Patient had lower limb traction.Preparing to transport for mri imaging, staff disconnected the traction and laid the weight bag on the bed by his feet.Everyone assumed it was a sandbag.The facility had both sand bag weights and iron shot weights and generally didn't differentiate.The weight bag was more than ten years old and the tag indicating that it was filled with metal shot had curled so it was not readily visible.The handheld ferromagnetic scanner used on the weight bag's brass grommet did not alarm, so the bag was allowed to enter the room.As they approached the magnet, the gurney was pulled out of their hands and toward the magnet.The bag slid along the bed and up under the patient, causing pain but no worsening of the injury.Staff quenched the magnet to release it.
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