Family sues hospital after daughter left in MRI machine
ISTANBUL
Parents of a 7-year-old girl have sued a private hospital in Istanbul, demanding 1.5 million Turkish Liras in compensation, claiming that their daughter suffered from burns during an MRI scan.
Doctors at the hospital where the girl was receiving treatment, decided that she should have an MRI scan. Elif’s mother Elçin Küçüksorgulu took her to the hospital in June this year for the scan.
Anesthetics were given to the girl before being admitted to the scanning room. The procedure was supposed to last for 45 minutes.
She was taken out of the MRI scanning room two hours later, and according to Elçin Küçüksorgulu, the hospital staff did not inform her about the resulting health condition of the girl.
Elif came out of the scanning room with bandages wrapped around her hands and arms. When the doctors unwrapped the bandages, the mother saw the deep wounds on a thumb and an index finger as well as her arm.
The parents filed a complaint about the hospital.
“The hospital management did not inform the parents about what happened in the MRI room and sent her home, asking the parents to bring her back the following day to redress the wounds,” explained the family’s lawyer.
The medical report prepared by the hospital indicated that the burns occurred during the MRI scanning procedure, the lawyer added.
Elif has already had surgeries due to the wounds and must have two more medical operations, the lawyer said in a petition submitted to the court.
Acting on the criminal complaint filed by the family, the prosecutor’s office opened a legal case against four people on charges of reckless injury, seeking up to one-year imprisonment.
In the report, prepared by the prosecutor’s office, it suggested that the MRI machine at the hospital has failed frequently in the past.
After the accident, the first-grade student Elif has been having difficulties holding pens and has suffered from stress, the lawyer said, adding that the family is seeking 1.5 million liras in compensation.