Man in China goes for 20-minute MRI scan, gets forgotten & left strapped in machine for 6 hours

A man's 20-minute MRI scan at a hospital in Wuhan, China, turned into a six-hour session in the machine after doctors forgot about him at the end of their shift.

He was only freed the next morning when a cleaning staff member heard his cries for help.

'Why isn't it over yet?'

According to local media reports, the man, surnamed Tang (transliteration), visited the Wuhan hospital for soreness in his neck.

He was ordered to undergo an MRI scan.

On Feb. 26, Tang went for the scan. He lay down with his head secured to the table and a mask over his face.

He believed it would be a routine scan that would be over quickly.

However, after 30 minutes, things started to feel off.

He called out, "Why isn't it over yet?", but was met with no reply.

He called out again to ask if anyone was present or manning the machine.

Again, there was no response.

Tang shared that, in that moment, he had wanted to free himself from the machine but chose not to as it was still whirring and did not want to risk getting hurt.

He spent the rest of the night crying out for help.

Six hours later

Tang was only freed at around 6am the next morning after a cleaning staff member heard his cries and alerted security.

By then, his wife had alerted the police after not hearing back from him.

It was later discovered that the hospital security told the police that Tang had completed his scan on Feb. 26 at 12:10pm, citing records.

Doctor marked scan as done before heading off

The attending doctor explained that the error occurred due to a mix-up during handover.

She said that after putting Tang in the MRI machine, she hurriedly left to work on other tasks.

Before she left, she told a colleague that Tang was still in the machine but marked his scan as complete.

However, the colleague later failed to check if there was anyone in the machine and, as such, Tang was left in place.

The scan was only supposed to take 20 minutes, the doctor said.

According to Global Times, the hospital said in a statement that the on-duty staff had violated handover procedures, resulting in the error.

The staff involved have been suspended, and a hospital-wide review of protocols has been initiated.

The hospital has also apologised to Tang for the error.

Top image via Canva