[A man lying on an MRI machine. Photo Credit to Unsplash]

On Thursday, July 17th, a man was tragically killed after being sucked into an MRI machine at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, New York.

The victim, 61-year-old Keith McAllister, had entered the room to aid his wife, Adrienne McAllister. 

The machine had been scanning her knee when she called her husband to help her up. 

Keith had been wearing a massive 20-pound metal weight chain that he used for weight training.

The Nassau County Police Department reported that Keith had entered the room unauthorized as the machine was running.

However, according to a statement on the GoFundMe page set up after his death by Samantha Bodden, his daughter, the technician had actually led him into the room. 

She said, “While my mother was laying on the table, the technician left the room to get her husband to help her off the table. He forgot to inform him to take the chain he was wearing from around his neck off when the magnet sucked him in.”

Keith was sucked in by the magnetic force due to a “large metallic chain around his neck,” according to the Nassau Police Department. 

In an interview with News 12, Adrienne stated that “This was not the first time [the technician] had seen the chain. They had a conversation about it before: ‘That's a big chain.’” 

As he approached her, Adrienne reported that “the machine turned him around, pulled him in and he hit the MRI.” 

Mrs. McAllister reported that the technician had attempted to pull her husband from the machine. 

"I'm saying, 'Could you turn off the machine? Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!'" she recalled. 

“He waved goodbye to me, and then his whole body went limp!” Adrienne said.

The Nassau Police Department stated the man experienced a medical episode, with Adrienne confirming that her husband died after a series of heart attacks during the incident. 

According to Bodden, Keith was held to the MRI for almost an hour before police managed to free him.

He was then transported to a local hospital in critical condition. 

He lost his life the following afternoon, on Thursday, July 17th. 

The tragic incident illustrates the potential dangers associated with MRI technology and the critical importance of following safety protocols.

MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. 

These machines operate by using strong magnetic fields and radio waves to manipulate proton alignment, which create signals that are turned into detailed, cross-sectional images of the scanned body area. 

The machine’s strong magnetic pull can be a safety hazard. 

According to the National Institutes of Health, “The magnetic field extends beyond the machine and exerts very powerful forces on objects of iron, some steels, and other magnetizable objects; it is strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room.” 

It is standard procedure for patients to remove any metal objects, such as jewelry, watches, and pins from their body before entering the room. 

McAllister is not the first to be harmed by an MRI machine. 

In 2023, a Bay Area nurse was crushed between a machine and a hospital bed, suffering severe injuries. 

In 2001, 6-year-old Michael Colombini was tragically killed when the magnetic force caused an oxygen tank to fly across the room, fracturing his skull.