Don HasanFeb 11, 2023
Charlie Stross

Lawyer dies after his hidden gun goes off during MRI scan

Leandro Mathias de Novaes’ gun went off due to magnetic field in the MRI scanning room:

It's a superconducting electromagnet, mate. The metal detectors on the door aren't there for your explodey penis substitute, they're there because ferrous metals go ZOOOOM if they get too close to the high-Tesla field!

It's like the dipshit ignored the pre-MRI fact sheet/briefing.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/brazil-lawyer-death-mri-gun-b2279514.html

Lawyer dies after his hidden gun goes off during MRI scan in Brazil

Leandro Mathias de Novaes’ gun went off due to magnetic field in the MRI scanning room

The Independent
Feb 10, 2023 at 1:32pmWeb
Show threadThe Lone Apple 🍎Feb 10, 2023
@cstross Who hasn't forgotten a couple of coins when going through the metal detector at an airport?
Show threadacbFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Looks like the US will have to ban MRI scanners
Show threadMoreFrancesFeb 10, 2023
@acb @cstross it was in Brazil
Show threadGen X-WingFeb 11, 2023
@acb @cstross Or install them everywhere :)
Show threadAngus McIntyreFeb 10, 2023
@cstross I'm guessing he voted for Bolsonaro.
Show threadWesley SantosFeb 11, 2023
@angusm @cstross exactly
Show threadWalt MankowskiFeb 10, 2023
@cstross I just hope he didn’t damage any of the equipment!
Show threadAilbheFeb 10, 2023
@waltman @cstross that was my first concern but it looks like it was ok
Show threadWalt MankowskiFeb 10, 2023
@ailbhe @cstross I mean, this guy was just an idiot, but I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the poor techs after this happened.
Show threadAilbheFeb 10, 2023
@waltman I imagine Mexican hospitals don't have spare MRI machines lying around in case one gets damaged. Presumably everything was cancelled for a week while they checked it.
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 10, 2023
@ailbhe @waltman Brazil and Mexico: not the same place!
Show threadAilbheFeb 10, 2023
@cstross @waltman technically I know that but apparently my brain is not working today.
Show threadKarstenFeb 10, 2023
@cstross
Darwin award material.
Show threadMs. DenieFeb 10, 2023

@byteborg @cstross I wasjust thinking - right in time for Darwin Day!

And then I felt uncharitable.

Show threadOriel Jutty Feb 10, 2023
@cstross "The magnetic field from the MRI scanner pulled the pro-gun lawyer’s weapon was pulled from his waistband and went off, shooting him in the tummy." Who proofread this?
Show threadRenéeFeb 10, 2023
@barubary Also, "tummy"?? did they adapt this from a "toddler shoots self with parent's gun" story? I mean the similarities are striking, but ... @cstross
Show threadJdeBPFeb 10, 2023

@reneestephen @barubary @cstross @jkcheney @Sonikku

Some of the Brazilian news reports wrote "abdômen", which means what you think it does. But some used "barriga", which as Wiktionary shows is translated less formally. This was likely translated from one of the latter.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barriga#Portuguese

barriga - Wiktionary

Show threadGirlCrooshFeb 10, 2023
@reneestephen @barubary @cstross I had the same reaction. Tummy?!?
Show threadLazarou Monkey Terror 🚀💙🌈Feb 10, 2023
@barubary @cstross it's either an AI or a Child that wrote this.
Show threadAngry CentristFeb 11, 2023
@Lazarou @barubary @cstross Probably machine translation from Portuguese, considering the context.
Show threadGen X-WingFeb 11, 2023
@barubary @cstross Difficult to proofread when all that schadenfreude hits you.
Show threadJason SullivanFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Why was he in the scanning room to begin with, though? The MRI I went through was just me and the machine in the room. Even the nurse was in a separate room.
Show threadDenise LeclairFeb 10, 2023
@cstross I hope it did not damage the MRI!
Show threadRob CorneliusFeb 10, 2023

@cstross

I read this. The last time I had an MRI I had to go through metal detectors, turn out my pockets in front of the technician, sign a bit of paper etc. before they let me in the room with the big supercooled magnet.

I always wonder what USAians who wander around in public armed to the teeth are afraid of. Your Glock and AR-15 won't protect you from the Gubermint. They can put a warhead on your forehead if they really, really want to.

Show threadJdeBPFeb 10, 2023

@rob_cornelius @cstross

This person was not a norteamericano, though. This was in São Paulo, Brazil.

And Brazilian news reports pointed out that this was concealed carry and he did indeed sign a form.

#FirearmsSafety

Show threadV.K. Farfalle 🦋 (He/Him)Feb 11, 2023

@JdeBP @rob_cornelius @cstross

I wish he'd lived to see his firearms permit and legal credentials revoked for whatever the Brazilian equivalent of criminal reckless endangerment is.

His death is too easy for anti-gun people to gravedance and blame on his politics or the gun itself. And it's too easy for pro-gun people to write this off as an "unfortunate accident" since there's nobody to hold accountable for the series of criminally stupid decisions that could have been so much worse.

Show threadCegorachFeb 10, 2023

@cstross well that might at least be a valid contender for a #darwinaward

…at least if he didn't have children yet.

Show threadDan SugalskiFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Is it wrong that I'm surprised this guy *wasn't* in the US?
Show threadJesseFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Tragic. Had he lived, we may have been able to witness him move on to being shocked to learn it's also a bad idea to cook a loaded gun in a microwave oven
Show threadQuantumJumpFeb 10, 2023
@cstross I think this is the first time I've heard of the missile effect involving an actual missile weapon
Show threadJim Hughes ☢️Feb 10, 2023
@quantumjump @cstross there was a case in the US of a police officer walking through the wrong door and their gun getting sucked into the scanner bore and discharging.
More than one case, I think
Show threadkwhFeb 10, 2023
@cstross not just a fact sheet, they usually have you leave all your stuff in a locker and ask you about 37 times if you have even a fragment of metal in or on your body… and who the fuck did he think was going to mug him while he was in the MRI, they immobilize you and you’re in a room with a blast proof door
Show threadJdeBPFeb 10, 2023

@kwh561 @cstross

He wasn't the one going in the machine. His mother was.

Reading the Brazilian news reports on this, it seems clear that he was one of those who advocate bearing firearms _everywhere_ that it isn't expressly forbidden by law. And of course a pamphlet from a medical laboratory is not a law.

So it's not "like" he ignored the paperwork. He _did_ ignore the paperwork, per the Brazilian news, holding legality in higher regard than #physics.

#FirearmsSafety

Show threadKinene⭐🐻Feb 10, 2023

@JdeBP @kwh561 @cstross In the real world, when religion, dogma, or ideology go up against physics, physics always wins.

Those it defeats must suffer the consequences; which are usually followed with a posthumous Darwin Award. 🏆

Show threadkwhFeb 10, 2023
@JdeBP @cstross i gathered that from the comments, I just know that personally I was anxious about even a paper clip being in the wrong place when I had an mri, and it’s ironic when the tech straps you down immobile under a massive magnetic radiation machine and says “you’ll be fine” before they retreat behind a bunker door
Show threadChristopherFeb 10, 2023
@cstross I haven't checked in on the Darwin Awards in a... shockingly long time. They must have too many nominees to handle in recent years.
Show threadBoxOfRainFeb 10, 2023
@cstross @Nicovel0
Darwin Award candidate right there.
Show threadSteveFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Still no cure for stupidity.
Show threadChrisUFeb 10, 2023

@steevc @cstross

Well his stupidity, and dishonesty and arrogance got cured.
Sounds like the world is just a little better.
🤦🏻‍♂️

Show threadівась тарасикFeb 10, 2023
@cstross #darwin award nomination -- not sure though if this one can compete with that #russian #fascist who decided to punch a camel for no reason and got «awarded» instantly.
Show threadAnton P. Nym (aka Steve)Feb 10, 2023
@cstross "Think of it as evolution in action."
Show threadC. NiederstadtFeb 13, 2023
@AntonPNym @cstross
Something like this used to be called a Darwin Award…
Show threadbabirusaFeb 10, 2023

@cstross

Reminds me of when I had to have a GA for an operation once and the nurse asked me if I'd had anything to eat in the last 12 hours. I said no, because I'd read the instructions.

With massive weariness she replied "I wish *everybody* did..."

Show threadMatt DawsonFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Another fine example of addition by subtraction.
Show threadRabbit 🐰Feb 10, 2023
@cstross Magnetic fields aside, how exactly did he expect to hide it from an MRI machine anyway
Show threadFiXatoFeb 11, 2023
@rabbit he wasn't the one going into the machine; he was accompanying his mum.
Can't imagine how his mum would feel after this... @cstross
Show threadSeiðrFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Play dumb games. Win dumb prizes.
Show threadRoy GreenhiltFeb 10, 2023

@cstross I feel like putting "lawyer" in the headline here is misleading. The guy ignored SEVERAL warnings that bringing a gun near an MRI machine was a terrible idea.

I mean, sure, just being a lawyer doens't mean you're smart, but this guy seems to be pretty far down the road.

Show threadDavid J. AtkinsonFeb 10, 2023
@cstross I’m surprised not to see at least one lawyer joke in this timeline. Or is the report itself a standalone lawyer joke?
Show threadRobert Petersen Feb 10, 2023
@cstross this wording though.
Show threadDuncan BateyFeb 11, 2023
@Sonikku @cstross There is a running joke here in the UK that "the twelve year olds are in charge", and this would appear to confirm it.
Show threadGraham LesterFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Sounds like a Grey's Anatomy episode waiting to be written.
Show threadkianryan ☑️🐙🏳️‍🌈Feb 10, 2023
@cstross I am actually speechless.
Show threadIain MacGilleBhràithFeb 10, 2023
@cstross Hence the classic old expression:
“Live by the gun, die by the gun you stupidly hid down your pants.”
Show threadcthululemonFeb 10, 2023
@cstross The part that struck me was the choice of the word “tummy” in the article. As though the author wrote the whole thing for adults, but was interrupted by their toddler asking “what doing?”
“Oh, just writing about a man whose foolishness earned him a tummy ache.”
Show threadMarino_BibFeb 10, 2023
@cstross I just did a CAT scan the day after yesterday. Nurses are adamant: no metal stuff (except my gold marriage ring). They even ask you if your work exposes you to get metal slivers under your skin)
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 10, 2023
@Marino_Bib CAT scan or MRI? Not the same thing!
Show threadMarino_BibFeb 10, 2023
@cstross
I've done both, many times, because I'm under treatment waiting for a liver transplant. MRI, CAT, all medical imaging.
Show threadChrisUFeb 10, 2023

@Marino_Bib @cstross

Different technology and different reasons for avoiding metal.