Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine with Metal Chain
A New York man died July 17 after being drawn into a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine while accompanying his wife to a medical appointment, highlighting the extreme dangers posed by metallic objects in the vicinity of these powerful devices. The incident at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, Long Island, has prompted renewed scrutiny of safety protocols at facilities utilizing MRI technology.
Adrienne Jones-McAllister recounted to News 12 Long Island that she asked her husband, Keith McAllister, 61, for assistance while on the MRI table, saying, “Keith, come help me up.” Tragically, a technician permitted Mr. McAllister to enter the scanning room while wearing a nearly 20lb (9kg) metal chain, typically used for weight training.
According to police reports from Nassau County, New York, Mr. McAllister was then forcefully pulled into the machine by its intense magnetic field. He suffered a “medical episode” and was transported to a hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead the following day. Mrs. McAllister reported that her husband experienced several heart attacks prior to his death, following the incident.
“I was just imploring them to call emergency help and to ‘turn this damn thing off!’” Mrs. McAllister tearfully told News 12. She vividly remembers “seeing the machine snatch him and pull him into the machine,” a scene she says “is still pulsating in my brain.” A GoFundMe campaign launched to support Mrs. McAllister alleges that Mr. McAllister remained attached to the machine for almost an hour before the chain could be released.
Adding to the tragedy, Mrs. McAllister stated that this was not the first time her husband had visited Nassau Open MRI while wearing the chain. “This was not the first time that guy [had] seen that chain,” she said. “They had a conversation about it before.” Nassau Open MRI has declined to comment on the incident.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rigorously regulates MRI safety, emphasizing the critical need for thorough screening. The agency warns that MRI machines generate a “strong, static magnetic field” that can transform metallic objects into dangerous projectiles. “Careful screening of people and objects entering the MRI environment is critical to ensure nothing enters the magnet area that may become a projectile,” the FDA states.
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering further cautions that MRI machines exert “very powerful forces on objects of iron, some steels and other magnetizable objects,” possessing the capability to “fling a wheelchair across the room.” This incident underscores the potentially lethal consequences of ignoring these warnings.
This is not an isolated case. In 2001, a six-year-old boy, Michael Colombini, died in Westchester County, New York, when an oxygen tank was pulled into an MRI chamber, resulting in fatal injuries. This history of preventable tragedies demands a reevaluation of safety measures and adherence to established protocols within MRI facilities.
