Neither have I. But the answer is that it can be triggered to fire.
It can also fire if you just bring it near an MRI machine.
So on balance it is probably best that you accept the small risk of being attacked by a zombie hoard while unarmed in your time receiving a medical scan.
From the second article:
It also merits noting that the facility where the accident occurred followed safety precautions and screened both the man and his mother for the presence of metal, receiving signatures from both assuring that they understood the dangers of having metal within the magnet’s reach.
This isn’t just an issue with firearms; patients and people in attendance are warned that all items with ferromagnetic materials will be drawn toward the powerful magnetic field generated by the machine, and people have been injured by all manner of innocuous objects. I would opine that (presumably concealed) firearms are not something that should be necessary in any clinical context, but some people just don’t listen to safety briefs or understand consequences.
Stranger
How the heck does someone manage to get a gun into the MRI room? Every MRI I’ve ever had has involved me changing into a hospital gown before the procedure. How do you keep a gun hidden under a gown?
I had to fill out a form before an MRI. List any surgical procedures that may leave metal in my body.
I asked about the fillings in my teeth.
Hard to believe any one got in there with a gun.
I’ve never had an MRI, but when I was in college my science club was allowed a tour of an MRI facility. At the time I wore a two or three inch megalodon tooth on a necklace, wrapped by myself with I guess it was clothes hanger wire. The tooth stood up horizontally in reaction to the magnetic field. (But I didn’t get close enough for it to go sailing away.)
I might have. But given American society (and healthcare system) I had absolutely no doubt that people taking guns in MRIs was a frequent occurrence.
I’ve written before about seeing a poster with photos of MRI mishaps while in a staff-only area in a hospital. Lots of small items, car keys and whatnot but also fire extinguishers & oxygen cyls aplenty and several office chairs awkwardly stuck to the side of the machine.
Accompanying a prisoner in custody is one way.
Actually, I already knew from reading the news over the years that MRI machines can defeat various firearm safety mechanisms:
https://www.ajronline.org/doi/full/10.2214/ajr.178.5.1781092
Pro tip: also avoid ferromagnetic gas cylinders
What hospitals do not have strict rules against bringing firearms onto hospital grounds? And, if a cop did manage to barge in, how did he or she get past the MRI technician? (I suppose threatening them with a gun might work…)
The guy in Brazil was not the patient but the patient’s son who was helping her around (which is an argument for letting only the staff assist the patient but in much of the world is a normal thing to let family help) and he was a known activist who may have felt entitled to blow off the warning form he signed.
More generally though there has been an effort to make imaging suites less intimidating, more welcoming. In some cases I have not worn gowns but scrubs, or just been told to drop my pants or take off my shirt.
But this as we see has the collateral issue of people just treating it all too casually… and people too used to always carrying everywhere can grow to just think of that of course I have my gun on me even in here, why could I possibly leave it behind?
We hear about guns or fatal injuries because of the shock factor but one can imagine a bunch of people having to duck as stuff in someone’s pocket gets yeeted by the nagnetic fields but it doesn’t make news as it just puts a dent on the housing.
Hey, maybe we could send Rep. Lauren Boebert for an MRI. She won’t got anywhere without her gun.
Heck, even without ammunition, a gun-sized chunk of steel can kill or seriously injure someone, just by being pulled with great force towards the machine.
I was thinking, also how you got past a complete removal of clothing. I was asked even to remove all undies. Apparently underwire bras are a great big deal.
All jewelry and medical appliances gone. I have metal in my jaw. It’s never caused problems. I guess it’s non-metallic,or whatever the word is.
Much more problematic, is bringing ones gun into a hospital is just not done. Anymore than a school.
I’ve heard concealed gun carriers say they don’t give a crap about gun free signs. I’m sure plenty of concealed weapons go into hospitals every day.
And then go on about how “law-abiding” they are.
In general, someone coming out of anesthesia is not someone I’d want to be able to have quick access to a gun.
That makes no sense. They should encourage people to shoot each other in hospitals, it’s the safest place to do it.
I kept my underwear on, not having underwire undies.
The woman in the first story signed off on not bringing anything dangerous into the room, clearly not thinking guns are dangerous. She shot herself in the buttocks, barely missing her brain.
No fecal, no foul.
Stranger
“Guns don’t injure people, MRIs injure people!”
Their logic is: 2nd amendment!!!
Yeah, the cognitive dissonance is strong in the gun nut culture. It’s a reason I no longer associate with it even though I enjoyed my time competitive shooting and long ago, the nuts were on the fringe but by the time I distanced myself, they had taken over and become the norm.