The Bombay High Court has ordered the municipal government of Mumbai, Brihanmumbai Municipal (BMC), to pay interim compensation of 1 million Indian rupees (approximately $14,000 U.S.) to an Indian family whose relative was killed in an MRI accident at Nair Hospital in January 2018.
Two justices ruled that the death of 32-year-old Rajesh Maru was caused due to the negligence of the hospital authorities and that evidence led the court to "strongly conclude" that, "but for the negligence of the hospital authorities, the unfortunate accident wouldn't have occurred," according to a September 17 report in the Mumbai Mirror.
Maru was pulled into the bore of an MRI scanner while carrying an oxygen tank into the suite for his mother-in-law, who was about to undergo a scan. The magnet pulled the tank and Maru into the bore, where the cylinder exploded, and the man died shortly thereafter of complications from pneumothorax after inhaling the gas. An internal hospital inquiry led to charges of negligence against the ward boy, Vitthal Chavan, and a female attendant.
A preliminary report into the death also blamed an "overburdened" staff at the Mumbai hospital for not following proper security and safety procedures at the time of the accident.
The scanner eventually was repaired and returned to service on a limited basis in late October 2018.
