In the early hours of February 26th, a man in Wuhan was trapped in an MRI machine at Tongji Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology for 6 hours until he was discovered by a cleaner in the morning. The doctor involved explained that it was due to a handover error, and both she and the doctor taking over have been suspended from their duties. The hospital issued an apology, but compensation has not yet been discussed.
On March 12th, according to reports from mainland media, Mr. Tang from Wuhan recounted that on the evening of February 25th, he went to the Han Kou branch of Tongji Hospital alone for a neck pain issue and was scheduled for an MRI examination. Around midnight on the 26th, Mr. Tang lay on the MRI machine in examination room 2. As required, he left his phone in the room, his head was fixed by the doctor, and his face was covered with a mask.
“As usual, the machine kept making noise. But this time, I felt like the duration was unusually long. Later, sensing something was wrong, I shouted out to the doctor, asking ‘Is it done?’ but there was no response.” Mr. Tang said that at that moment, he realized that he might have been forgotten on the machine.
Initially, Mr. Tang planned to figure out a way to get out himself, but hearing the MRI machine still making noise made him too afraid to move. So, he continued to shout intermittently, taking breaks in between, and then resuming when he regained strength.
In the morning of the 26th, Mr. Tang heard some commotion outside the examination room and quickly called out. “It should’ve been around 6 o’clock. The cleaner came to do the cleaning, heard me calling for help, and called security to release and bring me down.”
Mr. Tang said that since he had not returned home after going out and his calls were not answered, his wife went to the hospital looking for him. After finding no trace, she reported to the police on site, but the security on duty, after checking the medical records, claimed that Mr. Tang had completed the examination by 12:10 am.
Mr. Tang mentioned that when the police checked the surveillance footage, they couldn’t find him, and the security guard insisted that he had already completed the examination. “My wife couldn’t find me all night. It wasn’t until I got my phone back that she learned I was tied to the machine all night.”
On March 12th, the doctor in question told reporters that she had secured Mr. Tang to the machine, started the examination, and then got busy with other tasks, leaving early. Before leaving, she marked Mr. Tang as “examination completed” on the system and informed colleagues that Mr. Tang was still under examination. Unfortunately, the colleague taking over forgot to check the machine.
The doctor admitted that both she and her colleague were responsible for the incident, and both had been suspended from duties on the day of the incident.
Tongji Hospital has apologized to Mr. Tang, but they have not reached an agreement on whether he suffered any physical damage or on the compensation issue. The hospital suggested that he pursue legal recourse.
Following the reporting of this incident, it has garnered attention on social media platforms and has become a trending topic on Weibo.
Netizens expressed their thoughts, with one stating, “MRI scans are really uncomfortable, even those without claustrophobia feel suffocated, especially with the loud noise at the beginning. Keeping someone bound in there all night definitely constitutes a medical accident.”
“I’ve had an MRI scan before, and the claustrophobia is truly suffocating. I can’t imagine how he managed those six hours.”
“When I was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage, I underwent an MRI for the inner ear and spinal cord imaging, and spent an hour inside the machine. It felt like I was suffocating; the claustrophobia in that confined space was unbearable.”
“To forget a living person in the MRI chamber for a whole night during shift change, the standard procedure requires getting on the machine, double-checking, getting off, and dual signatures, and none of these steps were followed. Being suspended is definitely justified.”
“This hospital isn’t genuinely apologizing; they should proactively offer compensation instead of making the victim pursue legal action.”