A critique of the concept of MRI centers

A significant proportion of MRI units are being installed in MRI Centers that are free standing enterprises offering outpatient diagnoses separate from hospitals. The development of such Centers represents a challenge to more traditional arrangements and may have serious implications for physician responsibility that depend on their management and administration. In this review several legal and ethical issues arising from the proliferation of such Centers are analyzed and it is argued that regulatory attitudes may need to be altered to avoid major shifts of emphasis in the pattern of use of high cost imaging equipment.