A Brazilian lawyer tragically died after his gun was discharged by an MRI machine’s magnetic field at the hospital.
The freak accident occurred on January 16 while the gun-loving lawyer, named Leandro Mathias de Novaes, was taking his mother to get scanned at the Laboratorio Cura in São Paulo, Jam Press reported. Unbeknownst to hospital staff, the attorney had a registered firearm in his possession.
Staff had reportedly asked the pair to remove all metal objects before entering the MRI room, as is protocol at hospitals due to the device’s powerful magnetic field. However, Novaes decided to go in sans announcing his concealed weapon.
Disaster struck after the machine yanked the weapon from his waistband, causing it to go off and strike the lawyer in the stomach. He was subsequently rushed to the São Luiz Morumbi Hospital, where he hung on for weeks, before eventually succumbing to his injuries on February 6.
Following the accident, a spokesperson for Laboratorio Cura released a statement, in which they claimed that they’d followed all “accident prevention protocols” as was customary in all MRI units.
“Both the patient and his companion were properly instructed regarding the procedures for accessing the examination room and warned about the removal of any and all metallic objects,” they declared.
The facility’s PR added that both Novaes and his mother signed a form regarding the protocols, but that the lawyer failed to mention his weapon and entered the unit with it “by his own decision.”
A police probe confirmed that the weapon was registered and that the attorney had a valid license for it.
Novae’s passing rocked the Sao Paulo law community. “It is with deep regret that OAB Cotia communicates to all fellow lawyers the unexpected loss of our dear friend and lawyer Dr. Leandro Mathias de Novaes,” said a spokesperson for the Order of Attorneys of Brazil in Cotia in a statement. “We are sorry for the loss and we sympathize with his family in this moment of pain.”
Before his death, Novaes had frequently posted pro-gun content to his more than 8,000 followers on TikTok.
This isn’t the first time someone has died in a freak MRI accident. In 2018, a 32-year-old Indian man perished after being sucked into an MRI chamber while holding a metal oxygen tank.