to the factory because the magnetic field can potentially alter the metals of the gun. A couple times idiot nurses (who unlike cops should know better) have let oxygen cylinders get into the units, sometimes killing people.
The magnets are supercooled superconductors, it takes days to shut them down. Recooling them costs multiple thousands of dollars worth of liquid helium and nitrogen.
There has to be a fail safe on something like this right? A power disconnect maybe?
OFFICER SAFETY ALERT!
Thank God no one was hurt.
>There have been cases where people with steel plates in their heads have been swooped up and killed by these machines.<
Stay Safe, why isn't there a BIG RED or BLUE EMERGENCY CUT-OFF BOX on the wall like there is for oxygen, water and vacuum.
I spoke with an MRI tech recently and was told there is an emergency shutdown that can be initiated. It dumps / vents all the liquid nitrogen, helium, whatever,... and it apparently shunts the energy in a way that is destructive to the shunt.
All in all, the machine would then be down and out for at least 6 months and has to be recommissioned at huge expense.
The machines store vast amounts of energy and the level is topped off and managed constantly. The impression I received was there might be millions of joules of energy invested and hovering inside an active MRI unit.
When things like guns or chairs get stuck to machines an incident report must be made and it is taken very seriously. I was told that in life threatening emergencies, the protocol is almost uniformly to evacuate the afflicted individual to a safe location away from the MRI where paramedics or other personnel can safely approach and render aid.
I think the perp first saw this in a Roadrunner cartoon
see, the Coyote orders this big magnet from ACME...
Listen, it's a supercooled permanent magnet. YOU CAN NOT TURN IT OFF. The electronics simply alter the field so you can create an image, the magnet is always attracting. The prisoner story: bullshit, doesn't work like that. Medical hardware is mostly titanium today, used to be stainless steel, in grades that are non-magnetic. Not all stainless is non-magnetic, so don't think because you've got a stainless steel blaster you're OK, you're not.
Yes, there's emergency venting procedures on some units (there's multiple manufacturers, it's big business) that dumps the liquid helium(couple thousand bucks worth) and the magnet will still take days to warm up to a level where it's not superconducting and the magnetic field goes to reduced power. It may damage the unit(thermal cracking) and it's multiple tens of thousands of dollars expensive regardless. I've dealt with several officers who have lost their guns, cuffs, keys, flashlights, belts(belt buckles) and all sorts of other stuff to the magnet. It's not cool, you can be injured; it rips the gun right out of your hand. If your finger is within the trigger guard, you may lose it, and you may even get an ND.
Like I said, once or twice a year, someone with their brain turned off who should know better brings metal into a unit and kills somebody with a piece of steel at a couple hundred fps.
All of these facilities are well marked. Pretty much all non-third world body ornaments are non-magnetic. If you're been shot, most bullets have no steel, maybe some third world stuff. If you've ever worked as a machinist or handyman/automotive/etc, metal fragments embedded in your skin will heat up and burn you, I'm told it feels like acid. Can't imagine that's good. A very serious risk is foreign metal embedded in the eye. Yeah, that's no good.
So seriously, if you have go within a medical facility that has an MRI unit, and many do today, for a premises search or something, it might be better to just call the site contact # and wait for them to show up.
Much better to find "Joe" stuck to a magnet to make fun of, than yourself.
Luckily for me, I've balls of brass. Big motherfuckers they are.
12:15......true stainless is NOT magnetic!
mcgoof may try to use this as a another strategy to take guns from gangbangers!
I was a ffer in the suburbs where the hospital had two of these. We were trained on safe entry and they had a metal detector at the entrance. When we tried to get the PD trained the chief told us to forget it, his guys knew what to do and didn't need to waste their time. Yeah, right.
Anonymous said...
I'm not sure how this could happen, I have a cardiac stent and have had several MRI 's so why that little tube of stainless steel didn't get sucked out of my artery is a mystery.
2/10/2013 12:15:00 AM
Stainless is a NON FERROUS METAL and is not magnetic.
Retired hospital DRAIN surgeon
I work in the med imaging field. There is no quick cut off. Like the previous post says there is a process, but it's complicated and possibly damaging to the equipment. The magnetic field from an MRI machine is stronger than the earth's magnetic field by about 20 thousand times (no exaggeration) sometimes way more. Here's a brief video. Imagine if this were an oxygen tank. The tank becomes a missile. I've seen a demo where a tennis ball full steel shot breaks three cinder blocks. That magnet is no joke.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KuzTyn45og&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Serious or not, that's still some funny shit. Another good cop story.
To 12:15. ---
Because genius stainless steel is not magnetic.
Anonymous said...
I'm not sure how this could happen, I have a cardiac stent and have had several MRI 's so why that little tube of stainless steel didn't get sucked out of my artery is a mystery.
2/10/2013 12:15:00 AM
Stents are made with austenitic stainless steel and are not magnetic.
My wife's late husband worked as a janitor in a hospital.His Stupidvisor thought the floor of the mri room was not clean to his liking.He ordered another janitor to buffer the floor.You can guess what happened.a photograph exist of the buffer inside the mri. Not sure what happened to
the supidvisor.
This can happen. Know of a police officer that was shot in the head and the bullet couldn't be removed. Doctors told him never to have a MRI, and if he gets hurt again, inform the doctor about the MRI
an episode of dr. house had a prisoner getting an m.r.i. and he had a bunch of jailhouse tattoos that caused terrible pain as the magnets pulled the ink thru the skin.... dr. house knew that would happen and he just enjoyed the hell out of it.....me too.......
There is a sign at all MRI installations warning about bringing metal parts there. It is not the kind of thing that can be easily missed either. He almost had to have deliberately chosen to ignore the warning sign.
I'm not sure how this could happen, I have a cardiac stent and have had several MRI 's so why that little tube of stainless steel didn't get sucked out of my artery is a mystery.
===========
most stainless steel is non-magnetic. they probably make stents out of non-magnetic material.
Obama will roll MRIs down every street in America on order to grab people's guns.
Cop probably thought the switch was a light switch.
Should of had one of them plastic glock guns...
>>>Anonymous said...
Funny story but why didn't the janitor (sorry not politically correct)I mean Maintenance Engineer just close the circuit breaker?
2/10/2013 12:14:00 AM<<<
The title JANITOR comes from the Roman two faced god Janus. The month of January come from this mythological god. Janus was the god of beginnings and endings and of doors and gates hence the two faces. A JANITOR in Roman times was the night watchman of the villa, guarding the front and back doors of the master’s property.
To turn something OFF, you OPEN a switch or circuit breaker.
Maybe Rahm and McFucknuts will put a large MRI machine in the West Side and the South Side and see how many evil guns they can swoop up.
12:15
Many stainless steel formulations are not magnetic.
Also detailed medical questions are asked before MRI's especially if you are in a field where you grind metals in any capacity.
Thanks for this info I will keep this in mind when responding to burglaries at doctors offices.
Anonymous said...
I'm not sure how this could happen, I have a cardiac stent and have had several MRI 's so why that little tube of stainless steel didn't get sucked out of my artery is a mystery.
2/10/2013 12:15:00 AM
I don't know how you can not know this, but your stent is made from stainless steel and has no iron in it, thereby not attracted to magnets.
From my wife, one who runs an MRI department. Stents and other implants can be constructed of materials that are MRI safe. These machines have power sources that control the use of the machine. That being said, the magnetism of the machine is always on and extremely powerful. MRI's are superconducting magnets that are cooled by liquid helium. There are emergency shut down mechanisms that vent the helium and thus lower the strength of the magnetism. What this does is boils off the helium, if not done properly, can create an explosion hazard. By utilizing this emergency procedure, the cost is hundreds of thousands of dollars and the down time to company.
The magnet's power can be lowered slowly and under the supervision of the manufacture so that the machine can be serviced. This is more that likely what will be done to retrieve the officer's handgun.
When it comes to MRI machines. These machines are no joke and cause serious harm to you. If you are chasing a suspect into a room that has one of these machines, STAY OUT. Remember this anytime you go into a hospital or medical facility
Why don't they install hundreds of them in 015,007,002 etc. Make me a sgt. in charge of the booze!!!!!
4 8 15 16 23 42
fail safe numbers
Double Tap said...
Luckily for me, I've balls of brass. Big motherfuckers they are.
2/10/2013 07:08:00 AM
yeah, we hear them clanking as you stroll down the avenue.
I remember reading an article in a police magazine where a copper checked out a burglar alarm with negative results at a MRI office but his gun magnetized and later wouldn't fire at the range?
"Because there is no way to turn off the magnetism, the gun remained in place and no one was allowed inside the building."
So this is forever?
Can people go in and retrieve a few belongings or does the whole place have to be entombed in concrete now?
"Because genius stainless steel is not magnetic."
2/10/2013 09:26:00 AM
Except genius when it is.
Anonymous said...
I'm not sure how this could happen, I have a cardiac stent and have had several MRI 's so why that little tube of stainless steel didn't get sucked out of my artery is a mystery.
2/10/2013 12:15:00 AM
I don't know how you can not know this, but your stent is made from stainless steel and has no iron in it, thereby not attracted to magnets.
Believe it or not, under extremely high magnetic fields even non metallic objects can become suseptible to magnetism. Look it up numnutz.
Stainless steels CAN be magnetic. It depends on the alloy/series. Modern steels used for stents and what not are non-magnetic. Ordinary carbon steel is magnetic but what is it alloyed or plated with? Nickel etc?
The leg iron story sounds like "once upon a time" when MRI tech was just coming into wide use.
Bullshit? Maybe. Maybe not, but possible.
That wasn't an MRI machine it was the democratic machine.
Stainless is a NON FERROUS METAL and is not magnetic.
Not true. Look up stainless steel on wikipedia when you have about an hour to kill and feel real interested.
Stainless needs to have enough nickel in it be non-magnetic. Silverware for instance: The good stuff is 18/8 or 18/10, and is not magnetic. 18/0 has no nickel in it and is magnetic.
Charge that MRI with Disarming an Officer!
Anonymous said...
Stainless steels CAN be magnetic. It depends on the alloy/series. Modern steels used for stents and what not are non-magnetic. Ordinary carbon steel is magnetic but what is it alloyed or plated with? Nickel etc?
The leg iron story sounds like "once upon a time" when MRI tech was just coming into wide use.
Bullshit? Maybe. Maybe not, but possible.
2/10/2013 07:59:00 PM<<<
How about using FLEXCUFFS?
(Movie script I'm working on.)
Bad guy gets shot full of steel bird shot and thown on a MRI machine.
The power is slowly turned on.
I will leave the rest to your imagination and the Special Effects Department.
How about some facts instead of parroted content?
Industrial manufacturing and fabrication here.
Yes, they all have iron in them(element Fe) or they aren't steel. "Stainless" appelation refers to CHROMIUM content(NOT nickel) for superior corrosion resistance. As in, no Rust stains... However, yes, it is still capable of degrading/corroding away by all the usual suspects: heat, salt, contact with other metals like aluminum/ferrous iron/etc, just not as easily or quickly.
400 series stainless is magnetic(many of your pocket/tactical knives have 410/420/440 stainless?) Yup magnetic sticky.
300 series stainless is not magnetic. Usually named as 'surgical stainless'.
There- THOSE are simple facts you can quote, if you disagree, you are sadly mistaken.
~JO:)
How about some facts instead of parroted content?
Industrial manufacturing and fabrication here.
Yes, they all have iron in them(element Fe) or they aren't steel. "Stainless" appelation refers to CHROMIUM content(NOT nickel) for superior corrosion resistance. As in, no Rust stains... However, yes, it is still capable of degrading/corroding away by all the usual suspects: heat, salt, contact with other metals like aluminum/ferrous iron/etc, just not as easily or quickly.
400 series stainless is magnetic(many of your pocket/tactical knives have 410/420/440 stainless?) Yup magnetic sticky.
300 series stainless is not magnetic. Usually named as 'surgical stainless'.
There- THOSE are simple facts you can quote, if you disagree, you are sadly mistaken.
~JO:)
300 series stainless is not magnetic
===========
316SS and 316LSS are not magnetic
304SS sometimes is weakly magnetic.
Very interesting and thought-provoking postings on this; recently saw a new MRI being installed, it was millwrights and riggers doing it, in through the side of the building they'd removed. Says "heavy."
NO FERROUS METALS BEYOND THIS P
I dunno about "flex cuffs" either -- some of the heavy cable ties have a little piece of steel molded in as the "ratchet."
Complicated world.
"Because there is no way to turn off the magnetism, the gun remained in place and no one was allowed inside the building."
2/10/2013 04:07:00 PM
Using AMPCO (Beryllium copper tools, ask firemen what you use on a leaking tank car or gas main, etc.) hammer, punches, chisels, pry bars, you might be able to knock the magazine down out of that gun, knock the slide open to clear the chamber, then work the remains off there somehow? Cheaper to attack even a $1000 gun than bringing down such an expensive magnet. Just a thought, maybe a starting point to develop a procedure for this and other objects? (Best to obey warning signs in first place, that is agreed.)
Better have 100% non-magnetic EYEGLASSES on, or there they go and there you stand blinking...jeez.
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