Woman Left Inside CT Scan Machine for Five Hours

Posted on Sep 30, 2007

Think about lying inside an MRI or CT scan device for half an hour. Now think about a technician leaving you inside it with a buzzer squawking, locking the doors, flipping off the lights and going home.

This was the nightmare Elvira Tellez lived last week at an oncology center in Tucson, Arizona. And it may be the only time in her life she didn’t think about her cancer.

After lying inside for what seemed a good half hour, she called out to the technician but heard no answer. Screaming didn’t help. She then wiggled out from under a rubberized blanket and “wormed” her way out of the fiberglass cocoon. When she tried to leave the building, she couldn’t unlock the door. Her only salvation was to call her son, who dialed 911, according to the Associated Press.

A 25-Minute Procedure Took Five Hours

When Pima County sheriffs arrived to the locked facility, they coached her to unlock the door. Deputy Dawn Hanke contacted the Arizona Oncology Associates (AOA) manager, who was unaware a patient had been left inside a scanning machine. Tellez was admitted overnight to a hospital for precautionary reasons, then released the next day.

"I don't know what to think," Tellez said in Spanish. "I think and think and think, but I can't understand it."

Ted Eazer, director for AOA, said his center has revised its “closing” protocol to prohibit the incident from repeating itself.

What was supposed to be a routine, 25-minute procedure took five hours. The 67-year-old patient was sent there for scans to see if her cancer had spread.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g4WpybGkA9sxp2b6ext-RBoaO_FQD8RUMN9O0

This was the nightmare Elvira Tellez lived last week at an oncology center in Tucson, Arizona. And it may be the only time in her life she didn’t think about her cancer.

A 25-Minute Procedure Took Five Hours

"I don't know what to think," Tellez said in Spanish. "I think and think and think, but I can't understand it."

Ted Eazer, director for AOA, said his center has revised its “closing” protocol to prohibit the incident from repeating itself.

What was supposed to be a routine, 25-minute procedure took five hours. The 67-year-old patient was sent there for scans to see if her cancer had spread.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g4WpybGkA9sxp2b6ext-RBoaO_FQD8RUMN9O0

This was the nightmare Elvira Tellez lived last week at an oncology center in Tucson, Arizona. And it may be the only time in her life she didn’t think about her cancer.

A 25-Minute Procedure Took Five Hours

"I don't know what to think," Tellez said in Spanish. "I think and think and think, but I can't understand it."

Ted Eazer, director for AOA, said his center has revised its “closing” protocol to prohibit the incident from repeating itself.

What was supposed to be a routine, 25-minute procedure took five hours. The 67-year-old patient was sent there for scans to see if her cancer had spread.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g4WpybGkA9sxp2b6ext-RBoaO_FQD8RUMN9O0