A 61-year-old man died after being pulled into an MRI machine at a New York medical facility while wearing a 20-pound metal chain around his neck, according to police and his wife.
The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon at Nassau Open MRI in Long Island. The man, identified by his wife as Keith McAllister, entered the scanning room while an MRI was in progress. The powerful magnetic field of the machine pulled him in by the chain, fatally injuring him, the Nassau County Police Department said.
He died on Thursday.
McAllister’s wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, was undergoing an MRI for a knee issue when she called out to her husband for help getting off the table. She said a technician called him into the room, unaware of the danger posed by the metal chain he wore, a piece of workout equipment he often used.
“When he got close to me,” she said, “at that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in and he hit the MRI.” She described screaming for help as her husband was pulled into the machine. “He went limp in my arms.”
She and the technician attempted to pull him free, but could not. According to her, McAllister managed to wave goodbye before losing consciousness. He later suffered heart attacks after being removed from the machine.
The incident is under investigation.