This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. TMZ: In the lawsuit — obtained by TMZ — Barker claims in June he went to The Medical Imaging Center in Santa Monica to receive an MRI as part of his routine checkup for his upcoming tour. Barker was to be sedated before the procedure, but technicians were unable to find a vein, sticking him at least 40x times in the process with a dirty needle and giving him staph. He’s suing the medical office. Expand - View Original
JESUS GODDAMN CHRIST! 40 TIMES WITH A NEEDLE! I work in radiology and every one of those technicians who worked on him should be fired today. That is un-fucking-real.
Difficult veins are a reality. Where I have worked in the past, if it took more than three tries, a senior technician was called in to assist. If there was no technician available, the patient was rescheduled. You don't just keep jabbing veins - they're not like lottery tickets. That's insanity. I sincerely hope he shuts down their practice. Anyone employing people like that without oversight has done this to other patients who don't have this voice. You don't just go from a few pokes to 40 just because you have a famous patient.
Why was he being sedated for an MRI? I’ve had multiple done and never had sedation. I would’ve liked to have been so I didn’t have to stay still for an hour. Not at the cost of being stuck 40 times though. Hope his luck starts to look up.
He seems to be rattled pretty easy with all his Final Destination style accidents, maybe clostaphobia is part of all of it now
40... that’s crazy. Seriously though, at what point do you stop and think that you maybe need a hand? Also... what kinda practice uses dirty needles? Surely he’s paying for the top care so they’d be at the forefront of safety awareness.
I can totally see this being the reason for it, too. "Oh shit, we can't have Travis Barker saying we couldn't find his vein and badmouthing us on Twitter. We'll get here on the next one." (Repeat 39 times.) That's crazy. My wife is a hard stick, but even then, she's rarely poked more than 5 times.
Can a needle used from the same patient be classed as ‘dirty’? I get using a needle on another patient but the same one? If I have to reinject a patient I won’t get a new needle, I’ll use the same one. You could argue the use of the same needle multiple times will cause blunting of the tip and therefore further damage, especially in Travis’ case.
Once a needle has touched ANYTHING it is considered to be contaminated. If the tip of that needle was pulled out of the skin then it should have been thrown away.
I can see your point but if it’s the same patient? The needle should be checked for damage etc. when attempting again, but more than 2/3... I’d get a new needle.
Tons of people are claustrophobic. The confined space and length of time an MRI takes means sedation is a must for those people.