Voronezh, Russia – 24th May, 2019: Valentina Minakova, 51, suffered fatal blows to her chest and abdomen when the medical apparatus failed in a hospital in the Russian city of Voronezh.
A report said she was “screaming in agony” when the “table” - part of the apparatus - on which she was lying suddenly moved upwards and wedged her against a moving part of the machine.
She sustained body injuries that caused her death on the spot.
The patient’s alarmed husband Alexander was waiting in the corridor outside and rushed into the medical room.
A sources said: “When he heard his wife screaming, he rushed inside and tried to save her from under the heavy machine but failed."
Medical staff also tried to free the woman but were unable to do so.
A picture from LifeShot news outlet showed the scene where the woman died.
At the time of the accident, the Czech-made gamma-therapeutic Teragam radiation machine was being operated by a technician, not a doctor.
The machine, made in 2006, has an emergency ‘Stop’ button but sources said either this did not work or it was not pressed.
'TOO DISTRAUGHT TO SPEAK'
Ivan Moshurov, chief doctor at the Voronezh Regional Clinical Oncology Centre, was initially described as too distraught to speak.
But later he said: “The cover of the table on which the patient was located went abruptly upwards and pressed her against the collimator - the part of the device where the gamma radiation comes from.
“It happened in seconds.
“This is a tragedy for our entire team, and for all her loved ones.”
The woman’s daughter, Maria, 32, said her mother had been undertaking a radiation therapy course for a week and a half and had never complained about the machine.
Valentina had been diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago but refused to give up and believed she would defeat the disease.
Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9148137/breast-cancer-crushed-freak-accident/