- Corinne Dalton suffered burns from makeup stickers during an MRI at LDS Hospital.
- Despite warnings, MRI techs proceeded, causing Dalton's injury; the hospital declined compensation.
- Legal analyst suggests the hospital's awareness may increase liability; Dalton seeks legal action.
SALT LAKE CITY — When a sharp pain developed just behind Corinne Dalton's ear last September, she feared the worst.
"I couldn't turn my head sideways to the right," she said of the pain. "I could have a little clot that could travel to my brain and cause a stroke."
Dalton drove to the emergency department at LDS Hospital. A doctor ordered an MRI. The thing is, MRIs can cause burns if something conductive touches the skin.
"I had makeup stickers on my face," she said. "I had been playing makeup with my granddaughter, who is seven years old."
Dalton says she asked the MRI tech if she should remove them.
"She said, 'No. You should be fine.'" Still uneasy about those stickers, Dalton wanted to wash them off, but says she wasn't allowed off the gurney.
"I guess if you're going to have a brain MRI, they don't let you walk," she said. Once inside the MRI room, Dalton said she again asked to have the stickers removed. This time, the tech agreed, but she says she was rushed.
"When I was about 90% done removing them, meaning 10% were still on my face, she said, 'That's enough, Corrine. Let's go,'" Dalton recalled the tech told her. "And I trusted her."
While the scan showed nothing seriously wrong with her neck, she says she came out of the procedure with a blistered and burned face.
"I looked in the mirror and I was horrified," she said. "Horrified."
'Known but unfortunate complication'
Corinne returned to LDS Hospital to speak with administrators.
"She looked at my face and said, 'Oh my gosh, that happened?'"
Dalton says the hospital's patient relations initially apologized.
"'We'll take care of this. it should not have happened,'" she says she was told. "'Whatever needs to be done we will do.'"
She was referred to a cosmetic surgeon.
"He said, 'I can fix your face,' the surgeon told her. "'It'll look fine.'"
But that work wasn't going to be free.
"He emailed me a quote. He explained in that email what had happened. He agreed that it was due to the MRI and he sent the same quote and email to the patient relations people," Dalton told me.
"How much?" I asked.
"It was $7,000," she answered.
Dalton says when she followed up, the hospital declined to help. A letter from LDS Hospital clinical relations calls the injuries, "a known but unfortunate complication."
"Before the MRI, I didn't have this thin skin or bags under my eyes," she said of her current appearance.
She asked me to investigate.
"I'm not a vain person, but my face changed a lot," she said. "And I like my face, the way it was."
I asked LDS Hospital about Dalton's case. In a statement, a spokesperson said, "The wellness and safety of our patients is our top priority," and that the hospital works "directly with patients whenever they make us aware of a concern or negative experience."
The hospital did not answer specific questions about MRI screening procedures. Intermountain Health, which operates the hospital, advises patients on its website to remove metal objects before an MRI.
Not alone
Digging deeper, I found that Dalton is not alone when it comes to MRI burns. The Journal of the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration warn that some adhesive products can cause burns during MRI scans.
I took her experience to KSL legal analyst Greg Skordas for him to weigh in on MRI burns.
"When a person goes in for medical treatment, they have every reason to believe that the providers will do their job correctly," Skordas said. He says the emergency nature of Dalton's visit could help the hospital in court.
"If somebody needs help right away, maybe you don't take some of the precautions that you normally would," he said.
But if staff were warned of a potential issue and they went forward with the procedure anyhow, that could help Dalton.
"They're on knowledge — on alert at that point," Skordas said. "And it gives them a heightened sense of responsibility."
As for Dalton, she tells me she is now speaking to lawyers.
"I want my face fixed. I want Intermountain to take responsibility and accountability," she said. "I want people to know so that this doesn't happen."
To that end, nowhere on the packaging of these stickers does it mention anything about metal as an ingredient. But based on Dalton's experience there's something in them that doesn't jibe well with MRI machines.
