Episode Details

California investigated the Redwood City MRI accident. So where is the state’s report—and what authority did it have to investigate in the first place?

After an ICU nurse was crushed between a hospital bed and an MRI scanner, investigators from the California Department of Public Health examined what happened and documented serious safety failures on behalf of the federal government. But when The Invisible Force went looking for California’s own investigation and enforcement action, the answers became increasingly difficult to reconcile.

Requests for the state’s report produced the federal CMS report. Public-records requests produced exemptions for investigative files. And CDPH has separately maintained that the California laws it identified do not give it jurisdiction over MRI safety.

In Episode 5, John Posh and Tobias Gilk follow the paper trail to ask a deceptively simple question: When a catastrophic MRI accident happens in a California hospital, who is responsible for enforcing MRI safety?

The answer leads from the state health department to the next potential layer of oversight: hospital accreditation.

Created and written by: CAIREreporting.org and Tobias “Toby” Gilk

Hosted by: Tobias “Toby” Gilk and John Posh

Music & Art: Reggie Battle

Production: Multitude

Website: InvisibleForcePodcast.com

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