Technicians at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center recently performed an unusual operation on a different kind of patient. Surgery was undertaken to remove a floor buffer from an MRI machine, according to a news report.
“MRI” is short for magnetic resonance imaging. Despite a warning sign not to get metal objects near the powerful diagnostic machine, a hospital worker placed the buffer close enough that it was swallowed.
The story says one person working on the bufferectomy lost an earring, while another’s hearing aids were ruined.
One thing about this operation is not unusual: a horrendous bill. The story says healing the MRI machine will cost at least $200,000.
While the MRI is sure to recover, there’s no word on whether the job of whoever left the buffer nearby will survive.
